What is Afropolitan Vibes?
Afropolitan Vibes is a monthly live music concert which exists as a platform for alternative music: a place where music lovers congregate to watch contemporary singer-songwriters and musicians perform mostly original works that are firmly rooted in African musical origins of Afro-beat, Afrofunk, Afro-hip-hop, Afro-pop and Highlife music. A host of talented artists gather each month to rehearse and then perform with Bantucrew on stage at Freedom Park’s Main Stage. The show is held every third Friday of each month. Show starts promptly from 8.00pm-10.30/11.00pm. Afropolitan Vibes is co-produced by Ade Bantu and Abby Ogunsanya.
Bantu
Bantu aka Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity is a 13-piece Afrofunk-Afro-hip-hop-Afro-beat musical collective founded by Nigerian-German brothers Adé Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multi-instrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective.
Palm Wine Tradition
Palm wine is now available at all our shows. As our palm wine is always freshly tapped in Sagamu in the early hours of the morning of each show, this luscious white liquid is guaranteed to be sweet and only mildly intoxicating as it is yet unfermented. Our palm wine is served the traditional way: the wine is available to buy per gourd (to share with friends/family) or in individual calabashes. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase at the Freedom Park bar area where we encourage you all to come join us after the show for a drink, chat and photographs.
Official After Party
After each show, we have an after party gig at the Freedom Park bar area. Taking over from Raymond Bola Browne aka DJraybeeBrowne of Igroove Radio after the show will be DJ Java - our official after party DJ.
Spread the Word
If you love Afropolitan Vibes, spread the word – tweet about us - @afropolitanvibe join our facebook page - facebook.com/Afropolitanvibes subscribe tour digital magazine - issuu.com/afropolitanvibes and invite your friends and family next time.
NEXT AFROPOLITAN VIBES SHOW WILL BE ON
FRIDAY APRIL 15TH, 2016 SEE YOU THEN!
Afropolitan Vibes Magazine credits: Guest editor: Kolade Arogundade
Guest artists’ photographs: Courtesy of subjects
Copy editor: Emma Arogundade
Cover photograph: Akinyele Ayodeji for Ayofemi photography
Guest artists profiles: Dami Ajayi, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, Kolade Arogundade Graphic design and layout: Graeme Arendse
Show photographs: Nwancho Nwanri Printing: John Bola
Contact and advertising enquiries: info@afropolitanvibes.com Tel: + 234-803-4937094
Afropolitan Vibes
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Issue 29 // March 2016
Editor’s Notes
Occupy, Celebrate and Jollof A number of years ago I accompanied my then girlfriend, soon to be wife to her parent’s farm for Christmas. We carried a small lavender plant, still in its black plastic bag from the nursery, and handed it over to her mother. With care and attention, several years later it has grown beyond reckoning into a hedge of purple flowers that send their soothing scent wafting and enticing all those who pass to enter there. This, I think, is a reflection of the birth and growth of Afropolitan Vibes. Starting out as a conversation between friends, to fulfil the need for a space for Bantu Crew to perform, to bring back live music to Lagos. A small seed has grown into a renowned and networked series of events. Though Afropolitan Vibes draws on the rich history of live music in Lagos, it has done some things differently. The model for musicians who wanted to perform with big bands was that they needed to own their own space. Fela owned The Afrikan Shrine, Victor Olaiya owned Stadium Hotel, Ebenezer Obey owned Miliki Spot and even Lagbaja owned Motherlan’... places where the music was not the only drawcard and source of income. Afropolitan vibes chose a public venue – Freedom Park. A place redolent with history, where Nigeria’s heroes were imprisoned. A venue where they could not make any extra income in term of selling drinking or charging entrance fees. But then Ade and Abby are occupiers, they have invited the whole of Lagos and the world to the Freedom Park space, to occupy, celebrate and jollof. Over the years they have featured musicians; evergreen musicians like Uncle Jimi Solanke and Victor Olaiya, they have galalaed with Daddy Showkey and stopped that break dancing with Ras Kimono. They have brought back to life the Rainmaker, Majek Fashek. We have seen musicians from abroad; Wanluv the Kubukor from Ghana and the world famous Dider Awadi. They brought new audiences to old favourites like Shina Peters and the Waka Queen Salawa Abeni. They have created magical alliances and performances across generations and genres. They have grown the seed into a mighty plant, and at no small cost to themselves. Their dedication to nurturing a dream, and the talents and abilities of artists is no small feat, and most recently have been recognised by a visit from the President of Germany. As Ade and Bantu Crew return from a massively successful show at the MASA Festival in Ivory Coast, to celebrate the third anniversary of this musical contraption, this celebration is overshadowed by the death of music enthusiast, contributor, supporter and lover Henrike Grohs, who was killed in the terrorist attacked in Abidjan. This issue and session of Afropolitan Vibes is dedicated to her memory. May all seeds planted by Henrike grow into big flowering hedges. Birthday Happiness to Afropolitan Vibes! Kolade Arogundade Guest Editor
In this issue
We profile our three guest artists: Nneka, Blackky and Dammy Krane. We feature some of our favourite pictures from the 34th edition of Afropolitan Vibes, which was held on December 19th 2016.” Sam Umukoro writes about what Afropolitan Vibes means to him.
