Udeigwe Drives Purpose with New Single 

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

New York-based Nigerian musician and Professor of Mathematics, Lawrence Udeigwe, years after successfully courting international audience with his music, has positioned his new single titled ‘Today’ for entertainment pleasure and same time raising a consciousness for people to make the best of each new day. The single is off his forthcoming album.

Expressing his great desire for his music career, he said: “In 5 years, I’d love to be leading a successful internationally known group that does well both on big stages and small listening rooms, have enough materials to release an album each year for the next 10 years.”

Speaking recently from his base in the US, Lawrence Udeigwe, who simply goes by the stage name Udeigwe, described music as his natural first love and talked about how much work he had put into developing his music career despite being a mathematician.

“I released my first album in 2007 and formed my first band in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 2007. So I’d say at least 16 years’ worth of slow but steady work. I am also a university professor so I am not able to devote 100% of my time to music, but my grind has been steady.

“I used to release music under the pseudonym Lorens Chuno. But in the past few years, I started to see the need to have a more encompassing name that encapsulates my personal, academic, and artistic life,” he said.

This new single ‘Today’ has a rich flavour of Jazz, and this Manhattan College professor of mathematics and artist, also wants music lovers and his fans to enjoy the classic mix of afrobeats. He also highlights an important fact that his music takes on “a wide range of issues that the contemporary African deals with.”

Udeigwe describes the Nigerian music industry as “flourishing and actually had a lot of growth since it started, and the sound is a little more diverse now.”  On rating the Nigerian music industry in the global music space, Udeigwe said:” In terms of danceable tunes, it occupies a good piece of space.”

He further expresses his thought. “I think there is still a huge unoccupied space that Nigerian music could be filling – we’re still yet to tap into our potentials when it comes to listener-friendly music and purely instrumental music, even though we had traditionally had those kinds of music across all the ethnic groups of the country.” 

He looks forward to collaborations with some established Nigerian musicians, as he expressed his thoughts: “I hear Ladipoe on a song I’m currently working on. I hear The Cavemen on another song I’m working on. Others include Tiwa Savage, Flavour, and Niniola. But to be honest, I’d be honoured to work with any of the established folks.”

With a PhD in mathematics, Udeigwe would simply remain with mathematics if he were not doing music. Though a native of Enugu State, Udeigwe and his six siblings were born and raised in Makurdi, Benue State. His father ran a provision store and a dry-cleaning business while his mother managed a successful tailoring business until retirement.

Udeigwe attended St Theresa’s Primary School in Wurukum Makurdi, and Mt St Gabriel’s Secondary School Makurdi, same high school that Nigerian  music icon, 2Baba (Innocent Idibia), attended. He left Nigeria for the United States in 2000 for his university education and has remained there since then. 

Asked about the distinctive difference between ‘old school music’ and what obtains now, Udeigwe said: “I think most old school musicians have a wider range of inspiration. At the same time, it may not be fair to compare the two eras since technology has changed so many things including music making tools.” His love for music is the sanity that good music gives, besides the entertainment enjoyed.