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Keziah Jones8.6.2025
Porgy & Bess Wien
Tickets ab 21. Februar 2025, 10 Uhr auf oeticket.com 🎫
Olufemi Sanyaolu a.k.a. Keziah Jones was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. He left Nigeria at the age of eight to be educated at the prestigious Public School, Millfield in North London. England. Keziah says, "I had to find a way out of all that (English Public school system), and music was it!" By the age of 13 he had discovered the old school piano and began teaching himself how to play and write songs. Three years later, he picked up the guitar and began busking in London in the underground (metro), folk clubs and on the streets, whilst constantly having to avoid the police. Moving between London and Paris and always accompanied by his guitar, Jones acquired a reputation as a unique musician and charismatic performer with his own unique "hard funk" style. In 1992 he released his debut album Blufunk Is A fact including his first single and now classic, “Rhythm Is Love" which went on to be a global hit. Keziah has now released six studio albums which have spawned more hits including ‘Where Is Life’, “A Million Miles From Home”, “Beautiful Emilie”, "Femiliarise""Kpafuca” and “1973”. Keziah cites Fela Kuti, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix as his most important musical influences. His now iconic sound is described as “Blufunk”, which is a sonic cocktail of punkfunk attitude crossed with Yoruba rhythms and a diverse palate of lyrical subject matter, mostly sung in English and occasionally in his first tongue, Yoruba. Over the years, Keziah has constantly evolved his sound from album to albums, and the consummate live artist, he constantly performs at shows and festivals around the world. Keziah has just finished his first full live album, which he recorded in his hometown, Lagos, with his long-term band consisting of Josh “McNasty” McKenzie, the brother of Labyrinth who began playing drums with Keziah at aged 16! Also, the late, Joey “Anchor man” Grant and new edition, Alex ‘Beanz” Miller, both on bass and Edem “Amen” Viana on guitar. Constantly creating, he is currently working on his 7th studio album whilst working on several side projects a collaboration with famed French EMD producer, Philippe Cohen Solal on an EP entitled Class Of 89. They plan to expand the project into a full studio album. Keziah, who lives and works between two worlds (Lagos,Africa and Paris, Europe), has always assessed and expreseed the relationship between the northern and southern hemispheres in his art. He says “what I want to show the world is the modernity of postcolonial Africa, far from the image that the western world carries of a continent devastated by famine and/or war. I’m talking about young urban Africa. 25 million people live in Lagos! Modern contemporary African culture is a reality. Today, African culture has proven its vivacity in music with the burgeoning sound of Afrobeat, in fashion and art, all of which is nourished by the Diaspora.”
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Porgy & Bess, Wien, Österreich, Austria
