TUNDE JEGEDE, Kora

Tunde Jegede is a composer and musician who has been steeped in the traditions of European and African Classical music for the last 30 years. His music has been performed all over the world in concert hall such as, Carnegie Hall (New York), the Royal Albert Hall (London) and the Basilque (Paris) by international orchestras and artists including; National Orchestra of Belgium, Orchestre National de France, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Brodsky Quartet, the Silk Road Project and the percussion soloist, Evelyn Glennie.

He is also a pioneer of African Classical Music and has a deep knowledge of traditional music and culture. As the the founder of the African Classical Music Ensemble, Tunde has gone on to perform and record with some of Africa's finest artists including Toumani Diabaté, Oumou Sangaré, Seun Kuti, Bodé Lawal, Juldeh Camara and the Pan African Orchestra.

From an early age, Tunde was uniquely schooled in both Western and African Classical Music. He attended the Purcell School of Music, UK's first specialist music school conservatoire and also studied the music of the Kora (African Harp-Lute) and the Griot tradition under the Gambian Master of the Kora, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, in a hereditary tradition that dates back over 700 years. From this unusual parallel education, Tunde gained a deep understanding and appreciation of both forms of music and their distinct legacies, and all these strands and influences have since informed his music and work as an instrumentalist, teacher, and international classical composer. His music has since taken him all over the world and he is the founder of the Art Ensemble of Lagos, NOK Orchestra as well as curator of Living Legacies, Gambia’s first traditional music archive. Tunde has recorded four solo albums including his seminal debut album, 'Lamentation’, 'Still Moment’, 'Heritage' and ‘Testimony’. From his early beginnings in Nigeria and UK, to his many travels and musical encounters across the globe, his is a story that parallels the myriad journeys of music itself—one of origins and diasporas, traditions and renewals, cycles that weave together to form a single legacy and voice.