Accelerating African Sounds with Bisilola Bakare’s Afrovibes Africa

Yinka Olatunbosun

ENCOUNTER

Ever wondered what a day with the founder of Afrovibes Africa, Bisilola Bakare would be like? Perhaps, the sight of a mounted tripod near her might be a good guess. Her keen eyes would follow as she pans the camera left or right. But that imagery is from her days with Ayo Banjo and Clarence Peters, honing her skills while shooting for the stars. That was between 2003 and 2005.

Flashback to her early career at Eko Reel Mix studios, she had always been a music enthusiast. Her persona as a cultural activist shines.

 “I have always been in the production and entertainment industry even as a teenager,” she began. “I wanted to be a music artist, my days at Eko Reel Mix Studios back in the day were trying to make music and also learning the ropes.”

After her stint with Ayo Banjo and Clarence Peters, she gained admission to study theatre arts at the University of Ibadan. “I did events in UI as an undergraduate, coming up with event ideas and executing them,” she continued. “Ever since then, I’ve always known this is what I want to do.”

She would later move to Lagos to finish up her first degree at the Creative Arts department, University of Lagos where she graduated. Fortunately, she cut her teeth with one of the best in Nigeria’s cinematography and visual storytelling, Kemi Adetiba as assistant producer. With a portfolio of work that include her work experience with a UK based television production company as a country production coordinator in Nigeria and of course, Livespot 360, she is a creative dynamite, creating unique experiences on and off-screen. One of them is Afrovibes Africa, a company she started in 2017. She explained the rationale for setting up the company, which curates events such as ‘Afrovibes Live’ and ‘Sing Along.’

“Afrovibes Africa started to create platforms meeting a need. A need to give up and coming artists especially alternative and live music artists a platform to express themselves. A need to create fun live music and art experiences on the Mainland, as at the time when we started there was no event like that on the mainland,” she said.

With strong appeal to a multi-generational audience, Afrovibes Africa promotes live music through music concerts that are sure-fire avenues for family bonding and friends’ night out. The newly launched “Sing Along” which is a sub brand for Afrovibes Africa is a music touring concert that is markedly different from Afrovibes Live.

“Afrovibes Live is an intimate concert series while Sing Along concert is our mainstream touring concert series through which we hope to revive the touring culture within Nigeria. We see artists touring countries like the USA, UK and the likes but not tour Nigeria. That we hope to change with ‘Sing Along’.”

Even with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown that temporarily muted the live music culture, Bakare was relentless in continuing the tradition of entertaining people. She only made some adjustments without breaking the global health protocol.

“We came up with the idea of studio sessions that people could watch and enjoy from the comfort of their homes. Our partner Jameson Black barrel-keyed into the direction as well and we started Afrovibes Studio sessions- they made it happen.”

Asides Jameson Black Barrel that supported the platform consistently, Afrovibes Live has also enjoyed partnership with Budweiser, Schweppes, Nigerian Breweries and more. Right now, the ‘Sing Along’ touring concert is on her mind.

“Recently, we launched our main stream concert platform called ‘Sing Along’ concert where we hope to revive the touring culture within Nigeria. For our first edition, we toured across Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and this August Abeokuta with Brymo supported by Orijin,’’ she revealed.

While working on the biggest food festival in southwest Nigeria with Abula festival this July, Bakare is confident that these series of events would activate Nigeria’s cultural landscape and contribute to local economic growth.

From established to up and coming artistes, there will be no discrimination on the kind of acts to be promoted on the Afrovibes Africa platforms.

“If you look at the thread of the kind of artists [that] we’ve featured so far you can tell highlife is a major part and alternative music with a pinch of Afrobeats. Our long-term goal is to be known as the company who has contributed to the growth of African culture through entertainment and tourism.”