Tunde Jegede, new MUSON’s Artistic Director

The Musical Society of Nigeria, MUSON Centre in Lagos, has a new Artistic Director, Mr. Tunde Jegede.

We gathered that the talented musician composer and multi-instrumentalist, Jegede, who assumed office last week and took over from a German, Mr. Thomas Kanitz, who displayed zeal and dedication while at the centre.

This is coming up when the centre is warming up for its 18th edition of the annual programme known as MUSON Festival.

 The 10-day MUSON Festival 2014 featuring high-quality artistic and cultural productions holds from October 16th through 26th in the premises of the Society at Onikan Lagos. 

  Jegede was born in 1972 to a Nigerian father and an Irish mother.He had his education at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (1990-1992) and Purcell School of Music (1981-1999). His appreciation of African Diasporic culture was initiated and nurtured at the famous Keskidee Centre, Britain’s first Black Arts Centre. From an early age, he was exposed to resident and visiting artists who worked in a multi-disciplinary mode such as Bob Marley, Walter Rodney, Edward Braithwaite, Angela Davis and Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was here, his path as an artist began. His apprenticeship in African music began in 1978 and was further developed in 1982 when he first went to the Gambia to study the ancient Griot tradition of West Africa, with Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, Master of the Kora (the Harp-Lute found in West Africa). The Jobarteh family is one of five principle musician families within this unique hereditary Oral tradition, which dates back to at least the 13th century.
He began to appreciate Western Classical music with his grandfather’s love of Bach and by observing his work as a church organist. He studied Cello from the age of eight and over the years was taught by esteemed luminaries from the Classical world including: Alfia Bekova, Elma de Bruyne, Joan Dickson and Raphael Wallfisch at the Purcell School of music and later the Guildhall School of music.
Jegede, in 1988 became fascinated with Jazz and worked and toured with ex-members of the Jazz Warriors founded by Courtney Pine & Cleveland Watkiss. He formed his own Jazz Ensemble, The Jazz Griots, with the sole purpose of exploring the connections between African and African Diasporic forms of music. In 1991 he pioneered African Classical Music in the UK with the first ever-national tour of the African Classical Music Ensemble, which nurtured his burgeoning composer credentials. In 1995 a BBC TV documentary, ‘Africa I Remember’ was done on Jegede’s music and centred around his orchestral work. In this programme he performed new compositions alongside the London Sinfonietta, which was conducted by Markus Stenz. He has vast and thorough knowledge in  African and European  Classical Music  spanning over three decades. His music has been performed all over the world in concert halls such as; Carnegie Hall (New York), the Royal Albert Hall (London), and the Basilque (Paris) by international Orchestras and artists including: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Brodsky Quartet, Smith Quartet and the percussion soloist, Evelyn Glennie.
Jegede has risen to be among the pioneers in the continent and his vast experience has taken him around the world where he served and performed in various capacities including as: Founder, Living Legacies Project 2014 (The Gambia), Writer/Producer/Director, Yinka Shonibare Studio 2013 (Nigeria), Composer Commission, Royal Opera House 2012 (London), Composer Commission, Viva Sinfonia, 2011(UK), Composer Commission, Smith Quartet 2010 (UK), Composer-in-Residence, ST Denis Music Festival (France) 2009, Composer-in-Residence, Cheltenham Music Festival 2007-2009, Artistic Director, Alfriston Music Festival (London) 2006-2007, Composer Commission, Trinity College of Music/Gye Nyame 2005, Composer Commission, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (London) 2005, to mention but a few. Besides his outstanding achievements in music, he has numerous articles, journals, lectures and conferences of international accolades to his credit. He is also author of two books: The Silenced Voice (1987); and African Classical Music (1994) both published by Diabate Arts.