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The Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON)
staged a donors’ appreciation concert on December 6. Chief among these
donors is the MTN foundation (MTNF). It was an event that revealed the
best of the MUSON Diploma school, with mixed performances of classical
and indigenous musical pieces.

“The donors’ concert is our own little
way to showcase the product of the school and their proficiency level,”
stated the chairman of the MUSON board of trustees, Femi
Adeniyi-Williams. “At this very frugal time, you have come to the aid
of MUSON. We appreciate you,” he told the donors.

This was the fifth year of running the
Diploma School, which has produced about 90 students with 60 students
in-house, while some of the others have gone abroad to pursue further
studies in music.

Certainly, it was an event that
captured some inspiring performances from the students. The
performances by the MUSON Diploma Concert Band left one wishing that
orchestra pieces could be creatively incorporated as soundtracks in
Nigerian movies, the way it was done in foreign movies.

The band also performed in
accompaniment to a duet of ‘When You Believe’ performed by two soprano
soloists, Tobi Aregbesola and Tosin Abiodun. A Mozart piano duet,
‘Sonata in G Major’ was also rendered by two young men, Timothy Adesina
and Ayorinde Oladele.

Gentlemen’s Ensemble

We got a feel of the Negro Spiritual
when ‘Gentlemen’s Ensemble’, a group of 12 males, performed ‘Mary Had a
Baby’ by William Dawson (1899-1990), an African American composer and
professor. The ensemble also performed an ode to women titled, ‘Viva
Tutti’.

Aside from the impressive performances
of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Titus Ogunyemi, and more, the MUSON
Diploma Orchestra added style to their act when the ladies in the group
turned out in stiletto heels with black hoses and fishnet stockings.

We saw a solo performance of the violin
accompanied by the piano by Evelyn Acquah and soprano Chika Ogbuji’s
solo performance of Mozart’s ‘Amore Un Ladroncello’.

Muson Diploma Choir

Away from the classic pieces, the
concert went indigenous, thanks to the Emeka Nwokedi-led MUSON Diploma
Choir; which had been selected by the International Society for Music
Education (ISME) to represent Africa and to perform at its 29th
conference in Beijing, China. They stole our hearts with their
heartfelt and arresting performances of ‘Una Hear Me So’, a song done
in pidgin about the need for unity among Nigerians and ‘Jehova Emewo’,
a piece in Igbo about the grace of God.

According to Nwokedi, who conducted the
affair, some of the songs were performed by the troupe in China earlier
in the year. The choir, which got the audience excited as they trooped
onto the stage in their green and white aso-oke attires, did other
songs; two of them South African.

The female performers of the Sax and
Drum also shone at different points, but notably during the very
entertaining live performance of Lagbaja’s ‘Feyin E’. Brief and leaving
one wishing it could go on, this performance was stellar.

“When we start the highlife tune, you
are free to dance wherever you are,” encouraged Nwokedi after the mass
choir, which included all those in the Orchestra and Band, had
performed Christmas tunes from Handel and Mendelssohn.

The MTN Foundation

The comments from Marion Akpata,
director of the MUSON School of Music, at the end of the concert were
on point. She drew attention to the contributions of the MTN Foundation
to the development and exposure of the students at the school.

The MTNF financed a trip for some of
the students to go to Germany to get training and certification as
Suzuki teachers of violin for young children. “Come any afternoon and
you will see our youngest musicians with their small violins seriously
training to master their instruments,” Akpata stated.

She highlighted some of the recent successes of the students, especially the ISME conference in China.

“Our success in the ISME performances
prompted the invitation from Nigeria’s ambassador to China, Ambassador
Wali, to return to [Beijing] to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee
which we did in October, fully financed by the Nigerian Embassy,”
Akpata disclosed.

She revealed that it was difficult to
get sponsors for some of their activities and programmes in spite of
their successes. She then passionately appealed to the government and
private sector to support music and especially the schools that were
dedicated to training the next generation of musicians.

“Music is a veritable tool for human
development, information, education as well as entertainment and
national pride,” Akpata pointed out. She also canvassed the
establishment of an endowment fund for the school.

She described it as “A fund that could bring us closer to the day
when the MUSON School of Music will be the West African Conservatory of
the Performing Arts and offer degrees in music and the other performing
arts.”