Between Moore Black in Australia and Me in the United States

Moore Black: Honestly I was too young in the seventies.

Me: [AT THAT TIME, I WAS THE 2ND KEYBOARDIST FOR THE FRIIMEN MUSIC COMPANY (SOME PEOPLE CALLED IT FRIIMEN ROCK GROUP). FROM THERE I BECAME THE 1ST KEYBOARDIST FOR SWEET UNIT. WE LATER CHANGED IT TO ROCK OF AGES. I PLAYED KEYBOARDS AS A SESSIONMAN FOR VOICE OF THE CROSS AND TONS OF OTHER GOSPEL ARTISTS THAT STARTED TO COPY VOICE OF THE CROSS. THEY WANTED ME TO ALSO PLAY FOR THEM, AND I DID.]

Moore Black: However, in the early eighties I went to Abo Mbaise to learn music under Wahehe Njoku of the Rock Of Ages.

Me: [WAHEHE WAS THE BAND LEADER OF MY GROUP - SWEET UNIT. HE AND HIS FRIENDS SAW ME IN LAGOS WHEN I CAME WITH MY FIRST BAND - FRIIMEN - FOR A RECORDING AT DECCA STUDIOS. THEY TOLD US THAT THEY WERE PLANNING TO RETURN TO THE EAST, AND WOULD LIKE TO FORM A BAND. THEY WANTED ME TO BE THE KEYBOARDIST FOR THE BAND THAT WOULD BE FORMED. MY MUSIC MENTOR, BENI TUDUMEY WHO WAS THE 1ST (MAIN) KEYBOARDIST FOR FRIIMEN ENCOURAGED ME TO FORM THE BAND WITH WAHEHE AND THE OTHER GUYS. WHEN THEY RETURNED TO ABA IN THE NEXT YEAR (JANUARY OF THAT YEAR 1977), THEY SAW ME AND WE FORMED THE BAND]

Moore Black: It was tough for me, for I didn't like the fact that I was relegated to loading & unloading the instruments.

Me: [IF YOU WORK WITH WAHEHE, YOU WILL HEAR 'NWII', BUT BUT YOU WILL SURVIVE ALMOST ALL SITUATIONS. WAHEHE HAD SO MUCH LOVE FOR HIS GUITAR]

Moore Black: So I left (but when I look back now I regretted leaving) & few years later I went to
have some voice lesson from Ogugua "Stone Face" Iwuagwu.

Me: [STONEFACE WAS A HUGE STAR ALL THE WAY FROM ENUGU BEFORE THE GUYS PLAYING FOR HIM SEPARATED AND LATER BECAME 'SWEET BREEZE', JUST LIKE 'THE STRANGERS' WHO WERE PLAYING FOR BOB MIGA SEPARATED AND BECAME 'ONE WORLD'. STONEFACE IWUAGWU MOVED DOWN TO ABA AND WORKED WITH US WHEN I WAS WORKING WITH NTA, CHANNEL 4, ABA, IN THE PROGRAMS DIVISION, UNDER PAL AKALONU, AND JAMES IROHA 'GIRINGORY', WHERE ALSO I TOOK PART IN PAL AKALONU'S NOW SOUND AS A MUSICIAN, AND TOOK PART IN JAMES IROHA'S MASQUERADE AS A MINOR ACTOR]

Moore Black: I made several demos (unreleased) in the eighties before I left Nigeria in
the early nineties for Europe.

Me: [WELCOME TO THE INTERSECTION. I HOPE YOU WERE NOT ONE OF THOSE GUYS THAT I MADE DEMOS FOR, BUT THEY WERE NOT NOT FULLY READY TO COMPLETE THE PROESS... I SOMETIMES USED SUNNY ENANG'S STUDIO AT UMUNGASI FOR DEMO WORKS. WE STAYED ALL NIGHT LONG WORKING WITH SOME DEMO ARTISTS OR MIXING SOME TRACKS... ONLY GOD KNOWS......]

My Chance Virtual Meeting At The World Igbo Congress

After reading some mails being exchanged by participants at the World Igbo Congress and the Igbo Forum, I could not help sending the readers to the following two places:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ArthurFreds

http://frederickn.blogspot.com/

Anything that we can do must be done to bring ABA back to where it was. All those musicians fell in love with Aba so much so that they returned to Aba, even as Aba is almost dead. I join them to believe that Aba will come back to life again, and Unicoco, Ambassador, Rex, Crystal Park, Enitona, etc. will bring in revenue to their owners. I have been working on projects that could provide me with funds for reactiving the music and art life of Aba, but funds are usually difficult to raise. I still have the hope I will contribute my ideas, labor and time to re-energize Aba. Please don't make me to begin to mention names of my personal colleagues who played the Wings, Apostles, Action, Original and Super Wings (after the old testament of the Wings), Friimen, Sweet Breeze, Sweet Unit (later Rock of Ages), Doves, etc. We need to award scholarships in the names of these individuals and in the names of their music groups. We need to roll out the red carpet for all of them, at least, once in their lifetime. Let us just pray!

"Don't Freak Out"

Don't Freak Out...
Don't you see how you look so dreary and so bad...
Why not give yourself a chance, don't take in some more...
Go your way and leave the thing
It's not good for you
Why not give yourself a change you've got too much of it...
Don't Freak.........
I say, Don't Freak now....
Don't Freak, wow, wow, wow
Don't Freak......
I say Don't Freak now...
Don't Freek yeahhhhhhhh.....

