Goethe-Institut Lagos to host jazz acts Céline Rudolph and Lionel Loueke

The event is supported by Goethe-Institut and will take place at Jazzhole in Ikoyi, Lagos. And by the end of the tour in Loueke's Benin, the pair will have played concerts in Accra (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Lome (Togo).

The tour is centred around a November 2017 album released by Loueke and Rudolph. Obsession has received acclaim since its release, leading to a nod for Rudolph's vocals at Germany's Echo Awards. Loueke has also enjoyed acclaim: he has been called "a gentle virtuoso" and "the kind of player who gets others talking" by the New York Times.

"The duo cast is the biggest challenge," Rudolph said about working as a non-solo act. "There are just as many risks and freedoms, which is exactly what I like about it."

Loueke agrees. "Céline is not only a great musician, she is a great person and that makes her music even stronger. This is a very unique project because there were no limits. The music we play is not easy. It is also a challenge to make tracks in odd meters easy and bring them into the flow."

Loueke met Rudolph for the first time in Germany a half-decade ago. "On the evening in Berlin we talked not only about music, about food and life, but also CDs," Rudolph recalled.

"A little later Lionel wrote me how enthusiastic he was about my music. I spontaneously invited him to my studio session with drummer Jamire Williams in New York. There, in the Brooklyn Recording Studio, the duo-version of 'Le Vent du Nord', which can be heard on the album, was created. We were both so excited that we decided to record a whole album just for two."

Between their Berlin meeting and the recording of Obsession, the duo performed at the 2015 Jarasum International Jazz Festival in South Korea. Besides, this union, Rudolph also plays with a quartet and maintains a solo practice. Her tour of West Africa ties in with the early days of her career when she studied with renowned Guinean drummer Famoudou Konaté.

Goethe-Institut told Music In Africa that a number of jazz experts resident in Lagos would hold a "breakfast meeting" with the pair of musicians before the concert. 

The Lagos leg of Lionel Loueke and Céline Rudolph's Obsession Jazz Tour takes place at Jazzhole, Ikoyi on 26 July. Entry is free.