Nigerian Afrobeat has taken over all clubs in Dubai – Lanre Typical

Nigerian music, Afrobeats in particular, has become something of a phenomenon, not only on the African continent but also spiralling to the other continents of the world. In attesting to this fact, Dubai’s number one show promoter, Lanre Typical, born Azeez Olanrewaju Adenekan in a chat with Guardian chronicles how they sold Nigerian music to the Dubai audience, saying it has caught on like wildfire.

“As we all know, Afrobeats is one of the biggest genres in the world right now. It’s loved by all and now widely accepted. All clubs rock to it here in Dubai. Every club has or wants an Afrobeat night which they were not proud of a few years back, Afrobeats has taken over all clubs in Dubai. I can remember a few years back, Nigerian music was accepted by selected few, but today it has been accepted by everyone. I feel if there is the consistency it will remain in the mainstream for a long time to come,” he stated emphatically.

According to the computer science graduate of Lagos State University (LASU) turned show promoter it took some hard work to sell Nigerian music to the Gulf state and he explains how he played his part in this regard.

“Funny enough, I came to Dubai for vacation and decided to reside here after seeing so many opportunities. Nigerian entertainment wasn’t so strong when I came to Dubai about 7 years ago. I visited the first club where Nigerians hang out and the music wasn’t good, so I met with the manager and gave him a couple of advice on how to make it better. Then I was called by the club management the same week for a meeting. After taking my advice which worked for them they told me they would like to work with me and I accepted and that’s how it all started.

“They were paying me weekly for publicity and promotions which was good pay and I felt there’s more to gain than lose, so I decided to stay back. I was once a music artiste way back in my university days. About 16 years ago I stopped singing after opening my entertainment blog Typicalnaija.ng which was from the influence from what I studied, Computer Science, at Lagos State University.

“My blog was buzzing and I was using the platform to promote artistes, then after relocating to Dubai I started promoting the Nigerian entertainment in clubs and started bringing artistes from Africa to the United Arab Emirates for performances,” he said.

Lanre Typical is a top-notch, award-winning Nigerian entertainment executive/promoter who celebrates the finest talents and outstanding individuals in the Nigeria/Africa entertainment industry, bringing the very best artistes from Africa on monthly basis for the nightlife experiences to Africans based in Dubai and in the entire Gulf region. He is also the CEO of TypicalNaija.ng, a blog known for fashion and music distribution.

In 2019 alone, Lanre Typical brought over 30 Nigerian artistes to Dubai and the list includes the likes of Zlatan, 9ice, Peruzzi, Harrysong, Slimcase, Reminisce, Qdot and many others. And his exploits have not gone unnoticed as many awards have come his way. In 2019 alone, he won Scream All The Way’s Showbiz Promoter of the Year award as well as MAYA Awards Africa’s Show Promoter of the Year Award.