The Significance of the Niger Coast Constabulary Band of Calabar in Nigerian Highlife Music: An Historical Perspective

Abstract

Scholars agreed that Highlife is a syncretic neo-traditional music arising from the interaction of African and Western music. However, views defer in the manner in which it came into existence in Nigeria. Some hold that it originated from Ghana; others believe that it is local in origin and yet there are those who believe that it originated independently in several places across the west African coast. While each of these perspectives have their merits, they belie the existence of a much older brass band tradition in Calabar from which evolved the first prototypes of Highlife in Nigeria. This paper discusses the history of the Niger Coast Constabulary band as arising out of the conflict in trade relations in the \'oil rivers\' to becoming a military band following the colonization of the area by Britain in 1900. Its transfer to Kaduna in 1914 to becoming the band of the 1st battalion of the West African Frontier Force and how prior to this, it provided Calabar with well trained brass band musicians and bands, and how the downturn of the economy of Calabar in the 1930s led to migration of these musicians to other economically prosperous towns in Nigeria and in the process spread the brass band music throughout Nigeria, are all highlighted. Of significance is the relocation of a product of the Calabar brass band school, the Calabar Brass Band, to Lagos where it imparted on the music scene and played a significant role in the emergence of dance band highlife in Nigeria.

Nigerian Music Review Vol.5 2004: 37-50