Ayo Bankole

1935–1976

Ayo Bankole was a renowned organist and composer who pioneered the fusion of Nigerian and western musical styles. 

Born in Nigeria in 1935, Bankole’s mother, a music teacher, and father, an organist, encouraged his young talent, moving the family to Lagos to expand their son's musical opportunities. Bankole repaid their encouragement by winning a series of prestigious scholarships. In 1957, he was awarded a scholarship to enter the Guildhall School of Music. He then became the Clare College organ scholar in 1961, studying both classical European and traditional Yoruba music. At Cambridge, Bankole composed the Three Toccatas, three highly complex pieces combining varied twentieth-century influences. Finally, Bankole won the Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship to study Ethnomusicology at the University of California. His compositions are noted for their accomplished style. 

In 1966, Bankole became the Senior Music Producer at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. As one of the most prominent African musicians of his day, he was asked to compose a piece for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. This was his last completed work.  

Tragically, Bankole was murdered in 1976. His exceptional, but all too short career, is honoured at the Ayo Bankole Centre for Arts and Cultural Expression in Lagos.