By Benjamin Njoku

He started out with rap music back in the early 90s. But owing to the steady decline of originality and quality music, Chukwudi Ugwu, popularly known as Mahansa, took a bold step creating his own genre of music called Afrociori which is currently leading a call to re-brand the Nigerian music.

Mahansa

Afrociori, according to Mahansa, is an acronym for AFRican OCCIdental ORIental, which simply implies the marriage of Africa with the Western and the Eastern blocs. For him, the necessity of creating this genre also stems from the fact that after the death of Fela and the Afrobeat genre, Nigeria has not exported any other major act to that level.

“In a time when the world is battered by religious wars, racism, neo-colonialism, terrorism, scam, demise of values, and other negative elements, AFROCIORI provides hope and answers to certain vital questions relating to the aforementioned issues, giving a deeper meaning to life.”

“I started from rap music in 1999. I went through the tutelage of Sound City Band, where I learned how to play jazz drums. I was combining rap with playing drums and percussion. In 1999, I discovered that it would be nice for me to have a genre of music I could call my own. The inspiration came between 1999 and 2000 when Afrociori was born.

The experience I had with Afrociori is African OCCidental Oriental which aims at promoting global harmony. With that I went to Nigerian International Song festival, representing Eungu State. I won a trophy for my state. Since then, I went back to keep developing this sound.

In 2013, I became the most versatile artiste from the south-east being an award given to me by Encyclotainment Limited in collaboration with DAAR Communications and endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism. That showed that it is possible to have a new genre of music to come out of Nigeria.”

The Ngwo, Enugu State-born experimentalist said he’s looking forward to the day Afrociori and the Mahansa brand will be studied by musicologists in the Nigerian universities. He also believes that with this genre of music, he can travel to Brazil and add their musical pattern to his song without any inhibition. “My kind of music is not the popular type. It’s deep and the message is mainly about serious issues like corruption, epidemics and hunger among other social problems.

On how he developed the Afrociori genre, the widely travelled singer, whose two albums, “Entrapment” and “This Pain Must Go” were created to support Rotary Club International in its polio eradication programme said, “it started like African percursions and music before it dovetailed into western music.

I found myself also doing Asian music and playing Asian instruments. Later, it became a huge fusion to come out of Nigeria. I wouldn’t say someone taught me how to play Afrociori music . I am the exponent of Afrociori music in Nigeria.” On the appreciation of this genre of music, Mahansa said it’s impressive, adding that “ those who are privileged to listen to the music kept asking me: ‘when are you going to play next, or when are you dropping your next album?”

I try to experiment it with a sizable audience and they had very tremendous appeal.” With Afrociori, Mahansa is launching a new genre of music for a new generation. His lyrics and concept are immersed in social responsibility, and at the root of it all is a call for everyone to be understanding and empathetic toward one another.

The Afrociori exponent said he’s influenced musically by the yesteryear’s musicians including Celestine Ukwu, Mike Ejiagha, and Sonny Okosun among others. Specifically, he said Fela has a strong influence on him because of his activism and being vocal. Commenting on today’s music, Mahansa regretted that it lacks content or message, adding that “ it’s just straight and monotonous.”

“Some level of electronic creativity, so to say, but when it comes to the essence of music, where artistes display raw inspiration, music of these days lack it so much. I’m sorry, I don’t really feel the music of these days because it lacks content and message. There is no structure in the music. It’s the same beat from intro to end. There are no bridges as well as dynamics in the songs.

It’s just straight and monotonous. Besides this, the music we listen to on the radio these days appear to be so harsh. The rhythms are so harsh to the ears. I hardly listen to the music of today,” Mahansa snapped. Meanwhile, he did not rule out the possibility of collaborating with these new breed of artistes.

According to him, “I would like to do some collaborations with them, but it all depends on who I am collaborating with. My music is message-oriented. You see that it doesn’t really rhyme with the collaborative thing. I don’t want to contaminate the Mahansa brand. So, I will do collaborations with artistes who sing inspiration music and whose songs have messages.”

Mahansa started singing from childhood. For him, his body and soul have always been with music. “I have always known that I would become a great musician. From childhood, I have always been inclined to listening to great musicians like Abba, Dynasty and others musicians of the 70s,” he revealed.