More than 40 years after it was recorded, ‘Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche‘, a hit by Mike Ejeagha, the ace Nigerian highlife singer, is one of the hottest songs on social media.
‘Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche’ was released in 1983 as one of the tracks from Ejeagha’s ‘Akuko N’Egwu Vol. 1‘ album. The song is a tale of how an elephant was tricked by a cunning tortoise and used as a gift to a king in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
However, the song started to gain widespread popularity earlier this month, after Brain Jotter, the skit maker, adopted the soundtrack for his hilarious dance moves.
The dance moves involve two or more people facing opposite directions and walking towards each other. They then meet at a point where they do the funny leg dance before one starts chasing after the other while a part of the chorus “Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo” is played in the background.
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Jotter’s first clip of the project, which was shared on Instagram on July 5, has fetched nearly one million likes — as of July 21. Similar footage posted on TikTok has been viewed over 16 million times.
The song has also been recreated nearly 20,000 times on TikTok with many Nigerians, including celebrities, joining the challenge.
See some videos below:
😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/S0pK2jgPZJ
— KHAN’✨ (@khanofkhans11_) July 17, 2024
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Listen to the original song below:
WHO IS MIKE EJEAGHA?
Ejeagha is a Nigerian folklorist, songwriter, and musician who hails from Imezi-Owa in the Ezeagu LGA of Enugu. There are, however, conflicting reports on his date of birth; Wikipedia recorded April 4, 1930, while a journal Academia wrote August 1932.
Upon completion of his primary school education in 1948, he started learning how to play the acoustic guitar under the tutelage of Moses “Moscow” Aduba and Cyprian Uzochiawa.
He began his music career in the mid-20th century. Fondly called Gentleman, Ejeagha has been influential in the evolution of music in the Igbo language for over 6 decades. His first hit was in 1960 – the year of Nigeria’s independence.
Aside from being a great guitarist, Ejeagha is described as a distinct storyteller known for his ability to tell popular Igbo stories and folklore using his music.
He has contributed over three hundred recordings to the National Archives of Nigeria produced during his fieldwork to investigate Igbo folklore highlife music.
Some of his other songs include ‘Onye Ori Utaba’, ‘Enyi Ga Achi’, ‘Uwa Ngbede Ka Mma’, ‘Anyi Fulu Ozu Ene’, ‘Atualu Omalu’, ‘Elulube Lube’, ‘Onye Ndidi N’Eli Azu Ukpo’, ‘Udo Ka Nma’ and ‘Agbata Obi Onye Bu Nwanne Ya’.
Ejeagha is considered one of the pioneers of the highlife genre in Nigeria.
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