UNILAG Hosts 2018 Inter-collegiate Choral Festival

The University of Lagos Main Auditorium came alive recently with colourful musical performances essentially by five Nigerian university chorale groups.

At the inter-collegiate choral festival tagged ‘Africa Sings 8’, the  atmosphere was charged with excitement, as the choristers left no stone unturned in dazzling the audience with interesting songs.

Organised by the Department of Creative Arts, the musical concert featured chorales from the host institution, University of Port Harcourt, University of Ibadan, Mountain Top University and Lagos State University. Also in attendance was the Heavenly String Orchestra which came prepared to add its quota in mesmerizing the participants comprising students from the various institutions, music lecturers and experts, stakeholders, lovers of classical music, among others.

Now in its 8th year, the programme  was held in honour of the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM), Dr. Daniel Olukoya for his sustained philanthropic gestures towards the growth of the Nigeria music industry.

Addressing journalists, the Director of Programmes and senior lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, Dr. Albert Oikelome assessed the impact of such performance on the music industry, saying that there has been a  substantial percentage of successful musicians who are products of music schools across the country.

“Such experience helps to grow the Nigerian music industry through the various lessons learnt. If you take a poll of pop musicians in the country today, you will realise that a very high percentage of them passed through the class. Some of them passed through the university, some have risen to become music directors, and surprisingly, those that are really holding the ace right now, quite a good number of them are managers of musicians and producers, who passed through reputable choirs in some churches.

“The lesson they have learnt, is what they are using to galvanize the success that they have achieved in the music industry.”

In his remarks, Olukoya counselled the students and enjoined them to imbibe the spirit of hard work and determination, which were his abiding principles as a student, largely responsible for the resultant success.

He recalled the words of advice from his secondary school teacher who counselled him to escape poverty by reading vigorously. “Boy, if you want to escape poverty, read your book”, he said.

 

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