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 12-piece Afro-funk-Afro-hip-hop-Afro-beat musical collective founded by NigerianGerman brothers Adé Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multiinstrumentalists 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. We have different special guest DJs who make an appearance alongside Raymond Bola Browne aka DJraybeeBrowne of Igroove Radio who is our resident DJ. This month’s special guest DJ will be DJ Lambo. Join us at the Freedom Park bar immediately after the show to party and hangout with friends.
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 JANAURY 22, 2016 SEE YOU THEN!
Afropolitan Vibes Magazine credits: Editor: Abby Ogunsanya
Guest artists’ photographs: Courtesy of subjects
Printing: John Bola
Guest artists profiles: Dami Ajayi, Kola Tubosun, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
Show photographs: Nyancho Nwanri
Contact and advertising enquiries: info@afropolitanvibes.com
Graphic design and layout: Graeme Arendse
Cover image adapted from photograph courtesy of Ake Festival
Tel: + 234-803-4937094
Issue 26 // December 2015
Editor’s Notes
And so the end of year is upon us! Usually after each show, we take a week off to rest and recuperate, but as it was our end of year show, we dived right into preparations as soon as the November show ended because we wanted to make this a special one. That our line up had to change just a week before the show was a mixed blessing; we now have a performance by Shina Peters to look forward to in January 2016 and can enjoy another great performance by Brymo. Everything came together for good and we are very excited that our end of year show has the makings for a giant party for us to celebrate what has been a really great year. We have many exciting plans to grow the Afropolitan Vibes brand even further in 2016 and we will share them with you in due course. On behalf of the entire team, I want to thank you all for your enormous support and for helping us spread the word about Afropolitan View. We wish you a very happy Xmas and a happy new year in advance. Enjoy the show!
In this issue
We profile our three guest artists: Brymo, Naeto C and Ayo Awosika. We feature some of our favourite pictures from the 30th edition of Afropolitan Vibes, which was held on November 20th 2015. We apologise for the photos credit error in our November issue. The pictures from the show should have been credited to Adedeji Hamed of Elixir Photography.
Contact us
You can email us with your thoughts at info@afropolitanvibes.com. We also read all comments and respond to questions on Facebook, and Twitter. 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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Ayo Awosika
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Issue 26 // December 2015
A Bird in Flight
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Kola Tubosun She studied classical voice at the University of Indianapolis, and then studied jazz voice and performance in Boston at Berklee College of Music. She is a vocalist, songwriter, and she also plays a couple of musical instruments.
ne of the songs in Ayò Awósìkà’s first full-length album We Best Not Wait is titled “Caged Birds”. Over a melody of guitar strings and soft beats, the singer croons about what it means to be free.
She moved to New York City in 2013 after living out west for several years, a time spent reflecting on and writing about the experience of transitioning into what she calls “true adulthood”. The result of that is her first full length album, featuring members of Snarky Puppy and the David Grisman Quintet. Funding for the album came from a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that raised over $25,000 from 200 donors - a highly impressive feat - in March 2012.
I taught my heart and my mouth to know how to speak out loud. The title of the track, taken from Maya Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, evokes images of someone interrogating the meaning of freedom as an artist and a human being in the face of self doubt. This is what it sounds like to be free They can’t take my song from me.
“The writing process for this record was therapeutic and healing,” Ayo reflects. “I noticed a thread in these songs: loss of family members, loss of a long relationship, coming into my own as an artist, as a woman. Just trying to figure out my place in the world. So a lot of these songs are about self discovery, that inner listening, paying attention to your intuition. I call it ‘The Knowing.’
Of this song and her ambition, Ayo says: “I have to be true to myself. There have been many times that I’ve felt like that caged bird. But even when you’re feeling discouraged, there’s always a greater good somewhere. That’s the freedom and release in the last verse of the song: it’s the free bird in transition.”
“With music, I can sometimes say more through a song than I can say with my everyday words,” Ayo says. “I’ll tend to experience something and sit down with my keyboard or my guitar. Songs have a way of becoming a personal truth. The greatest satisfaction comes when the music encourages or touches someone on their own journey. That’s when I can say, with confidence, that I am a songwriter.”
This motif of flight, freedom, and fierce individuality dominates the album, as well as the story of Ayo’s life, as an artist in-between spaces and cultures. As the title of the album itself suggests, the songs reflect Ayo’s gentle but restless spirit to reveal an earthy, majestic voice and rich, supple grooves that support her meditations on faith in the unseen, the unknown and perhaps the unknowable. Produced by Grammy Award winning producer, Scott Jacoby, the album unspools like a film, one frame at a time. “Every Day,” “Some Other Time,” “Another Kind of Mission,” “City By The Sea,” “Welcome Home” and an utterly original treatment of Nina Simone’s iconic “Do I Move You” reflect a young artist in flight.
She says her favorite musical moments thus far have been learning from greats like Ellis Marsalis, and Art Lande, and the incredible privilege of sharing the stage with the likes of Richie Havens, Peter Eldridge of The New York Voices, bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding, and members of Tower of Power.
Born to a Nigerian father and American mother, Ayo grew up in a colorful household filled with music at all times, from the likes of Fela Kuti and Michael Jackson to Billie Holiday and Madonna. This breadth of influence continues to be important in Ayo’s musical evolution, as she weaves all of the sounds that she loves into her own artistry; and you see and hear those threads in her highly addictive, soul-infused sound.
On Sunday 12th January 2014, Ayò performed in Lagos for the first time at InterContinental Hotel’s Soul Bar, Victoria Island. It was a well-attended event.
Profile adapted from interviews by Leo Sacks, profile on AyoAwosika. com, and Bella Naija.
