when modern meets traditional music

Keziah Jones and his famous hat

Lagos is a city where music counts: bodies like to shake on the rhythm of percussions; churches are resonating with gospel; bars, clubs and pool parties rock at the sound of the latest tunes locally produced and heavily exported; and of course all the mobile phones serving to their owner their own selection through their earphones. But there is also the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) which feature a school of music and is hosted in an old but well maintained building in Lagos Island, the MUSON center.

african jam: Keziah Jones, Hammay Saho, Age Beeka, the Venus Bushfires, Nneka and the Muson ensemble

The last week of February, MUSON produced a series of concert bringing together classical musicians playing strings, traditional percussions, chora players and a griot singer from Gambia - Hammay Saho-, a nigerian male soul singer - Age Beeka -, a nigeria female gospel singer - the Venus Bushfires - and two internationally acclaimed musicians and singers - Nneka and Keziah Jones. The project called New Horizons and subtitled Resistance and Revelation was about marrying classical and traditional instruments with guitars in new arrangements under the supervision of Tunde Jegede, resident composer at the Muson. The result was surprisingly pleasant to hear.

Nneka and the Venus Bushfires

Tunde Jegede and his chora

Comments

tanker for sale

tanker for sale As in Singapore, many ships are crowding the horizon on the sea along the Atlantic coast of Lagos. These are patiently waiting for their turn to come to unload or load their containers in the harbour of Apapa or Tincan Island. Most of them come and go after have completed their duty. But unlike Singapore some are just staying longer than expected, by design or by accident. Hence the coast is littered by ship wrecks which are rusting away and sinking in the sand progressively so that, in the end, they are no longer visible. once a great ship Stories point out human error as a reason for the ship's beaching. The captain went to see his girlfriends and the ship drifted ashore... seriously? More probable is that these ships are either beyond repair or the company owning her in financial trouble and therefore the ship is abandoned. from raw material to recycling One of them was a complete tanker standing ominously on the sand at the edge of the

The Ogiamien family in Benin City: about wood and history

Roland Ogiamien in his wood-carving workshop Wood Roland Ogiamien is a renown wood carver. He is now retired in his home town of Benin City and is now in his 80s. We met him in his simple workshop, a barn opened on the surrounding greenery. A part of the studio is used to store wood pieces and make sure they are well dried. He is using a collection of german ustensils to carve and polish the wood. He spent most of his career working out of Lagos before relocating to Benin. Roland was explaining that the wood he uses today is different that the one he worked on in his early days. Ebony has become rare and wood carvers have had to switch to other types of wood. Traditional heritage is a large part of his inspiration which he translates on wood with his own particular style, exploring various techniques for the finish of his pieces. Roland Ogiamien and two of his favourite masks History Ogiamien is the name of an important royal family in Benin Kingdom. Towards the end of the

The mysterious stones images of Esie

turned into Stones Chief J. Agbo Ooye had been waiting in the shade of a large tree, in front of the National Museum of Esie, dressed in ceremonial costume with a velvet hat incrusted with crystal beads sown in the shape of his title and his name. He was sitting next to his wife on a bench, expecting our arrival. His wife, he would tell us later, was his best friend and she was actually demonstrating it by guiding his frail body from one place to another and guiding his hand when it came to sign autographs of his books. Chief Agbo Ooye is the author of two booklets on the Esie Stones. The first one, called A Personal Account of the Esie Stones is giving an overview of the differences between the scientific and the traditional interpretation of the Esie Stones. The second one is called the History of Esie and gives a brief account of Esie's history from the early settlement of Yorubas in various groups (Esie, Oro, Eku Apa, Igbonla, Edidi, Igbesi, etc...) to the present day. Thos

Nigeria, the land of plenty

Search This Blog