MUSON’S MEGACONCERT ARRIVES
Today marks the first of the concert series organised by Tunde Jegede, the artistic director, Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON). Prior to this day, Jegede had been studying the Nigerian music culture carefully to determine the access points to classical music. Last year, his arrival at MUSON was quite celebrated because the organisation is in care of a world-renowned composer, cellist and kora virtuoso. With over 20 years in the music business, Jegede has become very astute and is much inclined towards harnessing gifted singers and musicians. In this series with the theme, “New Horizons,’’ Jegede will make MUSON centre the choice music destination for Lagosians in the next four months.
Cast your mind back to the classic movie, Sound of Music. We all loved the beautiful voices that sang the songs that a lot of children learnt by heart. That’s just an appetising thought by the way since what MUSON has in the offing is far bigger than a two-anda-half hour or so movie. Tonight, an exploration of jazz is to be witnessed by music lovers. It features premiere Nigerian spoken word artist, Dike Chukwumerije, singer and multi percussionist, Venus Bushfires, Age Beeka, Imoleayo Balogun and the Art Ensemble of Lagos.
On March 29, African Messiah which is a contemporary opera written and composed by Jegede, would be performed for the first time at the same venue, Agip Recital Hall. Interestingly, more than 50 per cent of the works in the opera are home grown. It is essen- tially a meeting point between western and African classical music.
“I wrote this in collaboration with the MUSON choir. It will be a presentation of classical music with access points. We will not be doing covers of classics. The works are mostly created from players who are based in Nigeria, that is, 80% of them,” said Jegede, at a media briefing held recently to announce the arrival of the concert series in Lagos.
For him, the idea of bringing spoken word performance on stage is to widen the appeal of classical and jazz music, which had been largely criticised as being elitist. What Jegede promised to do in this performance is to tell the story of the messiah in parallel to the historical trials and tribulations of African people through millennia, told in poetic narrative. That will feature the MUSON Choir as well as the Samadhi Ensemble, conducted by Sir Emeka Nwokedi.
Come April 19, anyone who comes to the hall should be ready for the opera titled, “After the Dream” but there will be no sleep as the finest of musicians on board will have no challenge in keeping everyone in the audience awake. The soprano soloist, Ranti Ihimoyan will be sharing the stage with the African American opera diva, Laverne Williams. Other performers for that night include Guchi Egbunine, Fatima Anyekema and Chika Ogbuji.
The last of the concert series will take place on June 14. This is the point where you should save the details in a diary because if you miss this last one, there is no storyteller in this world that would narrate the story of the 19th century composer and violinist, Joseph Antonio Emidy with musical accompaniment like these performers would. Titled, Emidy: He Who Dared to Dream, the story covers the account of the life of the musician who transversed three continents namely Africa, South America and Europe. The performance will feature Diana Baroni, Indian multipercussionist, Renu Hossain and Tunde Jegede.
In addition to the concert series, the Chairman, MUSON, Gboyega Banjo said that there are opportunities for training members of the public in music. While responding to the comments of some of the journalists at the forum regarding the lack of requisite music skills in many popular musicians in Nigeria, he agreed that there is a need to build the gap between knowledge and practice of music.
When asked why the days of the concert series were scheduled for Sundays, he responded that Sunday evening had become tested and trusted as the most convenient day of the week for the target audience. According to him, traffic is usually very light on Sundays and many people have fewer engagements that would prevent them from enjoying a few hours of good music at the centre.
On the accessibility of classical music to the public, Jegede and Banjo observed that the music genre had always been difficult to stretch beyond its audience in all parts of the world. One of the best developments that can happen to it has been to create access points such as drama, in the opera form, to reach as many people as possible and at a very reasonable fee.
“The concert is in response to giving a platform for many music talents in Nigeria especially the opera singers at the MUSON. The concert series is covering different grounds from jazz to choral. But it is one vision,” said Jegede.