Jazzhole: Lagos' Musical Time Capsule Finds a Perfect Partner in Monkey Shoulder

In a unique collaboration, Lagos's legendary Jazzhole partners with Monkey Shoulder and Worldwide FM, securing a £10,000 grant to preserve Nigeria's musical heritage.

Jazzhole’s recent partnership with Monkey Shoulder and Worldwide FM is a testament to its role as a cultural beacon in Lagos’s music landscape. For decades, Jazzhole has championed grassroots music in Nigeria, offering an eclectic space for artists, audiophiles, and music explorers to converge. 

With this partnership, Monkey Shoulder has awarded Jazzhole a £10,000 grant, underscoring their commitment to preserving Nigeria's musical heritage. This funding enables Jazzhole to archive and release influential Nigerian albums, expanding access to sounds that embody the vibrant spirit of Lagos.

When it comes to Nigerian music history, few places hold the kind of iconic status that Jazzhole has in Lagos. More than just a record store or a venue, Jazzhole is a time capsule that preserves the beating heart of Nigeria’s eclectic music culture. Since the ’90s, Jazzhole has been a place of pilgrimage for anyone craving rare LPs, Afrobeat jams, and an intimate slice of Lagos’s creative soul. So, when the announcement broke that Monkey Shoulder, the whiskey brand known for its playful approach to blending, would be joining forces with Jazzhole, it felt like a meeting written in the stars.

The Legacy of Jazzhole: A Cultural Lighthouse

Situated in Ikoyi, Jazzhole stands at the crossroads of tradition and innovation, much like Nigerian music itself. In its small but vibrant space, stacks of vinyl records, old magazines, and books line the walls, inviting visitors to leaf through decades of artistry. It’s a curated oasis of culture, where you can stumble upon out-of-print Fela Kuti records, find long-forgotten juju tunes, or lose yourself in highlife classics. Jazzhole isn’t just a business; it’s a keeper of stories. For those who step through its doors, it offers a rare chance to experience the sounds that shaped Nigeria, and by extension, the world.

Jazzhole has managed to keep the flame alive in an era when streaming algorithms dictate most music discovery. Here, discovery is a hands-on journey. Every record feels handpicked, every track spun on its turntables tells a story, and every artist’s name has been chosen with the discerning ear of a jazz aficionado. For Nigerian artists, Jazzhole is the proving ground and a place to connect with roots that predate digital playlists and commercialized sounds. Jazzhole’s commitment to curating this space has cemented its reputation as more than a record store; it’s an institution that cherishes and supports Nigeria’s music ecosystem, serving as a launchpad for homegrown talents who have gone on to make waves internationally.

Monkey Shoulder’s Fit: A Brand with a Spirit for Collaboration

In partnering with Monkey Shoulder, Jazzhole finds itself aligned with a brand that shares its ethos of mixing things up and honoring legacy. Known for its unconventional approach to whiskey, Monkey Shoulder brings a spirit of bold experimentation to its brand. This collaboration seems to speak to Jazzhole’s founding mission: to blur boundaries, to break conventions, and to celebrate art that’s deeply rooted in the Nigerian experience yet resonates worldwide.

Monkey Shoulder’s support isn’t just a one-off nod to Jazzhole’s efforts; it’s an investment in Lagos’s thriving art and music scene. The choice of Jazzhole is more than symbolic—it’s a statement that honors a place that’s held space for the pioneers, the rebels, and the musicians who have refused to be defined by borders. In a world where “brand partnerships” are often driven by little more than market statistics, Monkey Shoulder’s decision to back Jazzhole feels organic and deeply resonant.

A Synergy of Storytelling

Both Jazzhole and Monkey Shoulder are, at their core, storytellers. Jazzhole does this through the carefully selected vinyls that tell tales of love, resistance, and African pride. Monkey Shoulder, in its own way, tells stories of craftsmanship, blending, and the art of bringing people together. Together, they create a space where every sip and every note becomes part of a larger narrative—a testament to Lagos’s creative resilience and Jazzhole’s ongoing legacy.

By teaming up with Monkey Shoulder, Jazzhole isn’t just getting a partner; it’s gaining a comrade in the fight to keep Nigerian music at the center of global conversations. With Monkey Shoulder’s support, Jazzhole can continue to do what it does best: introduce listeners to the sounds that have defined generations, while pushing forward the artists of tomorrow.

As Tayo Balogun, one of Jazzhole’s co-founders, recently put it, “Jazzhole has always been about building bridges—between generations, between sounds, and now, between brands that get what we’re about. With Monkey Shoulder, we’re not just bringing people closer to music, but closer to each other. This is just the beginning.”