Nigeria, the land of plenty

Arese Amokpae in the role of Sandra This week is the week of Felabrations . Many music events are celebrating the memory of Fela Kuti across Lagos. Freedom Park has a series of Afro-beat concerts, same thing at the New Afrika Shrine . And this year a musical called Fela - arrest the music, written by Paul Ugbede, in reference to the life of Fela, in Nigeria, during which Fela was a strong critic of the short-comings of successive governments and generals. State coffers where used to fill private pockets, especially with bubbling oil resources being the main government income. Theft, corruption were the essential ways to get rich for the happy few who in the meantime ignored the poverty and the stagnation of the masses. The musical was played at Muson Centre, the classical musical institution of Lagos. It was musically directed by a Nigerian who graduated at the Muson center itself, Ayo Ajayi, therefore one of the first musical made in Nigeria. This was, in my view, a very good th...

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 ...