University of Lagos hosts choral festival

The occasion was an intercollegiate choral festival captioned Africa Sings 8 and in honour of DK Olukoya “for his sustained philanthropic gestures towards the growth of the Nigeria music industry,” the organisers said. Odukoya is the general overseer of the popular Mountain of Fire Ministries, a Christian church with branches across the country.

Organised by the department of creative arts at the University of Lagos, the concert featured choral performances from the University of Lagos, University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), University of Ibadan, Mountain Top University and the Lagos State University (LASU). Also in attendance, was the Heavenly String Orchestra from the Mountain of Fire Ministries.

In the audience were students from the various institutions, music lecturers and music experts. Notable attendees at the event include the vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the faculty of arts dean Prof Muyiwa Falaiye, the head of the department of creative arts, Prof Adepeju Layiwola, and former deputy vice-chancellor of the school, Prof Duro Oni.

Now in its eighth edition, the event was different from other editions in its inclusion of choirs from other universities.

“If you take a poll of pop musicians in the country today, you will realise that a very high percentage of them passed through the class,” said Albert Oikelome, director of programmes at the department of creative arts. “Some of them passed through the university, some have risen to become music directors, and surprisingly, those that are really holding the ace right now, quite a good number of them are managers of musicians and producers who passed through reputable choirs in some churches. The lesson they have learnt is what they are using to galvanise the success that they have achieved in the music industry.”

For his part, Olukoya counselled the students in attendance to work hard. He recalled the words of his secondary school teacher: “Boy, if you want to escape poverty, read your book”. 

Most of the songs performed on the night were composed by Olukoya, who has more than 70 songs in his repertoire. The songs included ‘E yin Baba’, which was performed by the University of Ibadan choir, ‘Je ka Dupe Melody’, as arranged by Oludaisi David Aina and performed by the LASU choir, and ‘I No Go Gree’, which was arranged by Albert Gilles and performed by the UNIPORT choir. 

The event came to an end with a performance of ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ by a mass choir drawn from the participating universities as directed by Oikelome.