Inspiro Productions, organisers of the Lagos International Jazz Festival (LIJF), Nigeria’s first and premier jazz festival, has released plans for this year’s event. The festival themed ‘Jazz in the Megacity’ holds from April 29 to May 1. This coincides with the end of the April Jazz Appreciation Month and the April 30th UN recognised International Jazz Day.
This year’s festival is dedicated to honour veteran broadcaster, music writer and legendary Jazz critic Benson Idonije a.k.a. Benjay, who turns 80 this year and is also a prelude to celebrate Lagos@50 in 2017.
Jazz great, Lekan Babalola is curating this year’s event with a strong emphasis on music education and showcasing the Next Rated in Nigerian Jazz and Jazz related music.
Student bands from several of the city’s leading music schools will be featured on the one venue four stage grand finale. These schools include the Span Academy of Jazz and Contemporary Music, 10 Strings Music Institute, The Peter King School of Music and a host of others.
The first Lagos International Jazz Festival was held in 2008 and after a brief hiatus is now in its 4th edition. The event seeks not only to position Lagos State as a global Jazz tourism destination, but also showcase the best of the city’s Jazz and Jazz related music practitioners on an international platform.
The 2015 edition of the festival was dedicated and honoured the founder of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival tagged ‘Africa’s Grandest Gathering’ Rashid Lombard.
The venue and complete line-up for the event will be released at a later date, the organisers stated.
