2024 Projects
Sacred Funk Quartet ‘Tales of Orisa’
The Tales of Orisa live music performance fuses ancient traditional songs with jazz, funk, afrobeat rhythms and the soulful sounds of clarinets, guitar, double bass and percussion.
Using images of Yoruba artefacts from the University of Birmingham’sAfrican Collection,the images are related to different Orisa and explored through a series of commissioned videos by visual artist Lanre Lawal.
The Yoruba Orisa, such as Sango (God of Thunder and Lightning) and Osun (Mother and guardian of the sweet waters) depict different characteristics in human form and all have stories and songs which tell a tale of the connection of our inner and outer worlds.
The Sacred Funk Trio and 4tet have performed at many venues, such as The Barbican, Liverpool Slavery Museum, V&A, Aston Hall Birmingham, promoting the music world of the African Diaspora through their invigorating and expressive playing
COMMISSIONED PLAYS
Kalakutans
Set in 1977, the Kalakutans is an imaginative retelling of events leading up to the invasion of Fela’s compound by soldiers from a nearby barracks which led to the burning down of Fela’s house and the brutalizing of the residents. The Kalakutans deals with the loves, hopes and ambitions of its protagonists. It is a tale of coming to terms with the consequences of chasing ones’ dreams and of trying to come to terms with oneself.
RADIO PLAYS
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EXHIBITIONS
Erindinlogun
Erindinlogun is based on an Oracle System used in Nigeria, the home land of the Yoruba Tribes. It is the female expression that evolved from the ancient philosophy and divination system “Ifa” . Ifa is only practised by male priests “Babalawo” and women cannot participate until they became elders.
Erindinlogun is practised by both men and women and communicates through the deities called “Orisa”. Whereas Ifa is practised by Babalawo communicating through the “Odus”. The process is the same – the divining tools different. Erindinlogun divines using Cowrie Shells. The Cowrie Shell is seen as one of the oldest forms of life on Earth which has
witnessed the entire development of physical existence and has been the catalyst for the emergence of Civilization. It was therefore chosen as the medium through which Olodu (God) would speak to the diviner, and can be seen on all the drawings.
16 Cowrie shells are used to “read” or “cast” by a diviner and accordingly when cast the shells have a numerical value of zero to sixteen, depending on whether they face up or down. The numbers correspond to a particular “chapter” of a vast book of creation.
These 16 chapters have names and are represented here in this Exhibition. Each “chapter” or picture has related stories, proverbs, songs and dances. It is these “chapters” that are interpreted by the diviner to give guidance for the individuals receiving a reading, or “consulting the Oracle”.
MUSIC BAND
Eko Brass Band
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YOUTH SHOWCASE
Birmingham Art Ensemble
The BJF Creative Ensemble has been set up to provide an alternative learning ground for young Birmingham based artists, which is cross arts, cross genre and performance based and draws on Yoruba Arts and Culture as
stimulus through resources provided by the Yoruba Contemporary Arts Trust in
the form of text, visuals, stories and educational resources. The project is mentored by Kate Luxmoore and Lekan Babalola.
It will offer the young artists an opportunity to learn about one another’s work.
BJFCE is linked to the Jazz Festival, in order to bring young talent into the area and celebrate young talent that originates here.
CONCERTS
Birchfield Jazz Festival | 2017 - 2023
Sixteen Pieces in an exhibition of visual art based on the sacred literature of the Yoruba. Commissioned by Lekan Babalola. There are seventeen paintings in the collection by artist from Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, the United States and the United Kingdom that represents the Yoruba Diaspora.
These artists were chosen by the Yoruba divination system to interpret verses from the ancient wisdom system of Ifa.
Taken together, these works gives insight into the Yoruba worldview of life, death, transformation and rebirth.
Each painting interprets a specific body of literature that deals with the human experience as seen by the Yoruba.
CONCERTS
Yoruba Sonnets
The Yoruba Sonnets pair Spoken Word Poetry and Mime from Dr Olu Taiwo with live Music from Lekan Babalola’s Sacred Funk Quartet. The result is a unique performance of ancient Nigerian verse incorporating Afrobeat Music and the Contemporary sound of Western Funk.
