Jazz in Lagos City between 1986 and 1995: The Jazz 38 Experience

Abstract

Jazz venues across African cities have become meeting places for diverse social identities, where people from different cultural backgrounds meet and share experiences. Lagos, one of the largest cities and the most populous cosmopolitan metropolis in Nigeria, constitutes a case to explore the cosmopolitan nature of jazz and the ways in which jazz venues have shaped transcultural identities and exchanges in Africa. This article focuses on the author’s experiences in Lagos jazz circuits, Nigerian nightclubs, and the stage music scene for over four decades to tell the story of a regular jazz night at the Jazz 38 venue. The notion of “storytelling” is used to conceptualise the Jazz 38 experience between 1986 and 1995 and to explain how these experiences provide insight into jazz cosmopolitanism in Lagos.