Keziah Jones

Singer songwriter Keziah Jones says, “I am Yoruba from the South West of Nigeria, from a city called Abeokuta, which was founded after the break up of the Yoruba Empire in the 15th Century. I was brought up in what can be called a Bourgeois/Traditional family but also pretty liberal for a Yoruba set up”

Keziah Jones began performing in Central London playing acoustic funk and raw blues music, he says “Originally I played the clarinet, then I moved onto piano, then guitar, and bass. So, I guess music adopted me first” At aged eight, his father sent him to an English School for education, but he admits, “The most useful thing is to have had the freedom to create and to be able to afford any instrument that I like” And on artists he’d like to work with? “Many people. Outkast, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Saul Williams”

“I still feel that I have yet to create music live and on record as I originally heard it on my mind”, says Keziah Jones. Some think of him as a musical revolution, while others simply enjoy his energetic studio recordings and live performances. “For a day I would have to have been the first guy in Space or the first Nigerian on the moon. There isn’t one yet but there will be”

“I draw, sketch, I read a lot and I ride my bike” says Keziah Jones.

Thank-you to Andy Ross his manager, for this Keziah Jones interview.

Email Interview by Matthew Daniel

Soulisms 2008