Contact us
You can email us with your thoughts at info@afropolitanvibes.com. We also read all comments and respond to questions on on all of our social media platforms We have a limited number of back issues of Afropolitan Vibes magazine. If you would like a copy, please contact us via email or on +234-803-4937094.
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Oris Aigbokhaevbolo Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, writer and critic, won the 2015 All Africa Music Awards’ prize for Best Music/Entertainment Journalism. He lives in Lagos and tweets from @catchoris.
Facebook: facebook.com/Nneka
Twitter: @Nnekaworld
Website: www.nnekaworld.com
Issue 29 // March 2016
I
n some ways the singer Nneka’s path was chosen for her. Being the child of a German father and Nigerian mother, she already was primed to navigate the politics of two cultures at birth. Born in the Niger-Delta region, famous for its natural gifts and unrest, she already was primed for activism. Both strands would later find expression in her music. As though to give a geographical standing to both strands, the young Nneka Lucia Egbuna spent her childhood and teenage years in Warri, Delta state. And then she left for another city—this time Hamburg, Germany. In Germany she became someone else. Spurred perhaps by the novelty of a biracial artist, she became celebrated. “They saw me as ‘somebody’ in Germany,” she told an interviewer, “and I found that very shocking. Back home in Nigeria it’s: ‘OK, you sing. Anybody can sing. So what?’” She began to play small gigs, but she kept an eye on schooling by acquiring a spot in the University of Hamburg to study anthropology. Her singingsongwriting talent kept getting noticed outside of school. And in 2004 she opened a show for dancehall king Sean Paul. By 2005, now 25, the singer was prepared. The year saw the release of her debut album Victim of Truth, a title reflecting her conscious preoccupations. The reviews came in. “‘As good as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” read a key sentence in the British media. Over the course of her career she’d be compared to Erykah Badu and Nina Simone while remaining sui generis. She toured with Victim of Truth, performing in Paris, in Amsterdam and several other spots in Europe. She played gigs with afrobeat scion Femi Kuti, son of Fela, one of her key influences. She opened for soul musician Bilal; she opened for the duo Gnarls Barkley. Three years later she recorded and released her biggest single. Named Heartbeat and from her sophomore album No Longer at Ease, a title derived from the Achebe novel, the single represents Nneka’s
inaugural breach of the German Top 50 barrier. Years later the American rapper Nas would record a remix of the song with the self-proclaimed “Warri-reggae.” But before that particular US excursion, the song would enter the UK Singles Chart peaking at number 4. It would also propel her to the Music of Black Origin Awards (MOBO Awards) where she won the Best African Act at its 2009 edition. To promote the album, she went on tour, this time stopping over at Portugal, Italy and France. In late 2009, Nneka toured the US for the first time, performing in Boston and New York and a few other cities. The tour led to her third album, Concrete Jungle. Released in 2010, it was the first US release by the singer. It continued Nneka’s engagement with issues plaguing her country and the US media embraced her. Featuring the chanteuse on its Africa Voices program, CNN said: “…get her talking about issues close to her heart and she emerges as a firecracker with a big heart and many passions.” Spin named her one of the artists to watch out for in 2010. She performed at the David Letterman show. Nneka released her second EP The Heartbeat EP (with Nas) in 2010. (Her first The Uncomfortable Truth was released in 2005 before Victim of Truth.) In 2012, she ferried her social issues concern away from the recording booth by co-founding The Rope Foundation, a charity that offers a platform for young people keen to express themselves through art. 2012 also saw the release of her fourth album Soul is Heavy. Employing a more expansive sound, the album was, in the words of the singer, concerned with “the day-today life of people…” It became her last album under an established label. The album’s eponymous first single name-checks Ken Saro-Wiwa and Isaac Daka Boro, towering figures from the Niger-Delta, as Nneka runs through the problems of her country. By contrast, the first single My Love, My Love from 2015’s My Fairy Tales offers the singer as a person in love and happy to share the feeling with her fans. She explained the out of character title of the album “as a way of making subject matter that is sometimes quite heavy and bitter sound sweet.” It also proved that beneath the engaging activism on Nneka’s sleeve is a beating heart. Who knew? The album was recorded in France, Denmark and Nigeria, but was born when the singer was learning French in Paris. In other words, she went in to learn a language and came out with an album. In Nneka’s world nothing but the music is ever certain.
