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

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Benin City, at the heart of the Benin Kingdom and its great past

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Nigeria, the land of plenty

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