A chat with Ado Ibrahim as Abuja prepares for The Capital Jazz Festival

 

The Capital Jazz Festival, Abuja is one major event with so much publicity online over the past months, if not a whole year since after the last edition. November which is the month of the event is finally upon us and with just a few days to go, it is only expedient the public is informed of what to expect. In view of this, TJ spoke with the president of the festival, in the person of Mr Ado Ibrahim and he tells us all we need to know.     



Jazz music or a Jazz festival is not one we come across very often in Nigeria and so when asked what the initiative behind Capital Jazz Festival is, he said: "My passion for jazz music, the love for my country Nigeria and city Abuja is the reason why we brought together Capital Jazz Festival. While I was in college, I studied the history of Jazz. It was fascinating to know Jazz started with Africans during slavery period. The Jazz Festival is an attempt to ignite this fine genre of music, borne out of Africa, into our consciousness."   

He further stated that jazz music is one genre that imbibes all types of songs which has a way of pulling people together. "Again, Jazz music which cuts across all region of music has the power to bring together people from different aspects of life. It pulls together a diversity of people. This is what the festival will be offering the Capital and all those that will be in attendance; quality - audience, vendors, environment, performances and artistes. The festival is highly family oriented. We are expecting families to come out to spend quality time together in an environment of jazz music", he urged.     


Asked if he's soliciting support from the government, he surprisingly said: "One thing I'll tell you is we're all in power. Government is by us, we give them the power. All we're saying is, come see what we're doing. We can't ask for nothing. Actually, you cannot ask government for nothing, instead you should ask what you have to give to your country. This is why we're doing this. We believe we're giving our country a good image by having Capital Jazz Festival in Abuja every second week of November. With the festival, we have the opportunity to ask people to come out and listen to the
Nigerian story told by Nigerians. Nigeria has given us a lot already. We have no snow, no tornado, no
hurricanes. All we have  to do is take care of Nigeria."    


Highly selected artistes within and outside Nigeria like Timi Dakolo, Yemi Sax, Aramide,  Perpie, Imoleayo Balogun, CEF, Jessica Bongos, Edizycs, Shola Eml, Adline Owens, Jon Saxx, Jackiem Joyner, Tomi Sax, A-Strings, Kiral Christine Kamau and others are expected to perform at the event.