Nigeria, the land of plenty

Fela lives on Every year in October, Felabrations commemorate the memory of Fela Anikulapo Kuti for a whole week. This edition has been widely celebrated in several places in town. Obviously the biggest part of it was taking place at the New Afrika Shrine in Alausa. Freedom Park, in Lagos Island, has also had its fair share of Afrobeat celebration every night of the week. And for the VIPs, a function was organised at the Federal Palace hotel under a properly air-conditioned tent used for up-market weddings. Large VIP areas had been demarcated for the occasion, furnished with minimalist white sofas and a few fancy looking chairs and high tables towards the front of the stage. The line-up was great: Bez, Nnekka, Seun Kuti and Femi Kuti. One could have thought that it was worth going to only this event because of the great artist line-up and the fact that it was much more comfortable going there than all the way down to the New Africa Shrine which offers a somewhat rough environment ...

Afropolitan style It rained gently the whole evening, not enough to discourage the crowd from gathering at Freedom Park to listen to an eclectic mix of nigerian singers and musicians. That was a blessing after seeing the sky tormented by distant lightnings, it was probably pouring a few kilometers away. Afropolitan Vibes is a monthly live music concert gathering of nigerian musicians and singers from all musical styles: Afro-beat/ hip hop/ pop and highlife. Adunni and Nefretiti The party has become very popular over the years, people are still coming en-masse despite the recent steep price increase of the entry tickets. The increase has helped improve the quality of sound as a result of more money being spent on the sound system. The show started with Bantu, 2 Nigerian - German brothers, who powered the evening. They invited Musiliu Haruna Ishola, famous for singing Apala music which originated in the 1930s as wake-up call during ramadan in yoruba land, a joyful call for bre...