Nigerian artist Keziah Jones wants to breathe new life into the local music scene Nigeria’s biggest music stars peddle hiphop and rap. At their ‘live’ performances they mime energetically to recordings laden with synthesised sound.
The debut album of the rave-of-themoment, 21-year-old Wizkid, is a testament to the wonders of auto-tune. Left lurking in the shadows are musicians who wield instruments and front bands.
“How do we reverse everybody going to machines and only hip-hop?” asks Keziah Jones, Nigerian born guitarist and ‘Blufunk’ (a blend of funk, rock, blues and jazz) musician.
Jones is much better known abroad than at home. His debut single was a world wide hit in 1992, and his most recent album, Nigerian Wood, spent 43 weeks on the bestselling charts in 2008. He has started spending more time in Nigeria and is eager to be at the forefront of a live music renaissance in his home country.
The 1970s, he says, were the golden age of Nigerian music. Now he wants to see a rebirth of that era. He dreams of building a venue, an “alternative space” where “all the freaks can come and let off”.
There is a small but thriving live music scene in Lagos. A reveller can head off to Femi Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine for the Sunday Jump, three hours of performance by Femi himself.
“For all of Lagos’s musical talent, Jones says that the scene lacks support”
Kunle Tejuosho, one of Lagos’s most committed live music promoters, runs Jazzhole, a bookstore-cum-recordstore in Ikoyi.
Swe Bar or Sheraton Four Points are good for a live band onThursday nights, and the hottest new venue is Victoria Island’s The Life House.
No doubt the city has its talented instrumentalists. Some are returnees from Europe and the US, like Orlando Julius, Nneka, Siji and Ade Bantu.
The rest are home-grown, from twenty somethings Bez, GT the Guitarman, Sista soul and Jaiye, to 84-year-old Fatai Rolling Dollar, the grand old man of highlife.
Arguably the most successful of them all is Asa, who has found mainstream success in France and is also popular in Nigeria. They are a minority, however.
“There’s a lack of instrumentalists … Nigeria used to be known for live instrumentalists a while ago,” Jones laments. That is why he is taking steps to make his renaissance dream come true.
On the grounds of the house he is building in Lagos, he is planning to have a studio, “a place to rehearse … and also to train people – instrumentalists”.
Jones is reaching out to fellow musicians such as Femi Kuti for support and to help mentor younger talent. He will definitely need all the help he can get to capture the attention of the hiphop generation.
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