Obiora Ndubuisi Ezeugwu
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Obi Guitar”
19 April 1942 — 14 October 2021 · aged 79
Highlife guitarist and bandleader who kept Enugu dancing for half a century
Enugu, Nigeria Born in Udi, Enugu State Resting at Ezeugwu family compound, UdiAbout Obiora
The first sound at any Obi Ezeugwu show was never a guitar. It was a shout, 'Enugu, are you ready?', and the answer from the dance floor could be heard two streets away.
Born in the hills of Udi in 1942, Obiora learned his first chords on a borrowed guitar with five strings. He finished secondary school at Christ the King College in Onitsha, took a clerk's job at the Nigerian Coal Corporation in Enugu, and played every night in the compounds of the miners' camps. In 1966, just before the war scattered Enugu's musicians, he formed the Coal City Rhythm Kings, a band that would outlast the war, the clerkship and two generations of drummers.
His style was unhurried and joyful, a mix of palm-wine guitar, brass lines and Igbo proverbs set to dance rhythms. He played weddings, naming ceremonies, burials and, once memorably, a goat-roasting competition that ran until Tuesday. He never became a famous recording star, but across the South-East every woman over fifty seemed to remember a night when Obi Guitar made her dance.
For forty years he also directed the choir at the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Enugu, insisting that a Kyrie could swing if you were gentle with it. He loved pounded yam with egusi, his wife Ngozi's laugh, and the cool of early morning on his veranda with a radio turned low.
Obi Ezeugwu died at home in October 2021, after a short illness, with his guitar leaning against the wall beside him. He leaves his wife of fifty-three years, a son, a daughter and nine grandchildren. His music, mostly recorded on reel-to-reel in friends' sitting rooms, is now being carefully digitised by his family.
“If your feet are not moving, you are not listening properly.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Udi, Enugu State
- Resting place
- Ezeugwu family compound, Udi
- Passed away
- 14 October 2021, Enugu
Requiem Mass
Monday, 1 November 2021 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Funeral & highlife archive fund
Help the family cover the funeral and digitise Obi's reel-to-reel recordings so the music can be shared.
$2,413 raised of $6,000
40%20 recent contributions
- DM
David Muyodi gave $47.50 · 4y ago
“For the children's school fees.”
- HM
Hauwa Musa gave $190 · 4y ago
- EE
Ebere Ezeugwu gave $14.25 · 4y ago
“From the church choir.”
- MB
Marcus Bell gave $142.50 · 4y ago
- CO
Chinedu Okafor gave $9.50 · 4y ago
Life journey
Secondary education
Christ the King College1956 – 1961 · Onitsha
Played trumpet in the school band before switching to guitar.
Founder and bandleader, Coal City Rhythm Kings
Coal City Rhythm Kings1966 – 2016 · Enugu
Fifty years of weddings, festivals and funerals across the South-East.
Married Ngozi Okoli
1968 · Enugu
A marriage of fifty-three years.
Merit Award for Arts and Culture
Enugu State Council for Arts and Culture2008 · Enugu
For lifetime contribution to Igbo highlife.
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Family & connections
Also remembered on Evermore
Obiora is survived by
- Ngozi Ezeugwu· Spouse
- Chidi Ezeugwu· Son
- Ebere Ezeugwu· Daughter
- 9 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
5 people have shared a memory of Obiora.
Knew Obiora? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- EE
Daughter
Daddy rehearsed in the sitting room while I did my homework, and I learned my times tables to the rhythm of 'Onye Nwe Anyi'. I did well in mathematics, and I think the guitar deserves some of the credit. Thank you, Daddy.
- DN
Enugu-born, now in Atlanta
My parents danced at their own wedding to the Coal City Rhythm Kings in 1983. When I played them a recording last year they cried and danced in the kitchen in Georgia. A whole generation of Enugu's diaspora grew up on his rhythm.
- EO
Young musician he mentored
I came to his gate at sixteen with a broken guitar and no money. He fixed the guitar, fed me for a month and told me to bring a song. He listened to it three times and said, 'Again, slower.' I am a professional because of 'slower'.
- MA
Member, Holy Ghost Cathedral choir
He would stop a rehearsal to tell us a Kyrie is a conversation, not a complaint. We sang better after that. Last Christmas he conducted from a chair with his eyes closed, and nobody dared miss a note.
- CO
Drummer with the Coal City Rhythm Kings, 1979 to 2005
He taught me that silence is also a beat. At a Nsukka wedding in 1984 the generator died mid-song, and Obi simply kept playing acoustic while three hundred guests clapped the rhythm. He could turn a disaster into a legend.
