Tiwa Savage Pioneers Berklee College of Music in Africa through her Eponymous Music Foundation

Photo by DocbyUche

Tiwa Savage made history in Lagos this April when her music foundation welcomed the world's most prestigious music institution, Berklee College of Music. The newly established, eponymous Tiwa Savage Music Foundation (TSMF) hit the ground running by announcing an inaugural programme with Berklee College of Music. 

Berklee on the Road is a programme that takes the college across continents for short-term courses. However, April was the institution’s first time in Africa. Despite being the college’s premiere in the continent, they received a whopping 3,000 applications throughout Africa—the largest applicant pool that Berklee on the Road has ever received globally. However, only about 3% made the programme, as only 120 artists were selected. 

Berklee in Nigeria: Class of 2026 was a fully-funded, four-day intensive music education programme that spanned April 22 through April 25 at the MUSON Centre School of Music. Taught by six members of Berklee’s leading faculty, the programme encompassed intensive classroom instruction, ensemble practice, specialist lectures, and one-on-one Berklee scholarship interviews. 

It was a full-circle moment, as Tiwa Savage used to be a scholarship student at the institution. When she stepped foot on campus two decades ago, she realised there weren’t many African students there at the time. Ever since, she made up her mind to find a way to link more Africans to the institution. In fact, she didn’t think she would achieve this feat through her own Foundation. Furthermore, the Nigerian icon was taught by Professor Dennis Montgomery, one of the visiting professors in Lagos, during her time as a scholar. 

Students at Berklee in Nigeria mostly came across the programme information on Instagram. They confessed that they had initially dismissed the authenticity of Berklee College coming to Nigeria. In their words, “Why would Berklee come here?” Notwithstanding, their doubts washed off when Tiwa Savage joined in on the announcement. Moreover, some of them maintained that if Tiwa Savage hadn’t been involved in the program, they might have refused to believe that Berklee on the Road was truly hitting Nigeria out of the blue.

Discussing this milestone, Tiwa revealed that she had been plotting this move since during the pandemic. “God’s time is the best,” she gave glory to the Lord for executing her plan. “We have a lot of amazing record labels in Nigeria, but we don’t really have a lot of people investing in the ecosystem. I’ve always been the type of person to look where there’s a missing link, and that’s why I think this is really going to grow the music industry, not just in Nigeria but in Africa (too).”

In all of this, she would like her role to be “the link/pipeline. Someone who’s able to connect Berklee and other institutions to African talents. The problem isn’t a lack of talent, the problem is access to music education. When I say music education, I don’t mean you have to generally go to university to study music. Education is also access to online courses.”

Articulating the need to understand music as both a skill and a source of income, Tiwa further explained. “As a musician in whatever capacity, you need to study the industry. Because we (Africans) are too good to just compete locally, we need to compete globally. For so long, Africa has been seen to catch up with the rest of the world. I think it’s about time we are not only participants, but we are leaders in this industry. I feel like we (Africans) have everything that we need. We just need to learn how to make it in business and sustain ourselves.”

To put icing on the cake, the Nigerian superstar wants to make it a Pan-African concept because “talent doesn’t stop in Nigeria”. She further mentioned that there were applications from other African countries as far as South Africa, but the Nigerian applicants were focused on because of the admissions timeline. 

Sitting down with Ron Savage, the interim Provost and Executive Director of the College, and Jason Camelio, the Assistant Vice President for Berklee Global, the administrative duo highlighted how plans for Berklee in Nigeria had been discussed for years before execution eventually came through in 2026. 

Concerning how they feel about Berklee in Nigeria, Ron said Berklee as an institution “was founded on Jazz and music of the African diaspora. So, this is an opportunity to reach out to musicians from this region and connect our roots to the roots of music.” 

When asked whether the programme could reach its full potential despite being short-term, Jason responded first. “Ron and I talk about this all the time. The rule of thumb is that if you come and meet with somebody from Berklee, even for one hour, you are now part of Berklee. Even in that hour, something can change for you—in that conversation, in that musical experience. So, four/five days with the concert is like a heavy dose of Berklee. It’s gonna reinforce what the students know, but they are also going to grow. They are gonna leave here energised to wanna continue working with one another, connecting with their teachers, community, and, ideally, us.” 

“Musicians here are very talented,” Ron buttressed that the programme duration is not a challenge. “We didn’t come here to start people from the beginning; we came to add to it. Because there’s exceptional talent that we’ve seen in just a day and a half.” 

They also articulated that the institution learns as much as it teaches. In Ron’s words, “Berklee didn’t come here because musicians in Nigeria needed saving. Really, we need Nigerian musicians as much as people want to learn from us. We need to learn from them. I never want people to have that impression that the musicians here need saving, no. We just wanna add our piece. So, this is our chance to connect with musicians, learn from musicians, share what we know, how we do it, and build that global network.”

Jason took it a step further by adding that “one of the interesting things about Berklee is Berklee doesn’t teach you the thing, it teaches you how to teach yourself. Because musicians are the greatest problem solvers. If you’ve ever been around a musician, they know how to fix things, they know how to figure things out.”

Having discussed Berklee in Nigeria with Tiwa Savage for years, 2026 saw the fruition because “Tiwa said ‘I’m ready’. You need to have a Berklee graduate and alumnus that’s engaged because they know the Berklee experience and they understand what that partnership’s gonna be. She’s the ideal global ambassador (of Berklee),” Jason described Tiwa. “She was ready, I had the time, we said ‘let’s do this!’”

On a conclusive note, the duo acknowledged that Nigeria, in terms of music, stands out from the other countries that they’ve visited. “The thing for me is that there is Nigerian music. There’s a music from here that is very distinct—rhythmically, harmonically, the melodies, the storytelling, the way it’s produced,” Jason enunciated. “It’s as distinct as the music that we encounter in other places like Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Korea. It’s like ‘this is the only place this music can come from’”.

“You can hear it in Tiwa’s music,” Ron added. “I mean, she has some pop, hip-hop influences. But there’s some flavour to it, some spice to it that can only come from here.” 

Although Ron and Tiwa share the same unique surname/last name and they have known each other since Tiwa’s time at the institution, they are not related by blood. 

Ultimately, the programme culminated in a free-for-all Grand Finale Concert and Award Ceremony at the National Theatre, Lagos, on the 26th of the same month. Hosted by Darey Art Alade and KieKie, the participants presented, in ensembles, original works developed during the intensive and the event was graced by several dignitaries. Yeni Kuti, the first child of Afrobeats pioneer Fela Kuti, Seyi Shay, Waje, Qing Madi, Fido, Hilda Baci, Rita Dominic, Nancy Isime, Kaffy, and Shank, to name a few, graced the concert with their presence. 

Teni the Entertainer did a surprise performance with joint Ensembles 1 and 5. Loud Choir also performed remarkably. The U.S. Consul General, Rick Swart, gave a speech commending Tiwa Savage for her iconic role in bringing the prestigious American college to Nigerian soil. 

The eventful night concluded with over $2.1 million worth of scholarships awarded to 18 talented scholars. Fully funded scholarships for the Aspire 5-Week Summer Performance Program in Boston were awarded to 10 students, while the other eight students received partial tuition scholarships for the Berklee 4-year Undergraduate Program. 

Mainly sponsored by Flutterwave and supported by PepsiCo, The Delborough Lagos, MUSON Centre, Mich & Harry, the Noella Foundation, Bank of Industry, Lagos State Government, LIRS and Mama Cass, TSMF has left an indelible mark on the African entertainment scene.