By: Deborah Amewoyi
Veteran Nigerian highlife singer, Mike Ejeagha who composed the famous “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” tune has been confirmed dead by close relatives after a prolonged illness.
The actor who passed on on June 6 was buried the following day without any form of embalmment. First son of the deceased, Emmanuel Ejeagha confirmed that it was the wish of the singer to be buried within 24 hours of his death.
“I contacted members of my family and informed them that my father made a wish that he should be laid to rest 24 hours after his death” he said.
The veteran actor came back into the spotlight after Nigerian skit maker Brain jotter used his song for his skit. This move relaunched the gwo gwo gwo ngwo song into the spotlight gaining recognition through out Nigerian and beyond.
To honour the veteran musician for his tune, Brain jotter made a 2 million Niara donation to the late musician after paying homage to the singer.
Brain jotter reacting to the demise of the late singer in an Instagram post captioned “39years ago, he made magic (Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo song). 39 years later, we danced to it again. Now, he rests, but his melody lives forever. Rest in peace, legend.”
The gwo gwo gwo ngwo social media challenge received significant likes and comments across tictok, facebook and Instagram with majority of the youth hoping onto the challenge with renewed creativity in different forms.
The singer who died at 95 was recognized to have contributed over 300 recordings to the National Archives of Nigeria and has 22 songs contained in his Hausa album which was released in 2018. The singer, through his tunes have contributed massively to Nigeria’s Creative Arts Industry.
