A free world premiere blending jazz, Afrobeat and West African storytelling closes out the It's Commonly Jazz season at Eden Park's Seasongood Pavilion, the hillside stage at the doorstep of Hyde Park and Mount Lookout, on Aug. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The show, titled "Kiriji," tells the story of a 16-year civil war fought among the Yoruba people of what is now southwestern Nigeria. Organizers describe it as more of a gathering than a performance, modeled after an ancient Nigerian festival filled with dancing, proverbs and storytelling.
Drummer, filmmaker and producer Yemi Oyediran created the piece, drawing on the history of his parents' homeland. Oyediran, who teaches at Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati, earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for directing the PBS documentary "King of Them All: The Story of King Records." In a March 2026 Movers & Makers profile about that documentary, Oyediran talked about his drive to surface Cincinnati's untold stories: "Everything starts and ends in Cincinnati. But most people haven't figured that out."
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music musicology professor Joshua Kerobo serves as griot and storyteller for the evening. Alice Frazier, executive producer and director of It's Commonly Jazz, oversees the series.
The ensemble backing Oyediran on drums includes Brandon Scott Coleman as arranger, Brandon Meeks on bass, Josh Strange on mallets and trumpet, Ziaire Sherman on saxophone and beats, Bud Fairbanks and Andy Smith on keys, and Michael Osadolo on guitar. The music fuses jazz, Nigerian jùjú, hip-hop, 1970s Afrobeat and contemporary Afrobeat, all built from original compositions, according to the series' official Facebook page.
Thursday's show caps the 42nd season of It's Commonly Jazz, a free outdoor series that fills Seasongood Pavilion every Thursday evening each August. WVXU's Cincinnati Edition aired a preview interview about Kiriji on Aug. 24.
Backstage opens at 5 p.m. with dinner available for purchase. Admission is free. Free parking is available at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Playhouse in the Park.
