Iyanya, Grammy winner, Lekan Babalola light up underwhelming night

ayodele johnson

March 10, 2018 2:09 PM

A March 9-held "Live & Wavy" took center stage at the Freedom Park, Lagos. It had in attendance Iyanya, Ric Hassani and the headliner, Jeff Akoh.

Concert-goers who attended the Freedom Park, Lagos-held

The event which was headlined by 2015 Project Fame West Africa top dog, Jeff Akoh, went live on Friday, March 9, 2018. It had other interesting acts such as Maka, Isaac Geralds, Terry Apala, Chike, Okiemute, Tjan and Ric Hassani all mount the stage.

Until an introduction of Iyanya, the audience easily gave in to side talks with company to pass for an uninteresting opening. Their mood soon switched to the center of the stage as soon as the Temple Music musician entered the stage.

He stylishly signed off his performance with a sexy body twist which got lady fans screaming in wild frenzy.

Babalola on the other hand played company to most of the artistes who mounted the stage. The amazing drumming skills of the celebrated percussionist rhymed intelligently with the output of a much younger list of musicians.

"Live & Wavy" appeared to have suffered a decline in contrast to Hassani's much exciting outing in December 2017.

The exhibition of hot shot singers, Bez, Temmie Ovwasa, Aramide, Clay, Byno and Johnny Drille made the debut worthy of remembrance.

ALSO READ: You will find no better rhythm in Ric Hassani's "The African Gentleman" album

Drille, who was lined up for a performance had declined to turn up for the show. Rumours attributed this to poor planning on the part of the organizers who failed to stick to the event schedule.

Terry Apala, who was described on stage as the "new school of Apala" made good use of drums provided by Babalola, who had an early career start with New York City-based Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers band.

Headliner, Jeff Akoh thrilled fans with a first half performance of his popular 'Shokolokobangoshe' track. He soon made way for an energetic display by Okiemute who proved to be quite a delight.

The event which is the second in a list of musical event in the category of Alternative music in the year 2018, suggests a need for stakeholders invested in promoting the genre to make an improvement in order to get away from criticism marked by a theme of underperformance.

ayodele johnson