Kolade Arogundade Kolade Arogundade is a land economist, poet, world music aficionado, writer, political animal and football fiend.
Facebook: facebook.com/Blackkyinyang
Twitter: @blackky3
Issue 29 // March 2016
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t was in the late 1980s at the University of Lagos and the University Reggae Club was meeting one evening at the Arts Block car park. Blackky was one of them, along with the politically active Mickey Dread in his wheel chair and they were “toasting”. I was a bored student, so I stopped by to watch. One after the other, members of the club backed by a dancehall DJ came into the middle of the circle to “toast’ in Jamaican patois, with varying degrees of authenticity. Dark and handsome, Blackky stood out for me. A couple of years later in 1991 , I would see him perform his debut single “Rosie” at the University of Lagos auditorium. It sounded like something written by Jamaican Rub-a-Dub musician Yellowman. I love Yellowman and so I loved “Rosie”. Blackky was an instant hit. Many musicians came from the Unilag of that generation. There was Blackky, Esse Agesse and the campus band, Turning Point that featured Wumi (nee Aboderin) and Tunde Obe. Before the release of Rosie, Blackky had won the Lekki Sunsplash Talent Hunt, one of the most popular live concerts in Nigeria at the time. (Junior and Pretty came second in that contest). Blackky used his win to launch himself into space, releasing his first record with his prize, a recording contract with Polygram/Premier Records Nigeria. ‘About Tyme’ went platinum and won a string of awards which included the Nigerian Music Award’s ‘song of the year’, ‘best new artiste’ and ‘best reggae artiste’; Fame Music Awards ‘best new artiste’ and ‘song of the year’ amongst others. He followed this first album with a string of releases, cementing his place as Nigeria’s dancehall icon, and becoming the first musician to have his album and music used to promote a brand (Malibu). Aside from his KORA nomination in 2010, he and his team have launched Blackky’s official concert series called, ‘BLACKKY’s PLAYGROUND’ which became the reference point for world class concerts and holds Bi-annually in Lagos. His music, like that of Yellowman was mainly about self praise and boasts, although he wrote such songs as killer disease, which spoke about the dangers of AIDS. Blackky is presently working on his 7th studio album.
Dami Ajayi Dami Ajayi lives in Lagos and tweets from @ajayidami.
