Campus Project 2025: Nigeria!

The Big Bang was already a few months ago: In March, a group of young musicians from the German Federal Youth Orchestra (BJO) traveled to Lagos, the vibrant metropolis of West Africa . Their mission: to develop a concert program with young Nigerian musicians in which Beethoven's music sits alongside that of Nigeria. Also performing: the Afrobeat band BANTU and its German-Nigerian frontman Adé Bantu. He sees himself as a mediator between the cultures of Germany and West Africa.

Beethoven(fest) goes Africa

In its 24th edition , the Campus Project, a meeting format developed by DW and the Beethovenfest Bonn , presents a very special country this time: Nigeria.

It is the most populous country on the African continent. A country full of energy, dynamism, inventiveness, and contradictions. But also a cultural hotspot and unique melting pot – especially in the megacity of Lagos. "It was totally overwhelming," enthuses clarinetist Luis McCall on his return trip to Germany. "I've never been to such a huge, chaotic city. The people were incredibly friendly and welcomed us warmly, but of course it was total sensory overload." "It was simply fantastic to play with German musicians," enthuses Nigerian violinist Mary Ifeoluwa. "Now we're all a family."

"Working with the musicians in Nigeria was a fascinating and enriching experience," says Sönke Lentz, orchestra director of the BJO and one of the project's organizers. "We were able to witness how understanding and respect are built through collaborative work on rhythms, melodies, and harmonies. This creates a dialogue between cultures that respects traditions yet creates something new, that awakens joy and enthusiasm, and seals friendships. The compatibility of Afrobeat with Beethoven was demonstrated here."

A German-Nigerian program

Back from Lagos, they worked intensively. Drawing on the energy of the first encounter, the impulses and ideas that emerged, they developed a program in which Beethoven's Freedom Overture "Egmont" meets Fela Kuti's "Colonial Mentality," the iconic protest song of the founder of Afrobeat. Current pieces from the BANTU band are performed alongside German and Nigerian traditionals newly arranged by trombonist Isaiah Odeyale. The musicians also interpret Mauricio Kagel's "10 Marches to Miss the Victory." The marches are a symbol of pacifism and a call for freedom of artistic expression.

Olufęlá Şowándé, a leading figure in Nigerian music, will be performing excerpts from his "African Suite" – a work from 1953 in which the composer extols the beauty and diversity of his country. "Şowándé was one of the first to express the traditions of his homeland with a different instrumentation, namely classical Western musical instruments," explains Thomas Scheider, who is overseeing the project at the Beethovenfest. "He reworked Nigerian folk songs in a way that Beethoven, Dvořák, and Brahms did in their time."

Cassie Kinoshi: "odò (river)" on behalf of DW

Composer and saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi, whose father is from Lagos and whose mother is from the Caribbean, currently lives in Berlin. She accepted a commission from DW in 2025 and created a new work for the campus project: "odò (river)" for chamber ensemble and "talking drum," the "talking drum" of West Africa.

The composition of "odò (river)" was inspired by the eponymous poem by Nigerian writer Sodïq Oyèkànmí from 2023. "Water defines the symbolism and structure: it flows, remembers, interweaves, and connects," Cassie Kinoshi writes about her work. "This piece seeks to lament the pollution of waterways by humans. At the same time, it pays homage to the mythological and spiritual significance of water in Yorùbá traditions." The Yorùbá are a people who live primarily in southwest Nigeria.

The piece was created after the campus rehearsal phase in Lagos and Cassie Kinoshi's first visit to her father's homeland. It is thus also a musical quest, shaped by personal questions of origin and belonging. What does it mean to be in this special place for the first time? What does it sound like to reconnect with a culture into which one was born but grew up outside? "In this context, the river represents more than just our collective relationship with nature and our belonging to it. It also becomes a metaphor for identity: fluid, multifaceted, and constantly in motion."

The second encounter will take place in Bonn in September. The musicians from Nigeria and Germany will have a week of rehearsals before delighting audiences in Bonn at the Beethoven Festival and in Berlin at the Humboldt Forum.

"The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that the continent of Africa truly enters into dialogue with Europe," says Ade Bantu, the musical director of the Bonn-based project. "Clichés, entrenched ideas, and images of African musicians are being broken. People don't usually associate Nigeria with classical music—and now they're suddenly confronted with it. And then there's the sound of the BANTU band." This is an encounter on multiple levels, a challenge—also for the audience. "And it leaves a mark. I'm one hundred percent sure of that. Both on the listeners and on the musicians," says Ade Bantu.

The concerts will take place on September 11th in Bonn at the Beethovenfest and on September 12th at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

DW will broadcast the Bonn concert live on the YouTube channel DW Classical .