James Eze and Udala Nation Unleash Soul-stirring Music

Yinka  Olatunbosun

The surround system inside a lounge at the Bukka Hut Surulere, Lagos boomed with sample tracks from a yet-to-be-released music album titled Daybreak. A Nigerian journalist and award-winning poet, James Eze has set his poetry to music with his music collaborators, Dallie and Masthamind making up the collective Udala Nation.

Before relocating to Anambra State to work with Governor Willie Obiano as his media aide, Eze had a robust career in public relations, corporate affairs and media. Eze, the author of the award-winning poetry volume Dispossessed was persuaded by a friend to record his poems. Always of younger friends, he sought out male and female singers. Prior to meeting Eze, Dallie and Masthamind had been friends at the university with shared interest in music. It was purely accidental that both of them would work with Eze on this new project which is addictive at the first play. A fine blend of R&B, soul and alternative music, the new album is a seamless production as each one plays his or role effortlessly. 

Recounting the first encounter, Eze said ignored what seemed to be a stand-offish response from Masthamind. “I called him. He sounded disinterested. He didn’t have a conversational voice but his singing is peerless. He weighed it, calculating. And then he came. They both came fully made. And they worked almost without supervision,” he recalled.

He would also learn that Masthamind is not a man of words but of figures as he was a final-year student of mathematics while Dallie studies zoology. The best that the poet has achieved so far with this project is to create a body of work that is not dictated by pop culture but evokes timelessness. The ballads are deeply emotional; connecting the listener to the story that each tells. “When the producer sent me the song, ‘Tears on My Pillow,’ I was aboard a plane to Manchester. I listened and cried,” he continued.

Udala Nation is christened after the Udala tree and it alludes to the productive nature of the artist’s cultural experience.

“Whatever materials I need for artistic expression are there in my culture. Udala in the Igbo cultural context is a symbol of innocence. The traditional Igbo society used to be a place of gathering and play for children. Under the Udala fruit tree, while waiting for the fruits to drop, the ripe ones would fall and children would run to pick Udala. I look at that encounter in my childhood. Udala Nation is about pleasant music, a kind of entertainment that is wholesome. They are poetry cast in songs.”

For Dallie Nnabuife, the project was a whole new experience. “Doing this was different because it challenged me and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I needed to tap into the storyline first and then be able to express it in my own words,” she said.

On his part, Masthamind considered the Udala Nation project as a learning experience even though he is an experienced guitarist who, like Dallie, honed his skills at the church.

“I will say this experience has made me improve in certain areas of my career. It is a good journey so far,” he added.

The music collective formed by the poet who won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) prize for Poetry in 2021 is an addition to the growing list of soul-stirring singers from Nigeria like Johnny Drille, Chike, Lady Donli, Yela, Falana, Bez and Etcetera.