The Lagos International Jazz Festival 2015 will begin in Lagos tomorrow at Freedom Park, Lagos with two time Grammy winner Lekan Babalola, Bright Gain, Adeniji the Heavywind, Ego, Nomoreloss and a host of others headlining.
Inspiro Productions, which has organised the jazz fiesta in the last 10 years, unveiled a list of performing acts for this year’s edition which has the theme: ‘Jazz in the Megacity’.
The intention, the festival’s founder and director Ayoola Sadare said, is to celebrate Nigerian jazz and jazz related musicians, who play the genre of music in various fusions and with an indigenous flavour.
He explained that their dream at Inspiro Productions is of making the Lagos International Jazz Festival not just another entertainment event but one that adds value to both the Lagos Megacity as a tourist destination, contributes to its GDP and presents an international platform for our indigenous musicians is on course.
“We believe that the festival should be one of the leading jazz festivals in Africa in the near future and are working tirelessly to fully integrate Lagos into the global jazz tourism circuit. We are satisfied with our eclectic line-up of artistes who will be playing this genre and other related ones with traditional Jazz, Naijazz, Afrojazz, Fuji, Afrobeat, Apala, Highlife and Naija hip hop all represented on five stages aptly named after prominent Nigerian musical icons of blessed memory namely the Fela Kuti, Elder Steve Rhodes, Fatai Rolling Dollar, Osita Osadebe and Bala Milla,” Sadare stated.
The event runs for three days from April 30 to May 2.
Babalola is a UK-based two-time Grammy award winning Nigerian International mega-percussionist. Adeniji the ‘Heavywind’ is based in the United States of America and is a multi-instrumentalist. Bright Gain is a bass virtuoso and director of the Span Academy of Jazz and contemporary music. Tee Mac, a veteran musician and classical clarinettist.
Others on the list are diva and vocal sensation Ego and neo-highlife musical icon Nomoreloss, among a long list of other accomplished and up-and-coming musicians.
