The Muson School Diploma Choir, a musical group in Nigeria has won gold and silver medals apiece at the just concluded 7th International Choir Festival and Competition which took place at Isola Del Sole, Grado, Italy.
Led by its director, Sir Emeka Nwokedi, the group, which consists of 34 participants left Nigeria on Tuesday 30th September, to Rome then Trieste and finally to Grado where they were lodged at a hotel to prepare themselves for the five-day event which will commence from October 1 to October 5.
On October 1, which also coincides with the country’s 54th independence anniversary celebration, the choir conducted by Nwokedi was the first to perform at the opening concert of the festival and competition. The choir performed ‘Obidinkpa’ by Laz Ekwueme. The lead voice was taken by Nwokedi and backed by the choir while Udeh Andrew dazzled the audience with his Igbo traditional dance when he was beckoned on by the director.
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The second music performed was ‘Isantim’ which was arranged by a member of the group, Okechukwu Ndubuisi. Indeed, it was a day the team made their mark and also celebrated the national Independence Day in a unique way. The choir’s performance was highly appreciated with applauds and standing ovation by the audience and co-participants from different countries. There were also performances from choristers from Italy, Sweden, Germany, Russia, China, and a host of others.
While speaking to the Students’ president, Oladimeji Adelaja, stated that the group was taken by surprise by the reaction of the people, for immediately the day’s performance came to an end, several people from the audience rushed at the team to identify with them as they shook hands and took photographs with them.
“We were taken aback at the people’s reaction at our performance,” said Adelaja, “some of them who could not express themselves in English used sign language to express their love and appreciation of the group. As if that was not enough, as we stepped out of the hall, a large crowd was already gathered and waiting for us to re-enact the dance and choreographed steps we did on stage.”
He revealed that the choristers had no option than to teach their eager audience a few Nigerian dancing steps.
“We eventually had to teach our audience the proper dance,” he explained, “and this resulted into a kind of carnival setting as there were lots of dances and singing of traditional Nigerian music outside the hall. It was quite difficult to stop the music despite the stress, as we had the Swedish, Russians, Italians, Chinese, natives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other nationalities all trying to express themselves the Nigerian way. Gradually, the drum was growing faint many voices could barely sing loud because so many of us got tired.
“At the end of the day, we managed to escape the very thick and untiring crowd. It was very funny and interesting to see ‘Oyinbos’ (whites) battle and not give up till they could make something out of our music and dance. Above all, Nigerian music, dance and culture penetrated through the hearts of many and our presence was immediately established at the event.”
On Thursday 2nd October, the choir participated in Group F, folklore competition and performed the following music; ‘Ayile L’egwuma’ arranged by Felix Nwuba, ‘Babalawo, mo Wa Bebe’ arranged by Ayo Ajayi, ‘Isantim’ arranged by Okechukwu Ndubuisi, ‘Akwoi Wata Geri’ and ‘Animal Carol’ arranged by Nwokedi.
The choir performed these music without any tuned musical instruments except for the use of membranophones and idiophones such as Akuba drum played by Adelaja Oladimeji , Udu(pot drum) played by Efe Doje, Sekere by Adeshina Seun and Clef by Paul Iraboh.
Other groups that featured in this category include Taizhou Xing Xing Chorus from China, Mjesoviti Kamerni Hor ‘Srbadija’ from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Adolf Fredriks Flickkor from Sweden, and Ussy Pieters choir, Indonesia.
Recounting their experience, Adelaja said: “Later that evening at 9pm, MUSON School Diploma Choir performed alongside choirs from Russia, Germany, and Lithuania at the Festival Friendship Concert. Our Choir was the last to perform and our performance of Italian Salad (Solo voice by Akinde Tomisin) gave the concert a ground breaking finishing as the audience could not recover from the euphoria of the display. Immediately after the concert, a large number of people including choristers from other parts of the world were already waiting for us for another jamboree.