Facebook: facebook.com/dammykrane
Twitter: @dammy_krane
Instagram: big_dammy_krane
Issue 29 // March 2016
O
yindamola Johnson Emmanuel, better known as Dammy Krane, morphed from a studio rat to an overnight celebrity by a stroke of chance and a lot of industry. Born into a polygamous family, his mother Oluwakemi Osodi, based in the United States, manages a number of Fuji musicians. Raised by his grandmother, Dammy Krane’s exposure to music began at a precocious age of six and he names amongst his musical influences the likes of Fela Kuti, Sunny Ade, Lagbaja, 2Face Idibia, D’Banj and Saucekid. Like most young people he began his music career in church, but also participated actively in music activities both in his primary and secondary schools. By age 11, he was already popular in his neighborhood for his love for music and dance. While at Redeemer’s University, he took his pursuit of music even further by attempting to record his own songs - an act frowned upon by his family, Dammy Krane indignantly followed his dream, spending man hours in digital studios obsessing about music. “Uni Girls”, a Samklef-produced mid-tempo song released in December 2010 when he was just a 17 year old undergraduate was so popular on campuses as to earn him the Face of Dynamix Magazine, a campus lifestyle tabloid. With fame and recognition came the responsibility of choosing his path, Dammy Krane chose music and abandoned his educational stint with Microbiology. More breakthrough came by way of meeting veteran
male vocalist TuFace by chance at a party in 2012. Dammy Krane was subsequently signed on to TuFace’s label, Hypertek Records. Next up was his definitive hit single, “My Dear”, which was a huge club-banger with the colloquial innuendo, ko-le-re-body, which grew viral on social media, perpetuated by hashtags. To his credits are numerous singles; notable amongst them are “Pooner”, “Condom Sir” and “Ligali” featuring Fuji maestro, Pasuma. Krane describes his music as 21st Century Fuji and one is compelled to agree with his blend of digital hip-hop sounds reminiscent of America and lyrical phrasing that powerfully hints at Fuji music both in delivery, demands and dealings. His delightful “Ligali” samples very generously from Pasuma Wonder’s earlier hit song of the same title. His debut album, Enterkraner, released in August 2014, was received with mixed reviews but “Amin”, perhaps his most important song was on that LP record.Undeterred by critical reception, Dammy Krane forges on with delightful collaborations, notable amongst which is “Awade”, his duet on Iyanya’s Applaudise album. He has been nominated for numerous awards including the Headies Next Rated Awards in 2012 and the Rookie Award in that same year which he deservedly won. His latest single, released in February 2016, is the up-tempo Young John-produced “Solo” which features Olamide.
Making room for all! an interview with Ade Bantu What gave birth to Afropolitan vibes? When I returned to Nigeria, I was frustrated that no one was booking my band. There is no real live music scene as such, not like in Europe or maybe South Africa where you have dedicated clubs and where an audience goes on a regular basis to watch performances. I came up with a name Afropolitan Vibes and about a month in, Abby joined in that she likes the idea and she liked what we were doing and saw a lot of promise and she wanted to partner with me and that’s how we got together and started this partnership.
continent. Also, I felt like I needed to re-engage it with the people that mattered; the students, the agberos and the regular folk to see if this word had any meaning and see if it wasn’t just a catchphrase. Afropolitan Vibes is about me as part of that returnee group coming back home. I’m engaging with my music and engaging that word and engaging my philosophies also. When you’re out of this country, it is very easy to be pan African. It is easy to be an activist. But when you come back home, you have to deal with the reality on ground. You have to engage with people who may not respond positively to your ideas and who may not be as supportive as you anticipate and you have to deal with disappointments. There are frustrations that go hand-in-hand when trying to share your vision with your people.
Afropolitan? I have a kind of fixation when it comes to terminologies that try to capture the essence of all I believe I am. I come from two distinct but also similar cultures - I am German, I am Nigerian, I am Yoruba, I am Prussian and I am ijebu. I’ve always been fascinated with words as I said, I try to capture the essence of who I am. I felt that it was something that I could connect to. That whole African cosmopolitan vibe. I had come across the word in various forms, in magazines, and through books like Taiye Selassie’s ‘GHANA MUST GO’. What I found a bit disturbing was that this word was being occupied by a certain group of very privileged Africans and there was a form of exclusion because you didn’t include normal folks, people who didn’t have two or three passports and couldn’t just wakeup and fly out and be gallivanting from Madrid to Japan, to New York and I didn’t like this exclusion so what I wanted to do was re-engage the word. With Afropolitan Vibes I was going back to Isale Eko, one of the major meeting points when it comes to the interaction between Europe and Africa in the
Class Rebellion To be honest with you I am becoming more aware of that rebellion the older I get. I think what happened was that when I was a child I was always getting the impression that I was special based on the fact that I was an exception to the rule, my mum being German and my dad being Nigerian. There weren’t many mixed race kids in Nigeria or interracial relationships. What I noticed was that the privileged folks were always amongst themselves and they didn’t really want to engage with normal folks, the house helps and normal kids. Somehow it always threw me off and I never really liked the idea of separation and as a kid I just knew instinctively there was something wrong. What my parents did was that they made sure that we never took in that position of otherness or that position of privilege. I went to the Jakande school (public School). I went to Adeniyi Jones primary school. I was the child of Jakande’s free education
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scheme. I was the first set. I blended in well and for some reason I could always connect with my music. I always wanted it to be accessible to all and that was why the very first single NZOBU was the remake of a traditional folk song and an Igbo war chant. The rebellion is conscious and unconscious at the same time. I grew up in a class system and I never wanted to be part of that oppressive force that was constantly dominating the dialogue and was constantly saying we are privileged and see ourselves as something special. I never wanted to see myself as that. I wanted to blend in and engage. You might be in your living room or your bedroom coming up with all kinds of theories but how feasible are they and how real are they when you can’t engage with normal folk?
