Jazz Finland Live

Great Voices #2: Ola Onabulé feat. UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra at Savoy, Helsinki, has been postponed three times due to pandemic. The concert will be heard on Wednesday 23 March, 2022 at 7 pm, at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki. Tickets purchased for the previous concert dates (23.4.2020, 12.12.2020, 22.4.2021) will be valid as such for the new date.

UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra’s Great Voices concert series presents stellar vocalists! This time, UMO Helsinki is joined by British-Nigerian soul singer and songwriter Ola Onabulé. Without reserve, Onabulé can be called a man with a voice and a message.

This concert will see Onabulé and UMO Helsinki play the guest soloist’s original soul material, with an emphasis on the 2019 album Point Less, in brand new big band renditions. UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra will be led by the chief conductor and artistic director, Ed Partyka.

Ola Onabulé (b. 1964) is a skilful storyteller who seems to breath soul into any song. With his astonishing three and half-octave vocal range he will both move you and make you move even if you were sitting in the furthest corner of the concert hall. Despite nodding to the 60s and the 70s, Onabulé’s music is unmistakably modern soul, and on stage he takes it to new heights with his colourful stage presence, effortless expression and wide range of stylistic devices. Thematically, Onabulé tends to focus on problems of today, including xenophobia and social injustice, but there are other recurring themes as well, such as his Nigerian background and certain ageless philosophical questions. Onabulé’s career spans already over 20 years. Naturally, he has performed at innumerable important jazz arenas and festivals and featured several notable orchestras, including the German WDR Big Band and the Danish Radio Big Band. He also runs his own record label, Rugger Ram Records, on which he has released seven out of his nine solo efforts.