By Prisca Sam-Duru

The New Horizons, a concert series put together by world-renowned composer, celist and Kora virtuoso, Tunde Jegede which opened on Sunday at the Agip Recital Hall of the Muson Centre, Lagos, was as electrifying and thrilling as it was inspiring. It held as part of one of the Musical Society of Nigeria’s (MUSON)core mission of developing talents and offering them a unique platform to express their musical creativity to the whole world.

With stunning performances, the musicians in no small way, awed a mixed audience comprising the old, young, Caucasians and lovers of jazz, at the opening of what any mature mind would term the best of African classical music.

The first concert, which is an exploration of jazz and its African connections featured premiere Nigerian spoken word artist, Dike Chukwumerije, singer/multi percussionist, Venus Bushfires, Age Beeka, Imoleayo Balogun and the Art Ensemble of Lagos.

All the acts in the highly rated show which was piloted by Nollywood act, Wale Ojo. captivated the interest of the audience through beautiful performances in a way that it became difficult to adjudge a better performer than the other.

A performance of three tunes – Timeless Wariors, Life Circles and Last Winter’s Sparrow by The Venus Bushfires( voice and Hang) and her team, Imoleayo Balogun (Saxophone), Tunde Jegede (Kora)and Cef (Bass), was something out of this world. It succeeded some lovely tunes from Etuk Ubong et al. The voice of The Venus Bushfires’ (Helen Parker-Jayne Isibor), a UK-based Nigerian singer/songwriter, composer and performance artist, was simply amazing.

Helen first captured the people’s attention with a rare hairdo that reminded one of the photographs of late Nigeria’s foremost photographers, Pa Ojeikere. In short, everything about Helen appeared pleasantly different, especially her strange instrument known as the hang. She started off with “We’re moving to higher ground, we’re rising as the morning sun…”, before delving into the main aspect of her performance.

Award winning performance poet and Nigeria’s spoken word artist Dike Chukwumerije who stormed the stage during the part two of the evening show, earned for himself, a standing ovation with his outstanding renditions. The ovation first came at the beginning of his performance and would have continued all through if not that the audience was persuaded to hang on. They ended up appreciating Dike’s prowess by renting the air with snaps of the fingers while he spoke.

He performed So Where is Jos, You and Me, The Wall and The Bridge, and I promise. Dike’s inspiring presentations so much emphasised on the need to restore the glory of Nigeria and indeed Africa by bringing back the good old days, morals, values, discipline and much more. Also, he touched on issues ranging from Boko Haram, unemployment, violence, to the abducted Chibok girls.

Another stunning performance which was most thrilling, came from Age Beeka, a prolific musician who plays the Guitar, Keyboard, Drums and Percussions. During the concert, his voice, moves, dance steps and hands on the Guitar echoed the good old days when music had not lost its flavour due to infiltration of Hip hop into the industry. Age’s voice in Breaking Barriers, Always in Love and Age Medley, got into the souls of all who watched him perform. He began in a way that got everyone in attendance, very emotive. His questions; “Why does the river pass through the city but the people have no water to drink?, Why do people suffer and die, they cry their tears into the river… have you ever heard that the river cried into the sea?”, all readily elicited responses from the already charged audience.

Cef, a unique singer/songwriter who showed much talent with the guitar and percussions, joined Jegede in the performance of Moving On, Angeli and Power which also attracted deafening applause from the audience. Power was more like a folksong that demanded change and restoration of the things that once made the country tick.

Opening the second part of the show, was Etuk Ubong who played the Trumpet. He was joined by Timothy Ogunbiyi (Piano), Ita Samson (Bass) and Tombratade Roberts (Drums) while they performed Ubong’s original tunes, with titles, Miracle and Genesis as well as Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock.

Against the wish of the enthused fans, the curtain came down on the concert with performance by Art Ensemble of Lagos, featuring Age Beeka, (voice), Etuk Ubong (Trumpet), Tunde Jegede (Kora & Pizz Cello), Ajayi Joseph (Piano), Cef (Percussion) and Oluwaseun Adeshina (Double Bass)

The tunes they rendered were titled, How many Prophets, Behold and Jairaby. Jairaby which rapped up the evening, got members of audience on their feet, doing the salsa dance while displaying the highest form of excitement. “That’s how music should be”, exclaimed a guest.