by the fact that we’ve been there for a long time. This gives us a standing on the music scene so if I call somebody – even if they don’t know me directly or know Bantu as a collective, maybe their management would have heard of us or danced to our music or maybe even be a fan. Also over the past three years we have built a reputation around Afropolitan Vibes for professionalism and for a live show that attracts the right audience – a show that is different and is worth the time and the effort that artists have to invest in terms of rehearsals and coming to perform for free. With that, the artists who have performed have also become our ambassadors and tell others how great it is.
Live Music in Nigeria - Sustainability It is very difficult to sustain a 13-piece band in Nigeria where you have to pay for rehearsals and people come from a long distance because what has happened is that a lot of artists don’t live in the Centre. Most of the gifted musicians are at the periphery of Lagos because that is where they can afford to live, so transportation is a major issue for them and the economics of displacement of housing is the reality. Maintaining a band is very expensive so it is a very difficult exercise and then add on the fact that venues are expensive because you are competing against corporate bodies and wedding ceremonies and all kinds of events that spend a lot of money to rent halls so you as a regular artist, renting that hall is near impossible so we are just fortunate that freedom Park agreed to a deal where they said you can come into our space, we see it as an art space that is necessary in this environment and that we will give you the space for free to engage an audience. Sustaining the event itself is extremely difficult because what we do is sell palm wine to pay the band and we ask the audience to give donations in our calabashes. We also get a bit of money from advertising in the magazine and once in a while that might be a sponsor that does a one off with us but that is not really sustainable.
Curating the Right Mix The concept from the onset was to engage all types of music so we don’t want a situation where we would snub popular music. What we want to do is to create a movement of alternative music without excluding popular music. Also in an environment like Nigeria where people forget easily, I’m aware it is all about the flavor of the month. We want to remind ourselves that music is 360°. By bringing in the golden oldies what we see ourselves being are custodians of our history. I don’t want a situation where foreigners come and write our story. That we have a golden oldies and contemporary artists and even underground artists who don’t have a huge following and bringing all of them together. It is all about curating the right mix. The Audience Mix What we have done over the years is to create something exceptional where the audience is absolutely open to the journey and open to what we are presenting to them and as such they trust us blindly based on the fact that over the years they have experienced a professionally rehearsed show where we end up with three hours of uninterrupted entertainment where they know that will get the best of each artist. They trust Abby and I and the band that we will present the best, even if they don’t know the artist. With regard to the audience, other Germans will come there, so will returnees as well as agberos who identify with me plus the people that know me from project fame– all of this has helped to attract an eclectic mix of people. What is important for us from the onset was to create a kind of family. That is why the word vibe is so important because it is about creating a certain energy. It is the energy of all-inclusiveness– There is no VIP table and there is no class division. Music can unite and when there is no barrier between stage and audience anybody can jump up and be the centre of attraction.
