Nigeria Content Online

All is set for the
Smooth 98.1 FM ‘Love Music Love Life’ concert holding this Friday,
November 12 at the New Expo Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria
Island, Lagos.

The show, the first
in a series of concerts planned by the radio station which specialises
in Jazz, Soul and R’n’B music, will feature renowned world class artists
including neo-soul singer, Angie Stone.

Joining Stone for
the concert which starts by 7pm is Cameroonian, Richard Bona, described
as “one of the best bassists on the planet.” Five time Grammy winner and
talented guitarist, Mike Stern, is also performing. Though he wasn’t on
the bill originally, Stern, who has a long collaborative relationship
with Bona, decided to be part of the show because of his friend and the
seriousness of the organisers. He will feature in Bona’s quartet on
Friday.

Jazz saxophonist,
Gerald Albright, will also entertain the audience. He was one of the 10
saxophonists that performed at Bill Clinton’s inauguration as president
of the US.

The four foreign
artists will be joined by a quartet of Nigerian acts including Bez
Idakula and vocalist and songwriter, Tiwa Savage who has sung backing
vocals for artists including Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan and Kelly
Clarkson. Guitarists, Pure and Simple who featured at the recent MUSON
Jazz concert and percussionist, Iroko, are also on the bill. The widely
travelled Iroko has had stints with Kola Ogunkoya, Lagbaja and Femi
Kuti.

Speaking in an
interview on Tuesday, November 9, head of Smooth FM, Kirk Anthony,
disclosed that the show is to give listeners a unique experience.

“People that listen
to Smooth 98.1FM, they listen to it for a reason, they listen to it
because they enjoy what they hear. What we are doing now is that we are
transporting radio to the stage,” Anthony said. He disclosed that
organisers spent about three months, “to get our acts together purely
for the fact that we want to make sure that when people are coming to
the event, they are going to sit down in a nice atmosphere and have a
really good show. On a Friday evening, you want to sit, relax and have a
good night and I think we can achieve that.”

A new dimension

Getting the artists
to commit to the show, Anthony said, wasn’t too hard because of the
station’s reputation and its seriousness. “When we first contacted them,
they had a sort of grey area in regards to coming to perform in Africa
reason being that they didn’t think things were done perfectly – The I’s
dotted and the T’s crossed. But when we showed them how we conduct
business, they were happy and in actual fact, Richard Bona just brought a
new dimension into it.” The new dimension Bona added was bringing in
Stern. “It’s an amazing thing he is coming to Nigeria. That’s an added
bonus because they saw what we are doing. They saw the organisation and
how we put it together, they felt comfortable and they put that together
almost like a special gift to us,” added Sadiq Ademola, head of
production at the Lagos-based radio station.

Anthony reiterated
that the show, being sponsored by Guaranty Trust Bank with support from
AVIS, UNIC, Arra Vineyard and Eko Hotel and Suites is about satisfying
people. “It’s not about saturating a room with 20 artists, where you
don’t get to sit down and savour what you are listening to. The Eko
Hotel is like a football ground but what we have done is cordon off the
room and have a quarter of the room. We could say let’s pile 5000 people
but no, we want a thousand people so it’s very intimate. Rather than
you being customer number 5000 and sitting at the back with a pair of
binoculars, intimacy is assured here.” The foreign artists are expected
in Nigeria on Thursday morning and will meet with reporters on arrival.
Tickets for the show which come at N15, 000 are available at Eko Hotel,
Jazzhole, News Cafe in Lekki and Brown Cafe in Ikeja GRA.

What comes after this show?

“Without biting the
head off the doll, we have a show planned for next year which is going
to be huge. This one is going to be big but next year we got one coming
up which is going to be huge,” Anthony promised.