Talent Overload at Lagos Freedom Fest 

Yinka Olatunbosun

A collaborative concert project organised by Tenstrings Music Institute and Freedom Park took place at the Freedom Park to mark the last Independence Day celebration. Called Lagos Freedom Fest, it was a marketplace of new voices in music and a glimpse at the brighter future for the Nigerian music scene. The venue, a former colonial prison, bore an historical context for the celebrations.

The parade of green and white-themed costumes signaled the start of the five-hour show that featured multiple performances from Ten Strings band and a few solo performances, winning hearts and attention with powerful vocal deliveries.

A formation of the choristers sang “God Bless My Homeland, Nigeria,” with harmony and vigour, followed by “We Pray” composed and arranged by Akapo Emmanuel. The song is a rich bi-lingual composition, switching from Yoruba to English and vice versa with the enchanting chorus “Olorun Aiye.”

What can be described as a beautiful moment that evening was the highlife rendition of Onyeka Onwenu’s ‘Halleluyah Chimle,’ composed by Kunle Ogunronbi otherwise known as Baba Ajasco. One of the best solo vocalists, Mulbarak performed the R&B track ‘Adupe’ with acoustic accompaniment just before Omojay sent the audience into a frenzy with his cover of Majek Fashek’s classic “Send Down the Rain” – a performance which was heavily accentuated with bata drums and acoustic.

With Fabolous, her stage presence and persona beat her vocal delivery. Her black dress-made of ruffles and sequin was a showstopper.  A very awesome performance of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” was delivered by Favour, an effortless singer with an engulfing range. Under the direction of Akapo Emmanuel still, Tolani, another chorister, did her cover of Marley’s Redemption Song.

While reflecting on the fest, the Founder/CEO, Tenstrings Music Institute, revealed that the celebration of cultural diversity is at the heart of the fest. “Lagos Freedom Fest was organised by Tenstrings Music Institute with the goal of celebrating Nigeria’s culture, diversity and independence. Tenstrings draws its students from everywhere across the country and we have students from outside Nigeria. We’ve enrolled from 17 other countries like Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Liberia and a couple of others. We discovered that if we leverage on our own diversity as an institution, we can tap into the talent of everybody there and truly represent Nigeria’s diversity, musically. The goal is to celebrate what we have as a nation and regardless of our challenges, we believe that Nigeria is such a great nation and we will eventually get there. That is our hope and motivation for this event.”