She was called the ‘Elegant Stallion’. It wasn’t too hard to understand why. Ms Onyeka Onwenu burst into the Nigerian Music Scene like a comet. She had poise, panache and an electric brain to match.
My first introduction to this musical legend was by way of a BBC documentary which aired whilst I was in England in 1984. She was the writer and presenter of this internationally acclaimed investigative reportage of the monumental corruption and wastage of national resources in 1984 before and during the era of the Buhari military regime. I remember sitting with school friends in front of the TV in our dorm common room watching the documentary and so proud of her resilience and her dynamism.
Onyeka Onwenu’s In the Morning Light’ Music Album which featured in the documentary made me an instant fan. One of the tracks in that album, ‘African Woman’ became a great favorite, and later became my chosen theme for my runway strut during the ‘Miss Martini’ Contest, sponsored and organized by the Martini Rossi Conglomerate, makers of Martini Bianco Drinks , and the first pageant I ever won during my ‘A level’ years in England, ever before I returned home to win the ‘Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Pageant.
Many years later, sometime in the 2000s, I flew from the UK to Maryland to watch her perform at the Izora Lounge and Arena at Silver Springs, Maryland. She was hugely talented. Songs such as ‘Dancing in the sun’, ‘One Love’, ‘Gbemileke’, ‘iyogogo’, and the haunting tribute to the heroic ‘Chibuzo’ set her seal on the scroll of Africa’s all time musical greats.
She was versatile. Her moments and creativity in her movie performances were vivid and unforgettable.
The Elegant Stallion is leaving behind a creative vacuum, too big to fill by those that have come after her in this generation.
Go in Peace, Ada Mazi. We heard you, we felt you. You were ever willing to speak up for a brutalized and marginalized people. You were one of the most powerful voices we had.
May God, our Creator give you a well earned rest, and your own slice of our yellow sun in His Paradise where all is perfect, and where one is finally free from all the troubles of this world. Jee nke oma!
Amen.
©Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu