B.C. Williamson - The Official Website

Today B.C. Williamson returned to his birthplace of his ancestors, Ibadan, Nigeria, in order to receive an honorary master's degree at the prestigious University of Ibadan, in recognition of his lasting contribution to Western music culture, and his noted philanthropy towards the region that his great grandfather, Yoruba Chief Kwabena Babatunde, came from, prior to his deportation to Mississippi during the Second Middle Passage, according to slavetraders' documents unearthed almost fifty years ago during B.C.'s notorious and well-documented Pan-African Tour of 1965.

Williamson, amid the controversies that shaped that very tour, donated the proceeds of his African concerts towards a new academy in the centre of Lagos, the Williamson Academy For Performing Arts. The centre experienced many great successes during its first year, graduating over 3000 students. It was sadly destroyed only a year later by rebel activity during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967.

B.C. would visit the region once more in 2009 for his revelatory project Back To Africa, a fusion of blues, soul, African vocal music, highlife, and dance. He recorded the album on a TEAC 8-Track tape machine in a small village just east of the Benin border with an assortment of local musicians. Recording sessions were halted prematurely due to violence; Williamson was advised to leave the country despite his wishes to stay and set up another foundation for the arts; production (including overdubs) would be completed in America. It was on that trip that Williams0n would meet for the first time his estranged son, Prince, the product of a brief relationship started during the 1965 tour. Prince, in his late forties, who received his education at Ibadan University, is now a journalist writing sports articles for The Nigerian Compass, a notable newspaper. He also plays occasional guitar in a Western-influenced jazz group in his home town, Ogbomoso. Their meeting was one of great happiness, and Prince would later that year be warmly received in B.C.'s spacious Tennessee mansion.

A delighted Williamson returned today for a heart-warming celebration of art and music, in the city centre of Ibadan. A great kilometre-long parade welcomed the blues singer, even waiting for two hours as Williamson struggled to find a reliable taxi service from the airport. He was welcomed into the university foyer by Vice-President Olatunji Kenechukwu, where, during the brief ceremony, he was made an Honorary Graduate of the University to frenzied applause from the strong crowd. Williamson, now a Member of the Order of the Nigeria Justice of Peace, made a short speech and was later seen to be having lunch in a local diner with the Vice-President himself, before setting off in a chartered jet for the State House in Abuja, where he is to meet leaders of the nation.

"Mr. Williamson - music superstar and living legend - is a man of abundant creative energy and  multifarious talents. It is a great honor to welcome his return to our country. This represents a day of importance for remembering all that is good in art and culture." - Excerpts from Vice President Kenechukwu's speech to the people of Ibadan

Rumours abound as to what Williamson's next actions will entail - there are hints of the possibility of a new Williamson Academy for the Arts in Nigeria, even of a great concert hall built in his name - until then, stay tuned for more news.

SOURCES: Abeo Olayinka, B.C.'s official Nigerian translator