The Album: Radiant Color

People have been asking after the album "Radiant Color", and I will not hesitate to talk about it. This is an album that I released around 1990. It has six tracks. I sang lead vocals on three of the songs and my wife sang lead vocals on the other three tracks. We helped out each other with backing vocals. During the band's most recent show in Raleigh, North Carolina, the three songs on which I did the lead vocals were performed. They are "Don't Freak Out", "Do It In The Name of Love" and "Radiant Color" which is the title track.The first of these songs is a funk piece. The other two are rock genre. The CD is available at http://www.eclipseventures.com/page/19xnv/Shopping.html. When the Radiant Color album CD is played, it evokes the awe of the generation in which the music was recorded. This is the album that was recorded in Olodi-Apapa at the Fuzzy Studios. The recording engineer was Fuzzy's first son. Fuzzy's second son was a backup session musician. On the day of the recording, Fuzzy was not around. I still remember how interested Fuzzy's two sons were in the songs. They put in their ALL into the recording. They clearly showed their love for the song "You Won My Heart". That love is visible in the way they played the intro to that track.

Grace Band Performed In Raleigh, North Carolina

On the hot Sunday afternoon, June 28, 2009, Grace Band, performed at the thanksgiving ceremony organized by Dr. Jimmy Imo in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States. The event was in honor of Sir and Lady Imo who were visiting their children. At that event, Grace Band played songs like "Don't Freak" and "Do It In The Name of Love" both written, composed and recorded by Arthur Freds. Those songs are part of the compilation in Arthur Freds' vintage album titled "Radiant Color", which is the opening (signature tune) to Arthur Freds' radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ArthurFreds. Of all the very many songs performed at the events, Grace Band performed Ofege's "Nobody Fails", Oriental Brothers' "Nwada Di Nma", Herald '7's "Shooting Star" (by Jerry Boifraind). The band performed Sweet Breeze's "Palm Wine Tapper" and a highlife tune "Echendu Nweze". They also played their hit single, "Ebube" to which people danced freely. "Ebube" is also the title track in Grace Band's new release coming into the market sometime during the end of July. That album has nine tracks. One of the tracks is a 20-minute dance medley that will definitely take anybody's mind back to the Biafran days. It is a keepsake. Their own albums, "Radiant Color" and "Everybody Must Farm" are available at http://www.eclipseventures.com/page/19xnv/Shopping.html. Their new album, "Ebube" will also be availabe on that site whenever it is released in July. It will also be available on CD Baby and other downloadable sites. As a tribute, Grace Band gave copy of the hit single "Ebube'" to Sir and Lady Imo to honor them. Visit Grace Band at http://www.graceband.org.

The Radio Show - ABA MUSIC

The Radio Show featured ABA Music at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Arthurfreds. This broadacst takes place every Monday at 12.00 noon (Eastern Standard Time). Just log on and get your dose live. In the very last broadcast, The Apostles Rock Group featured so strongly that you could not afford to miss the information that came out. The songs that were played were Darlin', Radiant Color, Do It In The Name of Love, Don't Freak Out, You Won My Heart, Be My Own. All those song titles are from the album "Raidant Color" by Arthur Freds. The songs were written, composed, performed and directed by Arthur Freds except for three that were performed for him by Grace Freds. When you listen to that music, you will know rightaway that they are of the Motown era. Those songs are available together in one of Arthur Freds albums at http://www.eclipseventures.com/.
On the radio show, Arthur Freds revealed some of the things that people would not ordinarily know concerning The Apostles. From the things said in the radio show, it is clear that all the bands in Aba will be brought to the listeners. ...Who wouldn't want to know about those groups from a direct participant like Arthur Freds? Arthur Freds sat with them, had breakfast, lunch and dinner with most of those great names in Aba.

Memory Lane (1)

One day, I was passing through the end of Park Road, music was blaring out of a building. That building happened to be Unicoco Hotel. The block had openings such that someone could peep in to see what was going on, so I did peep in. I saw a musical group performing and people were dancing. I also saw so many people at the gate struggling to pay and get in. I wondered, "these people are struggling to pay and go in only to dance, and those guys playing will go home and share the money". I decided to enjoy such cool money, sitting or standing to play my instrument, watching people dancing, and sometimes fighting, and finally going home to share money with the other cool people on stage with me. I did it. The band that I saw when I peeped into Unicoco Hotel was Bob Miga and the Strangers. The song that they were playing has not left my head till today (must have been about 1973). The players finally left Bob Miga, formed One World and became everybody's darling. Cyril Abdullah never missed any of One World's shows at Unicoco Hotel. When I mustered the courage, I applied to the Apostles to be one of their vocalists. They invited me to an audition. I showed up on the agreed date. They were all on stage looking at me and I almost got intimited. I remembered that I started to play the keyboard from age four, and that there was nothing to fear. I knew that I belonged to the industry, but only needed to explore where to start the career. The Apostles' band leader Walton Arungwa, asked me which of their songs that I would feel comfortable singing. I told them "She's A Dropout". They played the song, and I vocalized it perfectly well. They complimented me and said that they would get in touch with me. They never hired me to join their band. What they did much later was to come to my house to pick me up whenever Benji (their organist) was away. I did some tours with them to places like Warri, Port Harcourt, etc.

Do you remember "Everyday when I question, and feel I can't find the answer, I don't know what to do, Oh yeah, one-more-time, everyday when I question, and feel I can't find the answer I don't know what to do, Oh yeah." That is a popular chorus in Tex Soul's hit song. Tex Soul also sang, "You'll make it someday (someday), someday in your life" (Sure, you will remember this.

Down, down the valley by the Apostles was one of the most powerful songs of our time. Remember "She's A Dropout". I cannot stop loving Apostles' songs. What about the Wings during the days of Spud Nathan? Manford Best was my favorite song writer. Spud was my favorite singer. Both of them wrote and sang songs that would make you cry. I memorized many of their songs. If I have anything good to do for somebody, I'll do it for Manford Best for very special reasons.