Now, Play Me the Tape! a time travel editorial by Ikenna Ideh, inspired by Chief Osita Osadebe
It’s 1990, you lift the dust cover of your turntable, remove the dust from the platter and place your vinyl record on it.
You put your platter in motion, cue your tonearm and position your tone at the beginning of your record. You lower your stylus onto the record.
His sonorous voice and rustic lyrics come on.
It’s bliss.
It’s Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe alongside his band, the Nigeria Soundmakers International. The late singer is one of Eastern Nigeria’s favourite highlife singers. With projects like “Okpaku Elieli”, “Osondi Onwendi”, “Makojo”, “Ejike Eme Uwa”, “Ana Amasi Ife Uwa”; you could not forget easily, the icon who died of respiratory insufficiency in 2001.
You listen and immerse yourself in the moment. The sound, the manner of dressing, the candour expressed in the lyrics and the poise of the singer; it all comes together. One had to have deep-rooted experiences of the south-eastern culture to understand this and revel in it. One had to cherish the memories so much as to recreate it.
Photographer, Ikenna Ideh is the lead on this time travel, beautifully captured in these images.
He speaks to us on his inspiration for these photos,
“We are trying to highlight the impact of Nigeria highlife music on fashion and Afrobeat in recent times”.
Ikenna Ideh
He speaks further on the influence of highlife music and his desire to be intentional with his recreation hence, “this is why the props were curated from the past. We had to use cassettes, tapes and records of the highlife singers.”
“Now, play me the tape!”, he exclaims.