Live Music in Nigeria - Sponsorship? At all. So you are basically juggling every single day and praying you can pull off the next event. It is a lot of blood sweat and a lot of insecurity around Afropolitan vibes. We also happen to be lucky especially because I can call on artists and get them to perform for free. Sourcing Artists? I might not be like a P-Square or D’banj or WizKid but what I have is a form of credibility based on the fact that we have been engaging the entertainment scene since the 90s, when we started releasing singles. This has given us an edge because we have always been different, people have always been curious about us
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Making room for all! continued from pg 11
Tourist Attraction Your question about whether it is a tourist attraction I would say that yes it is. There are people who book their holidays around Afropolitan Vibes and people that write to us and look at the dates and say that they want to be in Lagos when the show is holding because they know they will get beautiful entertainment and also interact with a great audience. Abby Ogunsanya? Without Abby Ogunsanya, there is no Afropolitan Vibes. It is that simple. Just the same as it is to say that without the Bantu collective, there is no Afropolitan Vibes. Without Abby, we wouldn’t have been able to sustain this idea and without her I wouldn’t be where I am and we wouldn’t be where we are with Afropolitan Vibes.
I want to be recognised for my work an interview with Abby Ogunsanya
German President’s Visit For me it was a very emotional moment because having the president of Germany, my country, come to meet me and I’m saying this with all humility and I am not coming from a place of ego - to actually come to Freedom Park and say that I want to see the space and I want to see where you guys perform and I want to meet up with Theo Lawson and Wole Soyinka and Ade Bantu, it meant a lot. With Afropolitan Vibes, I always hoped that it would be at the forefront of their musical renaissance in Nigeria and that we would get away from that world music cliché. With his visit, It was a recognition of our political and social work. And as I told the German president, It is also about protecting this space because that is an exception to the rule. There is a lot of development going on in Lagos Island and the character of that place is constantly being transformed and the economy of space is real. Him coming there is helping to protect that space and to tell the powers that be that the whole world is watching.
Afropolitan Vibes Afropolitan Vibes is a live music concert series which Ade Bantu and I started in March 2013. It is held every third Friday of the month at Freedom Park in Lagos. It is an open air concerts and it features a house band and guest artists. Abby Ogunsanya I co-produce the show and co-own the show with Ade Bantu. When people ask me what I do for a living, I always tell them that I am a fixer. I fix things and I fix people, though that doesn’t actually pay me. The job that does pay me is that I am a marketing consultant mostly in events management and public relations. I’ve been doing that since I left university. My particular interests are in music and film. Elder’s Corner Right now I am producing a music documentary called Elders’ Corner, again with Ade Bantu and Siji (Awoyinka), another musician who is directing but I tend mostly to develop concepts. I like developing concepts. I like to create sustainable ideas for events and for businesses. I am also currently developing the idea of a documentary about alternative lifestyles. Elder’s Corner in Afropolitan Vibes Conception It certainly came to mind when Ade and I sat down to develop the show. We always knew that we wanted to feature guest artists and we wanted the older folk to be part of it because we knew that there was a market for their music.
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thought that any organisation would’ve jumped on the opportunity to sponsor by now. They have sponsored us intermittently, for example we have had companies on board on an ad hoc basis but the fact that they haven’t committed long-term is a real mystery. We anticipated that we would get sponsors quite quickly because of the kind of crowd that we were confident that we would gather. In fact we started with about 50 to 60 people at the amphitheatre and now we run into thousands. We have pretty much taken over the whole park and you would think that organisations would be attracted to market to the great crowd that we have who are very savvy and very diverse, but for reasons known only to them, they have not. Having said that though we have had consistent support from the Goethe Institute right from the beginning and they have been very useful in many regards. Also, Spinlet who up until recently were long-term partners but have had to withdraw and focus on their own internal business and that is understandable. Freedom Park and Ade’s Class Rebellion I am very comfortable in my own skin and I have always been very proud of the upbringing that my parents gave me as I am sure he is as well. I actually take pride in the fact that I am middle class, not that there is anything special about it. I don’t think there has ever been a conflict about it between Ade and I or even the need to attempt to marry the two. At the end of the day we are both very socially conscious people and we were both averse to the typical concert scene in Nigeria. When we were committing to get together to develop the show I was leaving a very lucrative profession. I was making a lot of money at the time and I wasn’t willing to leave to devote my time to anything that I wasn’t extremely passionate about and I have always been passionate about developing something different, just thinking out of the box. Meeting him was actually perfect because in addition to us getting along superbly as friends, we did have the same ideas about what we wanted to create and the kind of people that we want to attract - which was as broad a range of people as possible. It was always our plan. It wasn’t an accident. We wanted to create an atmosphere that was comfortable for everyone from the average man on the street to the average man who has never walk the streets before.
