DESCRIPTION:
Ikoli Harcourt Whyte (1905-1977)

Background
"My name is Ikoli Harcourt-Whyte. I am an Igbo speaking native of Abennema in Port Harcourt. I was born in 1905. My parents sent me to school, but when I was fourteen years old, I developed signs of leprosy and a mission hospital later confirmed the disease.

"I was frightened because, according to the custom in those days, I would be sent to the Uzuakoli Leprosy Hospital where people with leprosy were isolated from others. The Methodist Mission operated the hospital. It had white missionary doctors and nurses from Methodist Church and further support came from the Nigerian government.
Leprosy
"Leprosy isolated me into a place where I would see no other books but religious. I read and re-read the Bible and other religious books. Those books transformed me. Instead of feeling bitter that all was lost, I discovered that all things work together for good to them that love God (Roman 8:28).

Music
"I had always loved music, but the songs I sang were the folk songs of the Igbo people. At Uzuakoli, I heard for the first time gospel hymns in Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos. In addition to the "Words-only Edition" used by patients who attended the chapel, the missionaries allowed me to see the "Music Edition".

"Some of the missionaries had copies of the British hymnbook, Hymns for Divine Worship, which had been issued in 1889, also allowed me to see that hymnal.

"I began to sing in the choir, and sensing my eagerness to learn to read the musical notation, one of the missionaries began to teach me how tunes were written down by using staff notation. I wanted to sing the hymns in Igbo, but since Igbo is a tonal language, the translations lost all meaning when they were sung using the European tunes

"I was delighted when some of the missionaries returning from leave in England brought back copies of the Methodist Hymn - Book published in 1933 and used by British Methodists. I was grateful to God that He had made it possible for me to hear the news of His redeeming quality so that I could be like one of those foreign Methodists.

"Soon after I entered the Uzuakoli Methodist Hospital, I began to teach in the school operated there for young patients and the children of patients with leprosy.

I formed a choir of pupils and a choir of older people who sing in the large chapel where we all worshipped on Sundays.


"I sometimes used paraphrased Bible verses for the words, and at other times the words were commentaries on Christian truths. All of my songs were sung in acapella.

"The medical staff at Uzuakoli were constantly searching for a cure for leprosy. Through their research, the drug Dapsone was discovered and it began to be used in countries around the world. I was treated with the drug, and after thirty years in the Uzuakoli Leprosy Hospital, I was pronounced cured of the disease in 1949

"Even after I was cured, I continued to work with the choirs. I wrote special music for the Christian holidays each year. For the Good Friday in, 1954, I wrote a processional hymn, "A gburu Nwa Chukwu" (The Son of God was Crucified), which the choir sang as they entered the chapel and marched slowly up the aisle.

"Although people were accustomed to joining in the singing while, not listening to the choir, they listened that day. The choir had become famous because of the emotional impact of the songs.

"A great crowd had come to the service. Not only the patients and staff, but also many guests from outside. By the time the choir reached their seats, the whole congregation -- preacher, patients, staff and visitors -- had burst into tears. From then, my hymns and anthems became widely known and used in churches where Igbo language is used for worship.

Goodness
"Just as the European harmony is more developed than the African. so is the African rhythm more developed than the European rhythm. African music is different from the European music but if any of these can be called superior, I think it is the product of the mixture.

"However, I thank God for the privilege of service, which He had given to me. As a boy, I had thought I was doomed to a life of despair as a beggar, but Jesus turned the defeat I had dreaded into a victorious praise for His goodness. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not to be silent, Lord my God, I give thanks to thee for ever." Ps. 30:12.

Culled from 306 Hymn Writers
by Chief (Miss) Alma Rohm.