KUNLE KO:RARE PASSION FOR JAZZ

In an era when alot of young and upcomimg artistes are out to sing hip hop, kunle is different.born almost 30 years ago to mr and mrs ogundeji of the ilaje tribe,kunle had a tough childhood.Although he was born in lagos and raised in lagos,he also spent some part of his childhood in ondo state.
His sojourn into the musical word began in the university of lagos."I was  born and bred in lagos but had part of my childhood in ondo,my state of origin.I got all the exposure i have in school.I am a member of the mountain of fire and miracles ministries unilag chapter.There at the church i was a member of the choir and we were taught how to use all the musical instruments and this experience gingered me up in music.
"After being a member of the choir for some time,i joined the musical school which was owned by the church where i cut my teeth in music"he said.
At the end of his training in the church school,he decided to go into the specialization of clarinet.
"Although i wanted saxophone or piano,the specialists for them were not around for that period and so i chose clarinet and i have no regret for that,"remarked kunle.
while speaking on his experience so far musically kunle said he had been opportune to work with the mountain of fire and miracles church orchestra where he learnt a lot of things musically.
He explained that he got to secular music because he needed to know what was obtainable there and have a taste of it to make him complete.
"I was also a member of a musical band called ola smile's N jazzy faces for a period of one year.We used to play regularly in hotels clubs like comfort hotel in tin can apapa,Ree-danielles hotel in ogudu GRA in lagos.
"In the course of being together,we recorded an albulm titled Monday morning which was a six tracker  Afro jazz"enthused kunle.
"After recording the albulm things got tough and the band was dissolved for finance reasons.I then went solo.I am still not able to do a solo albulm but i have been playing in various places and occasions.
Although, jazz has never made the right impression especially to young ones, the fact is that no matter how few jazz has its own crowd.It is music for the matured minds' he said.
However,the impression of the young ones is the way it is because of the advent of hip hop music.
And for him,that is the major challenge  that jazz music is facing.
Another challenge according to kunle is that because it is not popularly accepted brand,getting marketers to promote you is not so easy.
Kunle made a clarion call to the society at large to save the jazz music and not let it die.
"Despite the fact that jazz music has generated more income than any other brand in western countries,we are yet to get that realization in this part of the world'he said.