LAGOS – The Chief Executive Officer, Inspiro Productions, Ayoola Sadare, on Friday said that he would establish Nigeria as a jazz tourism destination alongside other renowned cities in the world.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that cities like Cape Town, Montreal, Montreux, New Orleans, London and others organised Jazz Festivals annually.
According to him these cities have made significant impact on the global jazz tourism circuit calendar.
“It attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year to enjoy good music and experience the cities. We want to make jazz available to all classes of people.
“We want those who are unfamiliar with jazz music to be able to identify the new jazz sounds infused into other genres of music,” he said.
Sadare who runs a jazz production outfit, added that Nigerian musicians have been delivering good music, especially jazz but it had not been exposed much to the populace.
“Jazz can come in different genres like traditional, straight ahead, bebop, smooth, Neo Soul, Afro Naija, Latin and Indie which blend together.
“If I make it international as other counties have done, then people will be willing to come into the country to see it, and it tells about who we are.
“It will also correct some misgivings about how Nigerians are perceived and boost our tourism,” he said.
Sadare noted that jazz music had been neglected and that it needed to grow side by side other genres of music.
The producer claimed that venues to host such events would not be a problem and that Nigerians appreciated such things.
Jazz is a genre of American music that originated in the late 19th century in the Southern parts of the U.S. as a combination of European harmony.
Jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional and local musical cultures giving rise to many distinctive styles. (NAN)
