Father Father vs Fada Fada: Phyno and Oliver De Coque

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday September 2, 2016 at 10:32:58:

There are 2 musicians that I like for being Igbotic and while one of them sang Father Father, the other sang Fada Fada and they seem to be referring to the same thing - A father figure.

The late Oliver de Coque sang a lot of songs and one of them was Father Father and his song was mostly to acknowledge and praise men who have shown they are true fathers of the society and his song was mostly in reference to earthly fathers. He has a lot of other songs and the best I love is his Nwanne Di na mba song. Oliver De coque had a great voice and was one of the few music legends who made it a duty to sing his songs in Igbo. He sings more in Igbo than in English.

New Igbo musicians have emerged and one of thing which I'm a fan of is Phyno. He also recently released a song titled Fada Fada which actually means Father Father but I guess he didn't want to have any copyright issues by using the same title with Oliver's original "Father Father" song.

Phyno's song is more in English than in Igbo but he's identifying more with Igbo youths than the older generation Igbo. Unlike Oliver, Phyno is a rapper while De Coque was a Hi-Life musician who dealt more with slow music and had a talented band.

When Oliver De Coque released his Father Father song, the video cameras and audio systems in those days were not as good as the ones in Phyno's age. There also wasn't the internet or video sites like YouTube but most of his songs were released and stored on cassettes tapes and later CDs.

The song by Oliver de Couqe is a more original version of an Igbo song praising Father figures and Phyno's version is a more recent one. While Phyno talks more about God as his Father, Oliver talks more about people who acted as Father figures. However, Phyno's guy name Olamide rapped more about earthly fathers in his life. The common goal of their songs is that they both praised the Father figure(s) in their lives and they were both good songs. While Phyno's song appealed to young Igbo people who love rap and fast songs, Oliver de coque's song appeals more to older Igbo men who are more traditional.

In terms of language purity, Oliver de coque's song was more pure than Phyno's as the latter used more English than Oliver de coque did.

I think both songs will remain relevant in the history of Igbo music.

Listen:
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Father Father by Oliver De Coque
Fada Fada by Phyno