By: Alonzo Jones, Morehouse College
On Valentine’s Day, Nigerian performer Ademola Daniel Babafemi, better known as Demola the Violinist, took to the stage in front of a sold-out crowd at the Buckhead Theater.
Demola immediately grabbed the audience’s attention as he walked on stage playing a lively rendition of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.” He proceeded to cover popular multi-genre songs such as “Outstanding” (Gap Band), “Lose Control” (Teddy Swims), “Leave the Door Open” (Silk Sonic) and “Love TKO” (Teddy Pendergrass) to name a few.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1993, Demola is a self-taught violinist. He also plays the guitar, keyboards, ukulele and djembe. In 2014, he relocated to Houston, Texas to pursue a musical carrier Demola’s obvious love of all music and his ability to recreate it in his medium has opened a range of possible new fans. In his performance, he danced about the stage, engaging the audience at every possible moment.
He did call and response songs, joked between sets, and even came down from the stage to play in the crowd, where the audience sang, danced and interacted with him.
Demola was honored by State Representative Rhonda Taylor as she and members of the Stonecrest City Council and Dekalb County School Board presented him with a framed resolution that recognized him into Georgia history as a goodwill ambassador for his many contributions on and off stage, including his ADE Music Foundation.
When the show resumed, Demola followed through on a promise to go up to the balcony as he played Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like.” He weaved in and out of the rows, all the way to the back wall, seemingly effortlessly strumming his violin for all in attendance to see.
He returned to the stage and continued to glide between genres, playing R&B hits “Before I Let Go” (Maze), “Poison” (BBD), “September” (Earth Wind and Fire), “Never Too Much” (Luther Vandross) then shifting to pop songs like “Thinking Out Loud” (Ed Sheeran), “Living On a Prayer” (Bon Jovi), and including country songs like “Tennessee Whiskey” (Chris Stapleton).
He then played several of his original award winning “Afro-beat” filled songs, including “Feelings,” “One in a Million” and “Will You Be My Lover.” Demola exuded positive and joyous energy to the crowd that was reciprocated back to the stage.
Atlanta was Demola’s first stop of his multi-city tour.
Alonzo Jones is a senior Cinema Television and Emerging Media Studies major at Morehouse College.
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