Twitter: @AyoeAwosika Website: www.ayoawosika.com 5
Afropolitan Vibes
B is for Brymo Dami Ajayi
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rymo, born Olawale Ashimi, used to be many things. He used to be the chorus crooner of the Chocolate City Record label. He used to be a college drop-out (zoology). He used to be a young boy living in Okokomaiko, son of carpenter and petty trader mother. But more important is what he has become: perhaps one of the most prolific awardwinning singer/songwriter in the blossoming Nigerian musicscape. And what he will become: an internationally acclaimed male vocalist whose music will garner fans worldwide, whose discography will outlive him.
With four albums under his belt, Brymo’s latest Tabula Rasa, was not only an underground success, it was recognized as one of the most influential albums of that year. This is in spite of it being an independent production very much like his debut album, Brymstone, before he was discovered by Jude Abaga and adopted into the Chocolate City family on whose label he released his middle two albums, TheSonOfaKapenta and Merchants, Dealers & Slaves.
Known for his trademark throaty voice that sufficiently traps Fuji Yoruba inflections, Brymo has had some phenomenal hit songs in the past few years. His Ara, the first single on his second album, was so digitally successful, it trended globally on Twitter. Good Morning, a solemn and meditative love song, might not have peaked on charts but sure is a contemporary classic. His discerning ability to blend popular Yoruba rhythms with a slice of soul gives his music a rather distinct feel that has not been successfully imitated (not for lack of attempts!). His ingenious ability to spin off sonorous choruses is reminiscent of American equivalents like late Nate Dogg and Senegal-born Akon. In spite of indie representation status, his music continues to enjoys popular airplay and critical acclaim. His first international album, Trance, will be released soon under the American label, TMG. He was recently announced as one of the ambassadors of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry alongside entertainment bigwigs like 2face Idibia, Kunle Afolayan, Vector the Viper and Olisa Adibua. He is also a dad.
Twitter: @BrymOlawale Tumblr: Brymolawale.tumblr.com Instagram: Olawale Olofo’ro
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Brymo
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Naeto C 10
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Issue 26 // December 2015
Enter the Big Deal Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
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et’s begin with some pop culture trivia: Can you say these two words ‘Yes Boss’, slurring them as one? Can you do this with attitude? If you can and you did, chances are you are aware the sound you’ve just produced was made popular, locally, by the rapper Naeto C. If you weren’t aware, well, there you go.
was a livelihood. “We’re on fire,” Naeto C rapped on the chorus, and he was right. For his efforts he received the Best New Musician trophy at the 2008 MTV Africa Music Awards. Success in the realm of music secure, Naeto C went back to school. This time to Scotland. There he obtained a Master in Energy Studies, the medical doctor aspiration now laid to rest. And because rap is nothing if not boastful, the shiny new degree, obtained some two years later, fed into the music: upon returning to the studio he spat a line so memorable it could be his epitaph: he called himself, “the only MC with an MSc.”
Legally named Naetochukwu Chikwe, the child who grew up to be popularly known as Naeto C, was born in Texas, USA to Kema and Herbert. The last child of his mother, Naetochukwu was raised in the UK, and before college had lived in several Nigerian cities including Lagos where he received secondary school education. Growing up, Naetochukwu, who hails from Owerri in Imo state, was influenced by the variety of music swirling around the Chikwe household. He took to exploring rhythm, and long before his rap career, he is said to have first dabbled in poetry.
The song with that line, Ten over Ten, which title you could say reflected the rapper’s academic preoccupation with grades, was the hit single from his sophomore album Super C Season (2011). The single was well-received and its title joined the list of catchphrases Naeto C has added to the Nigerian lexicon.
Attending college in the US, Naetochukwu met Uzi, another Nigerian overseas. Uzi’s love of rap influenced the young Chikwe, who was a rap-dilettante at the time. Upon meeting Ikechukwu, Uzi’s brother and yet another hip-hop head, a friendship was forged. Together these three young Nigerians formed the World Famous Akademy (WFA), a loosely defined music group.
By 2012, Naeto C had married his sweetheart Nicole. And a year later the couple welcomed a child. A second child was born in 2014. This year, the Nigerian audience welcomed two Naeto C albums. The first, Day 1, saw the artist head for his rap roots. Perhaps fitting for such a retrospective album, it was released without the usual fanfare and promotion attending album releases. Festival, the second 2015 album—and his fourth overall—was released in November. It is so named as a celebration of his music career. “I feel I have achieved a lot,” he told an online magazine, “and I have every reason to celebrate with my fans, hence, the need for a festival.” The album title can also be thought of as marking the success of his private life as well.
Although a career in music appeared possible, Naeto C—perhaps influenced by his rather formally respectable background—harboured plans of becoming something ‘responsible’, a medical doctor. Being a Biology major, his path led directly to medical school. Music was something to pass the time. “I didn’t have any thought of doing music professionally,” he said to an interviewer years later. “It just started as a hobby. But it was a hobby I was kinda good at.”
Count your blessings, the old song admonishes. Let’s help him.
WFA returned to Nigeria and after an arrangement with Storm Records, Ikechukwu released his Son of the Soil album. Naeto C’s hobby led to the recording of the song Kini Big Deal (2008), a single off the album You Know My P.
The rapper cum scholar has a wife, two kids, two degrees, four albums and several hit singles. Kini Big Deal? No need to ask. These days the big deal has a name. It’s a hybrid of a word and an alphabet. Naeto C.
Kini Big Deal became quite the hit, topping countdowns across the country and continent. And suddenly, the hobby
Twitter: @naetoc Instagram:whitekaftan
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NOVEMBER 2015 Edition
Afropolitan Vibes