Creator, propagator, exponent and legend of afan media, Chief Umobuarie Igberaese commenced his career on the afan in Esan, Nigeria, in 1912 at the age of ten. He died on December 10, 2001.Afan is enjoyed by kings, lords, warriors, nobles, aristocrats, plebeans, widows, orphans, slaves as well as the literate and the non-literate.
He was described by David Umobuarie - banker, lecturer and author of Black Justice - as "...a compendium of Esan culture, tradition and usages...."
In 1922, at the age of ten, Chief Umobuarie Igberaese learnt to play the afan; an instrument he made famous for professional story telling and entertainment. Thereafter, he transformed it to a legendary art which has become a rallying point amongst the people of Esan in the West African sub region.
Umobuarie was born in 1912. He started his career on the afan ten years later. His father, Igberaese, lived in his ancestral home Idoa, Ekpoma, with his wife, Enemare, who had given birth to four male children who did not survive. Each child had died as soon as it was weaned. Although soothsayers had predicted relief, the matter soon became unbearable. Consequently, when Enemare became pregnant again, she travelled to Idunwele village on the instruction of her mother-in-law. The latter, being a native of Idunwele in Ewu had warned Enemare against the danger of remaining in Idoa with that pregnancy.
There, in Idunwele-Ewu, Enemare stayed in the household of her mother in-law’s uncle, Ubene, who was then the village Chief Priest. It was in this household in 1912that a male child was born to the Igberaese’s. The child was named Umobuarie, which means “Death has nothing to take from here”.
Incidentally, Chief Umobuarie Igberaese was an only child who later became an orphan. His father died before he was born while his mother followed suit immediately after childbirth. Therefore, he was under the care and supervision of Ubene and his family. Consequently, Umobuarie became a sojourner in Idunwele by reason of his birth.
Therefore, since he did not have the opportunity of experiencing any formal education, his medium of communication was Esan. In spite of that, afan music was greatly demanded for by recording studios.
