Something Special Happened At The Barclays Center
by Phil Chard
Something incredible happened last night in Brooklyn, New York. I truly feel that decades from now what I witnessed with the One Africa Music Festival will be described as a watershed moment in the global takeover that African pop music is about to embark on.
Though it was not the first all African Music event to be held in America (recently we had the All Access Ghana that was held in Washington DC and Sarkodie impressive Apollo Theatre concert) but this was different for a number of reasons. Firstly, according to reports tickets for the event sold so well that the organisers had to create extra seating to accommodate the demand. According to NotJustOk founder Ovie Ofugara who attended the event, he estimated that about 15,000 people were in attendance. From the images that I received from attendees and what I saw via the livestream provided by Tidal I wouldn't argue those numbers.
Estimated crowd attendance for #OneAfricaMusicFest currently set at 15,000. 13,000 tickets sold, 2,000 complimentary. Game-changer.
— Övie (@OvieO) July 23, 2016
The second impressive feat was this event was promoted without a major sponsor. Not one! As Banky W expressed when he called Paul Okoye (not the P Square guy, the CEO of Upfront & Personal Management and Consultancy). That was a brave and bold decision from Mr Okoye. Having facilitated a number of deals and endorsements on the behalf of several notable Nigerian celebrities and events, access to potential sponsors would not have been a difficult task for him.
The only major strategic partnership that the evet seemed to line up was their streaming partnership with Tidal which is how I was able to view the event. By streaming the concert the One Africa Music Festival became one of the first truly global event in African music. The combination of the artists involved performing in in America, coupled with their streaming partner is something completely new to the continent.
Despite its title, the line up for the “One Africa” concert was very Nigerian centred, featuring Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Davido, Flavour, Seun Kuti, Don Jazzy, Timaya, Ayo Jay, Sound Sultan, and Praiz all from Nigeria. Stonebwoy and Efya from Ghana while Diamond Platnumz represented Tanzania. There were the Nigerian American artists Jidenna and Wale on the bill but Wale did not perform for unclear reasons. Essentially this was the Nigerians and friends concert.
The performances and coordination of the event were stellar, outside of a few sound issues that I picked up on the stream. However some of these issues went relatively unnoticed by the attendees that I spoke to who all attested to the incredible energy and atmosphere in the crowd.
The standout performers were Tiwa Savage who gave a masterful live set as she rolled through her hits looking incredibly ravishing and polished before closing out her set by throwing up the Roc to confirm her signing to Jay Z's Roc Nation. Wizkid who was the final act of the night displayed his incredible stage presence as he teased and entertained the crowd while engaging them in between songs. All this was achieved despite not having the support of his full band who could not make the event for unknown reasons. In a high energy moment Wizkid also brought out producer Swizz Beats before they ran through a medley of the Ruff Ryder beat maker’s hits. Throughout his performance Wizzy kept saying that he had too many hits and eventually that proved to be very true as he was forced to skip his last song of the night, ironically it was Final due to time constraints.
Seun Kuti delivered a powerful rendition of his father's 12 minute song Zombies assisted by the full Egypt 80 band. Diamond Platnumz delivered another impressive live set and showed the Barclays Center crowd why he is one of East Africa's most popular artists, all this despite the fact that his trousers kept falling. Jidenna showed off his Nigerian side in a way I have not seen before. Appearing on set with spirit masquerade costume that danced behind him he broke out into dance and impersonations of his father as he kept the crowd hyped, performing songs like Classic Man and his new song Chief Don't Run.
Timaya delivered a high energy set on his own before being joined by Soca star Machel Montano as they performed a number of high energy songs before announcing that a joint album was in the works.
Ultimately all the artists on the bill are some of the best performers in the continent so the quality of their sets remained high as Banky W who played the dual role of host and performer did a stellar job to keep the audience engaged. The only real disappoints were Davido who, despite having a solid repertoire of hit songs once again failed to translate that to the stage as he lip synced most of his set (again). Ayo Jay came out to perform his hit Your Number which was the only song in his performance yet somehow he ran out of breath a number of times.
In summation this was an incredible moment for African Music and the artists involved. Though it was heavily focused on Nigeria and its stars the successes of this night will reverberate across the continent as African stars continue their infiltration of American and European markets. The fact that this event occurred without sponsorship is a true sign of how far the demand for African Pop Music has grown in the diaspora. No longer a genre consumed solely by expatriates it is now reaching new audiences who are more than willing to pay to enjoy the culture. Mr Okoye who clearly has balls made of reinforced steel gambled on himself and the music and won in a big way. The success that was this night was not only limited to the attendees but everyone who streamed it live and saw first hand just how far African Music has gone. This left no doubts that African artists are now ready to expand beyond the continent and the world is ready to receive them.
We have spoken before of how labels are now scrambling to get into Africa, well it seems first world fans are also scrambling to consume the culture and we all saw it take place at the Barclays Centre last night.