Marketing Failure? We have done a lot of self analysis and we have had other people do analysis for us, whether solicited or not. I would say absolutely it is not a marketing failure on our side. The reason I would say that is not to be defensive – I don’t know everything, we don’t know everything, but it is certainly not due to the fact that we haven’t approached the right companies. We have definitely approached all the appropriate people who have in turn expressed keen interest but are slow to follow through. But you know, despite that or for whatever reason, the show continues to grow every single month. We have never had a drop in numbers since we started. We will soon even outgrow Freedom park. We are very proud of everything that we have achieved and we know that eventually everything good will come. The Very First Concert! It was held at the amphitheatre which has the smallest stage at freedom Park. The theatre is a very nice venue and a lot of people still miss it now. It was just a concert of friends basically because there was no money. I think Siji performed as did Aduke. I can’t even remember who else performed because it was that long ago. I think Abiodun (Odukoya) was also there. He is Ade’s brother. It was just really nice and everything worked. The audience was mostly our friends The performers were friends so it was a very jovial and very easy atmosphere and we just carried on developing it from there.
Free at Freedom Park? It is now three years, in fact it is our anniversary this month. When we embarked on the show with me as a marketing person on with Ade being a musician and with having created something truly special, we
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Afropolitan Vibes
I want to be recognised for my work
be improving with each show. After each show, we over-analyse every single thing. We get bombarded by huge praise and accolades and people are calling and praising us and telling us how brilliant we are, but all you do, whether it’s the band or either of us, because they are just as bad or good depends on how you see it, is just analyse everything that went wrong and how we are going to improve it for the next show. We are not interested in what went right and if you have that attitude there is no way that you would not want to make the next show the best one you have ever done. I think with the exception of one or two editions where we have had technical difficulties, the shows have been better and better each time.
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Ade Bantu -Rap and Hip Hop to Afrobeat I am not really into rap music, which is something Ade doesn’t like me saying very much. And yes you are right, at the beginning his music was very much rap based but I think the subtle transition is born out of working and performing with the same group of musicians over a long period of time. When I met them they had been doing rehearsals for years without having any concerts at all and with the rest of the band who I have also gotten to know very well I think it was just an organic thing and they developed this new style together.
Booking Artists with no Budget I am a really positive thinker, so I don’t tend to think about bad things so much. Our challenges have always been monetary but the challenges have never impeded our ability to do the work to a very high standard. As I regularly tell Ade; we are victims of our own success. With regards to talking to artists, the problems that we have are not concerned with persuading them to do the show. That is gotten easier with every show because they see the publicity and they hear feedback from other artists and everybody wants to be on the show. We have never had a situation where they don’t want to come and perform. They know that they would be working with the best band in Nigeria and I can say that, because I know it is not an idle boast and that they are coming on the best platform in Nigeria as well so we never have a problem with people showing interest. What we have problems with is scheduling conflicts and securing the right combination of artists for each show. What we have problems with is booking the right person at the right time. Often times when we want them they are not available, and when they are available, we don’t think that they are the right fit based on the artists that we have already booked. Those are the types of problems that we have with artists. Our challenges are in terms of paying the band and the technical crew and the support staff.
Your Role in the Musical Transition I don’t really have any input into their musical style. I think there is more to do with them working as a collective. My influence is in helping them develop a structure, but not in terms of the music. “Without Abby Ogunsanya, there wouldn’t be any Afropolitan vibes” - Ade Bantu. True? It is 100% true but it is also true that without Ade, there would be no Afropolitan Vibes either. You know us very well so you know that Ade and I have a very unusual relationship in that we bicker and we fight but we are incredibly close. We are also incredibly close in the way we see things, we do see things in quite a similar way and I don’t think either of us could have ever done the show without the other. The Art of Persuasion I’ll persuade Ade to see things my way without the need to bully him. Ade is a musician and musicians have a tendency to be self absorbed. I see things from a wider perspective and if we disagree, I don’t argue but I do have my way of persuading people, and it doesn’t just happen with Ade, I have my way of persuading everyone without them realising that I persuaded them. Bullying is very unsubtle and not particularly intelligent and I’d like to say of myself that I have a certain level of intelligence mixed with deviousness.
