Celestine Ukwu (1940 – 7 May 1977) was a Nigerian

Igbo highlife Igbo highlife is a contemporary musical genre which combines highlife and Igbo traditional music. It first started off in the southeast region of Nigeria, during the 1920s in Lagos. The genre is primarily guitar-based music, with rare characteris ...

musician during the 1960s and 1970s, best known for his hit songs "Ije Enu", "Igede" and "Money Palava". Described as a "prolific and outstanding composer" by music critic

Benson Idonije Benson Idonije (born 13 June 1936) is a Nigerian broadcaster and music critic popularly known for being the first band manager of Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. Regarded as one of Nigeria's most revered music critics, he was part of the pioneering ...

of Radio Nigeria Two, Ukwu's works have been featured on various world music compilations including '' The Rough Guide to Highlife'' and ''

The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Africa ''The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Africa'' is a world music compilation album originally released in 2012 featuring 1960s and 1970s African popular music. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album contains two discs: an overv ...

''.

Life

Ukwu was born in

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

to music-oriented parents. His father was a local performer of the igede, ikpa and ode genres of Igbo music while his mother was lead singer in a women's musical group. At a young age, he began learning how to read music and play the

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

with the help of his uncle. Upon completing his primary school education, he went to teacher training school for two years but dropped out to pursue music as a career. He went on to join Mike Ejeagha's group Paradise Rhythm Orchestra in 1962 at Enugu as a vocalist and maraca player before he left to join Mr. Picolo's band who were touring the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

at the time. He returned to Nigeria to form his own band known as Celestine Ukwu & His Music Royals of Nigeria in 1966 which was later disbanded in 1967 following the outbreak of the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

, before releasing a song at the outbreak of the war titled 'Hail Biafra'. After the war, Ukwu formed another group, Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National; with whom he released several albums, including ''Igede Fantasia'' which did well commercially.

Artistry

His songs were primarily composed in Igbo language with a bit of Efik. In a 1986 edition of ''Thisweek'', a writer once wrote that his songs "gave a food for thought to its listeners".

Death

He died in an auto-crash on 7 May 1977.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations

*''His Philosophies: Compilation'' (1975)

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukwu, Celestine 1940 births 1976 deaths Igbo highlife musicians Musicians from Enugu Igbo musicians Road incident deaths in Nigeria