Another Otedola’s daughter, Tolani showcases her musical rendezvous in Lagos

It was a night of thrills, impeccable and soulful presentations when another daughter of businessman and oil magnate, Femi Otedola, Ola with the stage name Tolani, hosted her first Nigerian musical showcase.

Held at the Terra Kulture Arena, Victoria Island, Lagos, the afrobeat act had the supports of her billionaire father Femi, and musical executives/artistes like Ikon and Funbi among others, who lighted up the evening of musical rendezvous to the admiration of friends, families and lovers of music, who came out in their numbers both from home and Diaspora to grace the colourful gathering.

As often said, ‘charity begins at home’ but it does not end there. The delectable singer choose to herald her musical journey from the home soil of her fathers to get the basic feedbacks from the audiences towards a path for improvement and breakthrough the Nigerian music market without strains.

A graduate of music from a UK university, Tolani in her quest to hone her musical prowess, has tour the world to acquire more skills and knowledge in the trade to enable express herself flawlessly before her fans and music lovers.

The singer, carefully and with attention to musical instrument potentials, selected her musical band members, which include Marcus MCneish (guitarist), Emmanuel Antwi (drummer), a Ghanian, also known as Tallest, and Daniel Adekugbe aka Cap (pianist) owing to their diaspora experience in handling musical instruments as well as to add some atoms of uniqueness to her presentation.

She in collaboration with singer, Skales Ewu presented some of her live hit songs like One Deh, Tenderon 1, Want Oh, Calm Down and Ready For Me.

Speaking with The Guardian on the idea behind ‘One Deh’ Tolani revealed the track gave her the courage to finally unveil her sojourn in music to her fans having held on fine to the instinct for so long.

She said, “I have been in the UK for a while as a junior afrobeat musician, I haven’t been able to come back to showcase my music; so, this is my first back home. I have done a few all over the world. I am happy to be home doing a showcase tour for my fellow insiders, friends and family.”

“I was born into music; I love music even as a kid in school, church and any opportunity to sing. It is an interest I was born into. My family is very musical, a household where there is always music playing namely Fela and Patra. My parents love music, my father especially,” she added.

Asked what makes her music brand unique, Tolani said, “The technical name of my musical genre is afrobeat but at a deeper level. The people I have worked with are broad range of producers who are not necessarily Nigerians. So they bring a flavor that try to combine afrobeat with some western influence. I have also worked some afrobeat Nigerian producers as well.”

“I don’t have a particular Nigerian music hero(s), but I do have people that I admire as a kid; Sade Adu which is one of my all time flavourite. I am a huge fan of Niniola, Davido, Wizkid and too many to choose from at the moment,” she added.

According to her, the Nigerian music scene has been so very exciting and volatile in some good ways, with new songs coming up from time to time. In comparison to the UK, she pointed out that there is always a new jam every week in Nigeria. So it is quite competitive, adding that the energy therein makes it a good creative space to do better as well as try hard with indigenous music using the local language of the people.

“The industry is still pretty young in Nigeria, and so that creates rooms for a lot of excitement. I want to make my name, join the race and this is the starting line for me and I would work hard on it. The loopholes that exist in Nigerian music has nothing to do with the talents or the art itself, it’s probably has to do with the industry being so young and those things that has not been solidified at the industry level. Things like the means by which artistes could benefit from the sales of their music by getting rid of piracy and allowing the artistes to benefit from their intellectual property.

“The reason piracy thrives in Nigeria is because music has not been made accessible. We don’t have a solid platform like the rest of the world that allows people to listen to music. I really hope to be a household name in music in the next two or three years. I hope that my music would be able to make people dance in clubs, forget their sorrow. I am a Christian and some of my music is inspired by my Christian experiences,” she stated.

To feel more of her vibes, Tolani could be reach through her social media handles on: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram via @SHESTOLANI.