Bad Card Musicians? Yes we have a black list of artists who were particularly rude or particularly flippant at the beginning. Nobody is rude to us now – success breeds many friends. Some people used to say ‘oh we are not really sure if the band can play our music’. We used to hear that quite a lot. Nobody says that now because a lot of them don’t have bands that come anywhere near the professionalism and ability of the band that Ade has assembled in Bantu. I work with them every day and even I am always in awe of them.
Every Show is the Best Show Ever? I am a perfectionist. Ade and I are working on virtually no income right now and for you to do something like this, you have to have a huge passion for what you are doing. When I say it will be the best yet, I actually do mean it because there is no way that we would carry on if we didn’t believe that we would constantly
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I want to be on your Stage Musicians? Yes, we do! It is a real source of pride because at the show we often have artists who have performed before who now come regularly to the show as spectators. And we also have artists who have not yet performed on the show but who have heard of it, who come to the show as spectators and then approach us backstage and say ‘oh I must come and perform, when will you have space for me?’ And that is why I get really defensive of people who get criticised because they are not live artists. We do get people who mime currently but who are really keen to work with a band so in that sense, we are helping to develop the industry a little bit more.
I Like Afropolitan… It Rocks! Sam Umukoro
Launch me on your Stage Musicians? All the time. Even though you will never see a picture of me in any of our marketing stuff and you never see me in any of our videos because I am not interested in fame, people still somehow know who I am at each show. Ade is lucky enough that he is on the stage but even he gets approached on the stage sometimes. People come up to me with demo CDs or insist on singing for me right there and then and I am like “I’m busy, I’m working”. They are that keen to get on the show and I always have CDs thrust into my hands at every show. We don’t want to encourage new artists unless we have seen them and we have been blown away by their exceptional live performance. It’s not really a platform for new artists because at the end of the day we have standards and oftentimes inexperience artists will buckle under pressure in front of such a discerning crowd and we don’t want that to happen.
The success of Afropolitan Vibes concert truly represents a triumph of the human spirit and the tenacity of two kindred spirits. Designed as a platform for good live music in an atmosphere devoid of the Lagos Island pretentiousness, the monthly concert held every last Friday has become a melting point in just three years of its establishment. A major feature of the Lagos social scene, the show which attracts expatriates , company executives, business leaders and street urchins, has come to mean many things to its followers. The concert, for some is a veritable platform for networking and hanging out with friends. However, for many, it is an escape from the bustling lunacy of Lagos. Ironically, Afropolitan Vibes is held in an old colonial prison yard in Lagos Island converted to a recreation centre and ironically renamed Freedom Park. Truly, the show offers freedom not in the manner promised by politicians but in a way that seduces you with excitement and the belief that against all odds anything is possible in Lagos.
Celebrity? I don’t want to be famous. I have no interest in being famous. I want to be recognised for my work and I want all the rewards that come with it, but in terms of having my face out there or having guys throw themselves at me…on second thoughts that may not be such a bad thing (the guys throwing themselves at me part). It is not really something that I crave.
For me, Afropolitan Vibes evokes passion. I love its intangible essence. It reminds me of all that is good about Lagos; the endless possibilities in the midst of obstacles and contradictions. In the past three years, whenever I am in Lagos, the show has become my go- to- place for fantastic music of any variety. The opportunity to watch legends like Orlando Julius perform in the same stage with new cats like MI gives me joy. You should try it sometime and nowhere else will you find the rich line up of musicians for a bargain.
Afropolitan Vibes! Afropolitan Vibes is one of Nigeria’s greatest entertainment exports that attracts not only music lovers within Nigeria who want to listen to live music but it is also a big draw for people outside the country who want to come and explore what the country has to offer in terms of entertainment.
Three years may not be a long time, but as someone who has had a ringside view of what it takes to put the show together, it has been one long journey fueled by passion and love for good music.
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