Years active (2001 –present) | Name Akapo Emmanuel | |
Birth name (1981-11-10) 10 November 1981 (age 34) Born Lagos, Nigeria Origin Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria Occupation(s) Music Educator, songwriter, Record Producer, Showbiz Website | ||
Akapo Emmanuel (born 10 November 1981) is a Nigerian music educator, record producer, writer and showbiz entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tenstrings Music Institute, a music academy with multiple centers in Nigeria. He has worked with notable Nigerian musicians such as Sound Sultan, Eva Alordiah, Bez, and Brymo.
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Early life and career
Raised in Lagos, Emmanuel had his primary and secondary school education in Lagos. Although he had the dream of becoming an Electronic Engineer, in his teenage years he discovered his passion for music and bagan playing professionally as a pianist at the age of 17. As the years went by, he picked up more instruments one after the other, such as the violin, trumpet and saxophone. After receiving several professional trainings and self-development, Emmanuel began his music education career in Lagos in 2001 by picking up appointments as a part-time music instructor with a number of schools. Some of the schools where he taught music include Olivefield International School, Nigerian Model Schools, Yetkem High School and Pencils Film and Television Institute (PEFTI). In 2005, he enrolled at Lagos State University for a first degree in Public Administration.
Tenstrings Music Institute
After several years of music teaching experience, in 2007, Emmanuel founded Tenstrings Music Institute, a music academy that provides vocational training for young people who want to pursue careers in music. He started the music school in a shared office apartment in Festac Town, Lagos, but soon left there for a bigger place in same Festac Town. Although, he found it very challenging at the beginning, four years after establishment, the school had experienced a huge growth and wide acceptance. Today, Tenstrings is one of Nigeria's leading music institutes, having expanded rapidly and currently running study centers in Ikeja, Surulere, Lekki and Festac Town, also having affiliates in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Akure. It has trained over 4000 persons in about eight years. Some of the notable activities and events organized periodically by the institute include; The Starmingle, HippyJams, Gospel Breakfast, Playing4Change and The Ones2Watch Concert.
Published works
Akapo Emmanuel has published several music training materials, the biggest and most recent of them is the 580-page Musician Handbook with a two-hour DVD titled 'You've Got Music'. The content spans Rudiments of Music, Songwriting, Music Business, Audio Technology and Musicianship.
In addition to his published training materials, Emmanuel is also an ardent writer and speaker on music business and the entertainment industry in general. He writes for Newspapers and organizes music industry workshops periodically.