In a bid to further identify with their ancestral root, about forty students and faculty members from Morehouse College Glee Club in Atlanta, United States of America, (USA), visited Nigeria to take Igbo names and declared their ancestry to South East of Nigeria.
This event took place at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where the students narrated how they traced their Igbo ancestral roots through DNA tests, which they described as reaching.
HRH, Igwe Hyacinth Eze, the traditional ruler of Ibagwa-Aka community in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State conducted the naming ceremony in conjunction with chiefs and elders of the community.
The Igbo elders expressed their joy and happiness at seeing Americans with Igbo root retracing their steps and identifying with their source.
Some of the Igbo names given to the Igbo-Americans include Ezuomike, Ogalanya, Odenigwe, Anyim, Ifeanyi, among others.
Addressing the Igbo-Americans during the naming ceremony, the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Enugu State chapter, Prof. Fredrick Eze, said the reunion would help in the development of Igbo communities.
Furthermore, the monarch HRH, Igwe Hyacinth Eze said he was also happy because of the spiritual, cultural and economic exchanges which would happen as a result of the reunion, adding that he is willing to provide lands for those that are willing to live in his community.
However, the Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate General, Lagos, Stephen Ibelli, said the Club came to Nigeria to mark the 50th anniversary of its first visit to Nigeria in 1972.
He equally explained that the Club would tour Abuja, Enugu and Lagos States to strengthen US-Nigeria cultural ties through music, arts and film.
“The Morehouse College Glee Club, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first tour in Nigeria, will offer public concerts in Lagos, Abuja and Enugu. In addition, the group will visit universities and high schools, meet Nigerian students, and explore their historical ties to Nigeria.
“The 1972 visit to Nigeria infused African music into the Glee Club’s tradition and American Choral music in general. Fifty years later, choirs across the United States sing in Nigerian languages, highlighting the long-term impact of that exchange.
“The Morehouse College Glee Club has since learned a variety of songs in Edo, Yorùbá, Hausa, and Igbo, including a piece specifically composed for them by Igwe Laz Ekwueme, famed Nollywood actor and University of Lagos professor.
“During the visit, the Morehouse College Glee Club will carry out a dynamic exchange of musical knowledge with the broad spectrum of the Nigerian society, singing in Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba languages,” he said in a statement.
Also speaking, U.S. Ambassador, Mary-Beth Leonard, explained that the visit will strengthen the longstanding ties between American and Nigerian institutions of higher learning, and further expand the scope of academic and cultural relations between the United States and Nigeria.
“Cultural exchanges such as the visit of the Morehouse College Glee Club will help contribute to strengthening the bonds of friendship and collaboration through music and arts, offering an opportunity for Nigerian students to learn about academic experiences in the United States,” she stated
Many of the student members of the Morehouse College Glee Club described their visit as an opportunity to connect with their African roots.
“I love the culture of Nigeria,” 19-year-old Schneider Grandpierre, a junior third-year student studying Music and Computer Science at the Morehouse College said of the trip.
“It is such an enriching and amazing experience to be able to reconnect with our cultural roots and sing Nigerian music in different languages. I look forward to an extended stay here even after this tour,” one of the students said.