Nigerian Afrobeats star Tiwa Savage nurtures Africa's musical talent

Nigerian Afrobeats sensation Tiwa Savage walked around a music centre in Lagos, smiling, listening, and giving words of encouragement to scores of young artists taking part in an elite music training programme.

A prominent face in Nigeria's flourishing music scene, she recently brought together 100 young, aspiring artists — selected from 2,000 applications — for a series of workshops in the city.

They were the first cohort of a collaboration between Savage and the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the United States, where she studied around two decades ago, to nurture African talent.

“My legacy is to create this foundation, to be the founder. But in many years to come when I'm no longer here, I'm praying that a recipient of this foundation will be the next Michael Jackson, the next Quincy Jones, the next Wizkid,” she said.

But Tiwa Savage did more than just give her name to the newly established music foundation.

“I would just like to be the link, the pipeline, someone that's able to connect Berklee College of Music and other institutions as well to Nigerian talent or African talent,” she said.

“The problem isn't lack of talent or gift. The problem is access. Access to education, music education in particular."

The programme includes instrumental workshops, vocal coaching, and masterclasses on the inner workings of the music industry.

She said that an artist can have a great song, but they also need a great producer and someone to promote it on the radio to get the song out to the rest of the world.

“So that's what this foundation is doing. It's just giving them the tools. They have the talent already,” said the artist.

Berklee is extending its academic programme to Africa for the first time, and its instructors worked hard with the students over the five days.

Student and singer, Irene Ugwuorah, said the workshop was a great opportunity, as was meeting with the Berklee team.

"They're professionals and at every moment, at every turn, there's always something to learn, so it's really exciting, it's really spontaneous, and it's challenging,” she said.

Savage, whose global hits include "Koroba" and "Kele Kele", was born in Lagos 46 years ago and raised partly in Britain.

One of the most influential female voices in Afrobeats, she established herself in the early 2010s after returning to Nigeria.

The genre has attracted a global audience by blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary pop sounds, with its roots in Nigeria.

Savage recalls seeing very few African students at Berklee, and it was while she was there that she began dreaming of a way to make it easier for young Africans to access high-level musical training.

"As a musician in whatever capacity, you need to study the industry, especially the global industry, because we're too good to just compete locally," she said.

If Afrobeats is to match the staying power of R&B or rock'n'roll, Savage believes the entire ecosystem needs to become more professional to sustain it long-term.

She said producers, sound engineers, songwriters, and marketers also need professional development.

Savage also aims to raise the profile of talented artists who lack visibility due to limited resources, in a country marked by deep social inequalities.

"I see so much talent," she said, referring to already highly skilled musicians forced to practise without regular access to instruments.

Several young artists have already caught the attention of the Berklee professors who came to Nigeria to teach.

After their concert at the National Theatre in Lagos, 18 students received scholarships to Berklee, with a total value of $2.1 million.

Savage's foundation provides the training for free and she hopes that will also make it accessible to people from other African countries.

"I definitely, definitely want to make this pan-African. It has to be pan-African. Talent doesn't stop in Nigeria. It's everywhere," she said.