Welcome to the Highlifeturntable. The purpose of this blog is to provide a way for people to listen to rare highlife music from Ghana and Nigeria. I plan to post tracks from my private collection along with a little commentary on what I know about the artist and what I like about the LP.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Ogbeingbene Special - Professor I.K. Belemu






















For the next selection on the highlife turntable, I have selected the track OgBeingbene Special by Professor I.K. Belemu from his Felix Record release Ogbeingbene Special.

I have a few records by Professor Belemu.  According to am interesting article by Sunday Rudolph in the dawnjournal.com:

The owigiri dance originated in 1985 through a particular music composed by a foremost  Izon musician in Bayelsa State in Nigeria called I. K. Belemu. Although, I. K. Belemu did not invent the owigiri dance style, his song, which was responsible for the creation was more of call to dance.

Randolph goes onto to say:

According to a traditionalist in Izonland, Emeka Odogu, the owigiri dance captures the lifestyle and mood of the Izon man in his daily activities. He states further that: The owigiri dance is a way the Izon man expresses his feelings at a particular time. The dance has a variety of dance steps that will 
suit any music, so the dancer can pick any dance step that can indicate his state of mind at any point in time. if he is happy there is the bright and energetic “agene” dance step to indicate this and if he is unhappy he can dance the slow and smooth “abalande” dance movement to match his mood…

 Bestman Peres Doupere, the son of Bestman Doupere, added:  

The Late Professor I. K. Belemu is the founder and orginator of Ijaw Owigiri highlife music and that IK was playing more of a dance hall owigiri, while King Robert Ebizimor (another popular Ijaw singer) combined both dance hall music and philosophical songs.

 The upbeat vocals and tight guitar playing certainly create a very dance able sound.  Check out the way Professor Belemu's vocals open up the song and the fluidity of the rhythm section throughout the song.  I hope you like.


For those interested in reading more on Owigri dancing please see
http://thedawnjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/10-Sunday-Rudolph.pdf

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted anything new, but I spent the summer upgrading my rig and am finally beginning to record again.  I'll be posting some more music shortly.
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5 comments:

  1. Ikon AfrikOctober 20, 2014 at 4:08 PM

    Thanks, it's good to see you back!
    Also, can you post his recordings of the 70's if you have them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ubulujajaOctober 20, 2014 at 6:39 PM

      I was not aware he was active in the 70's. Do you have the names of a few LPs?

      Delete
    2. Ikon AfrikOctober 21, 2014 at 1:18 PM

      As far as I know, there are:
      - Professor I.K. Belemu & his melody dance band "Seikiri la te" released in 1974 (I think this is his first LP)
      - Professor I.K. Belemu & his owigiri exponents of Nigeria "Tei Deinyan" (I can't say if it sounds 70s but one can imagine by the album cover)
      and more here: https://spinlet.com/artist/?artistid=2499

      Delete
  2. zimNovember 2, 2014 at 5:18 AM

    Looking up "Tei Deinyan", I found this reference:
    http://www.cdandlp.com/item/2/0-181001-0-1-0/2300182424/professor-i.k.-belemu-and-his-exponents-of-nigeria-tei-deinyan.html

    which states it's on Belemu's own label with a release number of BRLP002, there's no release date but as Thiol mentions the cover does seem an older style. it also suggests at least one more LP (BRLP 001)

    ReplyDelete
  3. N.ShatzSeptember 11, 2018 at 8:07 AM

    Hi!
    Can you upload side A?
    thanks and good luck

    best, N.Shatz

    ReplyDelete

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