Ikoli Harcourt Whyte – The Nigerian music genius who disgraced disability to become the father of Igbo church music 

Before his tragic death in an auto crash in 1977, Ikoli Harcourt Whyte was one of the most admired and beloved figures in Eastern Nigeria.

And he’s one of the few composers of his era still inspiring musicians and worshippers today. Harcourt-Whyte’s catalogue boasts of the richest discography of Igbo church music in Nigeria. 

Whyte inspired millions with his hymns which he composed in a leprosarium. More than four decades after his death, he is still remembered by a new generation of Igbos and non-Igbos.

His stirring hymn, “Atulegwu” (never fear) became a source of comfort for Igbos during the 30-month Civil war from 1967 to 1970. It remains the favourite of choirs in Igbo speaking churches.

This is the story of Ikoli Harcourt Whyte, the gifted choral conductor, composer and a figure of hope whose life has continued to inspire many generations.

Described by many historians as Nigeria’s most famous leprosy victim, it will also not be out of place to call him the most inspiring. Harcourt Whyte wasn’t born a leper to his parents Munabo and Odibo circa 1905 in Abonnema, Rivers State.

He started showing symptoms of the ailment in 1918, the same year the Spanish flu swept across the world killing millions of people, and by 1919, he had been diagnosed with leprosy, a bacterial infection that ravages the skin and nerves and causes painful deformities.

Across the world, being diagnosed with leprosy means a sentence to life in isolation. Victims are typically isolated from their families and exiled to a leprosarium which is mostly far from the city center. They are never allowed to mix with healthy people over fear of spreading the disease.

When Harcourt was diagnosed with leprosy at age 14, the teenager would have to live away from his family. He was sent to Port Harcourt Hospital and later to Uzuakoli Leprosy Centre in Abia State established by the Methodist Church, where he spent the last 45 years of his life.

Before his ailment, he had taken interest in music as a student, and was an active member of his school’s brass band where he played the flute and side-drum. His ailment appeared to give him time to become more devoted to music and he used the period of his isolation to study the Bible and the hymns sung in the Hospital chapel. Taking motivation from his predicament, the Bible and hymns, he wrote over 200 songs and led a choir of lepers that toured towns in the East.

Whyte was an outstanding Christian music composer in his own right and although a Kalabari man, his music, according to Ghanaian writer Alexander Akorlie Agordoh, has a very natural Igbo rhythm which is the dominant language in Uzuakoli where he lived most of his life.

In Uzuakoli, Whyte met a British missionary and medical doctor, Thomas Frank Davey who ,according to BBC ,was a music lover and a pianist. His encounter with Davey which could be described as divine helped Whyte refine his music career.

“Dr Davey taught him everything he knew about music, that he acquired by studying the Methodist hymn book,” Kanu Achinivu, a professor of music who was a friend and protégé of Whyte told BBC in a 2017 interview.

During trips to surrounding and remote villages to treat leprosy patients, Davey, it was said, recorded the traditional music of the people and then encouraged Whyte to develop his own personal style by listening to and composing songs that sounded more like those tunes, rather than the ones in the Methodist hymn book.

In 1949, when he was cured of Leprosy, Whyte refused to leave the hospital and chose to dedicate the rest of his life to living with the patients, composing inspirational music and educating on the need for care of Leprosy patients.

Between 1967 and 1970 when the Eastern region dominated by the Igbos went to war against Nigeria, the Igbos derived strength and inspiration from Harcourt-Whyte’s song ‘Atulegwu’ (never fear).

“Each time we gathered, the chances were that we would end up with some recording of his,” said Ejike Ago who fought in the Biafran army. “It is not only the Biafran soldiers alone. The Christians, each time we gathered had his recordings playing.”

Seven years after the civil war, Whyte died in a motor accident and four years after his death, renowned Nigerian playwright, Ola Rotimi, was commissioned to produce a play for Nigeria’s 21st Independence anniversary on October 1, 1981. He chose Whyte’s story. Prior to that time, Rotimi’s wife, Hazel Mae Rotimi and Achinivu had documented a research work on Whyte which served as the source of information for Rotimi’s project.

Titled ‘Hopes of the Living Dead’, the play was not staged for the event after several rehearsals. Achinivu said a director in the Nigerian ministry of culture who was not happy with the idea told Ola Rotimi “we couldn’t be presenting lepers to the world on Nigeria’s 21st independence anniversary.”

It was eventually staged in some school theatres.

Attesting to Whyte’s greatness, Achinivu said “He wrote with the stubs of his thumb and index finger. He wrote very slowly. It took him a whole day or more to write one page of music.”

Despite all the limitations, Whyte delivered 200 hymns before his tragic death and according to Agordoh, he made the choir of the Leper Settlement at Uzakoli one of the best known in Igbo land. 

“The popularity of his compositions throughout Igbo land, even before the impact of Youth Fellowship, earned him the right to be called the father of Igbo church music,” Agordoh wrote in his book ‘African Music: Traditional and Contemporary’.

This story was first published on November 4, 2020.

Cover design by Kume Akpubi