Labi Odebunmi, a young British-Nigerian filmmaker, is set to premiere in Nigeria a breezy documentary that will educate Nigerians back home about the rise and dominance of Nigerian culture in the United kingdom.
Premiering on urban lifestyle channel, Soundcity, at 3pm on Saturday August 15, the special documentary will debut with a focus on Moelogo, a British-Nigeria music star and first Afrobeats artiste to sign a recording deal with Island Records, one of the world’s most legendary record labels.
Island Records is part of the Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record label group and the home of greats such as Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse.
The documentary will cover Moelogo’s moment in June 2014 at the Island Records’ headquarters in London when he signed the recording deal. It will also include an interview segment with emphasis on his background, his incursion into music, his day-to-day itinerary with the production crew, his video shoot and personal experience on the rise of African culture in terms of music in the UK.
According to the London based director, the documentary will expose some of the cultural realities about Nigerians abroad through the personalities he will feature on the programme.
“I want to give average Nigerians who may not have the opportunity to fly to London to have the feel of the society and appreciate the cultural realities been imbibe by most Nigerians in the Diaspora,” Labi explained.
He noted that while a lot of Nigerians at home are looking at UK and America for inspiration, many of their peers abroad are having a reawakening and looking at home for cultural education and copy the cultural values.
“We have got to that stage in the UK where white folks including those at West End now dance to Nigerian music at their clubs and even play our Afrobeats songs on their radio stations. The other day, Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ was played on the influential Capital FM and everybody could feel the vibe. This is because of the Nigerian culture which gives originality to the genre of music they play,” he added.
The young upcoming filmmaker disclosed that he has listed a number of African achievers that will also be featured very soon on the programme to tell their stories.
Labi is the son of ace broadcaster and owner of popular Obalende Suya London, Tokunbo Odebunmi. A first class graduate of Film and Television from the University of Hartfordshire, he has been creating visuals in film, music video and other production.
