Cumb Assemble (Celestine Ukwu Memorial Band) - Tribute to Celestine Ukwu (RAS 1978)

Gorgeous Nigerian highlife played and sung in tribute to the great Celestine Ukwu who died in 1977.

"Oh dear Celestine Ukwu / Why have you left us / Without anyone?"

"In the memory of many Igbo people of Nigeria, late Celestine Ukwu is a paragon of wisdom. He is a true philosopher who is in-depth in analyzing the social world. His musical ingenuity is a fruit of deep reflection on mankind in general. His creativity is emblematic for the entire spectrum of Igbo music industry, past present and future.

He is a musician with a profound originality. Although died and gone, his legendary works linger on in the socio-cultural life of the Igbo people.

Music no doubt has a universal language. The rhythmic poetical flow of music is enjoyed by all people irrespective of culture or language. The content or the expression anchored in a piece of music obviously tells how an individual person or a group of people perceives and interprets the world. Music therefore is a passionate expression of reality in philosophies. Musicians are also known as poets who are also known as thinkers and philosophers. In music, a subjective attempt is made to recreate the objective reality. Therefore music is all about a passionate expressions of life, birth, death, love, pain, injustice, happiness, rejection, oppression, politics, religion, ethics, fear, anxiety, sickness, poverty, richness etcetera.

The Igbo culture is among the cultures in the world that expresses its worldview in music. Sometimes, decoding the meaning of musical expression is like decoding coded lines of poetries. At other times, the meaning enshrined in a piece of music stands very intelligible. In the case of Celestine Ukwu, one sees a true born philosopher. He is a conscientious reflector on things. As a talented musician, he is a social observer."

http://www.codewit.com/featured-news/the-philosophical-mind-of-an-igbo-musician-celestine-ukwu.html

You can hear Celestine Ukwu's beautiful music here, and here, but in the meantime you'll have to make do with this.

Tracklist:

01 Tribute to Celestine Ukwu
02 Uche Chukwu
03 Chi Na Elo
04 Don't Loose Courage

Get it HERE.