Looking at His Royal Punkness, Charly Boy, one would think that he wouldn’t have anything to do with gospel music.

But looks can be deceptive, as the weird one showed last night. The Area Fada did not only storm “An Evening with Harcourt Whyte” – the huge crowd at the Ladi Kwali Hall of Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Abuja, looked in awe as he gently pushed his mother’s wheelchair to the front row where she sat beside her husband – but enjoyed the show to no end.

What is more, Charles Oputa (ah! that’s his real name) enjoyed the moving performances s much that he could not resist the urge to leap to the stage and partake in the action. The big moment came as the show was drawing to a close with a joint performance by the five choirs that had earlier individually thrilled the audience. Charly Boy brought the roof down when he left his daddy (legendary jurist Chukwudifu Oputa), his mommy Margaret and his wife, Lady Diane, to sing with the Harcourt Whyte Mass Choir led By Prof. A. Kanu Achinivu.

Another highlight of the fun-filled night was the performance by the mystery guest, iconic broadcaster Nnamdi Olebara, who performed with Harcourt Whyte and who read a poem in which the late gospel music exponent proclaimed that he remains alive though physically dead.

The packed hall gave a standing ovation as the Abuja Chorale Ensemble directed and conducted by Barr. Everyman Eleanya; J. Clef Chorale of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) directed and conducted by Jude Nwankwo; Achinivu-Harcourt Whyte Choral Association, Arochukwu, Abia State (directed and conducted by Prof. A. Kanu Achinivu, PhD); University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT) Concert Chorus directed and conducted by Prof. Onyee Nwankpa; and Ikoli Harcourt White Choir, Lagos, led and directed by Elder Ogbonnaya Nnabugwu dished out some of Harcourt Whyte’s soulful spirituals.

“An Evening with Harcourt Whyte” was the first in a series of efforts by the Harcourt Whyte Foundation to revive and promote his music. Other important personalities that turned up for the show included financial whizkid Albert Okumagba, senior management staff of Central Bank of Nigeria, as well as Mrs. Ezinwa N. Okoroafor, Co-ordinator of the Harcourt Whyte Foundation, and some other members of the Board, among them Ugo A. Okoroafor, Sir Godwin Harcourt-Whyte , Dr. Lucky Somiari Whyte, Mr. Kevin Ejiofor and Chukwunyere Nwaononiwu.

Born in Abonnema in Rivers State in 1905, Ikoli Harcourt Whyte spent the greater part of his life at Uzuakoli Leprosy Colony in the present Abia State of Nigeria, where he raised a choir that regularly performed his compositions at the Methodist Church Lohum, Uzuakoli.

Before his death in 1977, Harcourt Whyte composed over 300 sacred hymns used in Methodist Church of Nigeria in the then Eastern Nigeria and beyond. Over time, these sacred songs spread and became very popular that it could no longer be compartmentalised or classified as Methodist Church songs as they were widely used in Christian worships across different Christian denominations.

•Photo shows Charly Boy (squatting) with the five choirs during the combined performance conducted by Prof. Achinivu.

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