Ade Bantu

Ade Bantu, veteran Nigerian musician who has taken Nigerian music to the diaspora and contributed immensely in paving the way for the international recognition Nigerian music acts get today, had a discussion with Allure and he told us about his concert and what he and his group are up to presently.

“I have been doing a monthly live music concert series for over three years now. It’s one of the foremost live events in the country, it is called Afropolitan vibes. I curate, I perform, I am one of the producers of the show and so I am trying to add value to the live music scene. We are trying to get people engaged, trying to change the whole perception of live music and musicians in the country.

We are planning to drop our fifth album (Bantu), we have been taking our time producing, we just got back from touring in Ivory Coast. We were in Abijan for over a week. So yeah, all is good in the music business.”

On his favourite acts in the Nigerian music scene today Bantu said “I have a lot of favourite artists. I am somebody that lives in the past the present and the future, meaning I connect to the underground artists; artistes that may not be on heavy rotation on MTV but are quite innovative.

IBK for example, I am a fan of his cause. I really like his approach to music, he is quite diligent, very experimental, that’s the kind of energy I like. He is a must-watch act.

Most of the artists I like, come on my stage at the Afropolitan vibes. The likes of Burna Boy, Nneka, Victor Olaiya etc.”

What was it like shooting eight bars and a Clef?

This was my first time ever shooting with a Nigerian crew or being involved with a Nigerian movie production, so I didn’t know what to expect. But all in all it was a beautiful and wonderful experience. It was good to see how the whole crew, the director and her team managed the challenges of this environment. From electricity to traffic, people coming late, area boys, all kinds of things.

They did great. I liked the subject matter, about learning disabilities and the complexities of the main character’s environment, his immediate nuclear structure; family and the complete displacement of the character within that context.

I found it all fascinating, from production to script, to the execution and also the characters.

By Sammi Sikpojie