Benjamin Adekunle-Raji ’17 and his friends Tomas Grant ’16, Keegan James ’19 and Eric Sutton ’18 end the year at Kenyon on a high note with their jazzy rendition of “Let It Snow.”
The talented foursome gathered in Brandi Recital Hall on Dec. 5 to perform the instrumental piece, which features piano, drums, guitar and saxophone.
Raji, a psychology major from Fort Worth, Texas, first learned to play the piano at age 7, when he spent two years living with his relatives in Lagos, Nigeria. He continued to play in high school at his church in Fort Worth and later at Kenyon, where he contributes his talents to the Gospel Choir, Community Choir and Professor Ted Buehrer’s jazz combo.
“Now it's hard for me to pass a piano and not play it,” Raji said. “Every piano I touch is a musical home base for me to release whatever emotions and rhythms are rumbling inside of me. I usually play from scratch — every pitch, pattern and rhythm is part of my own creation.”
For this performance, Raji cherished the opportunity to play “Let It Snow” with his friends. “I’m really at my best when I can enter a state of flow with other musicians,” he said, adding that he hopes the song inspires a snowfall in Gambier. “When snow meets Kenyon’s beautiful landscape, the aesthetic of the campus kind of blows my mind,” he said. “It also gives me an excuse to throw snow at people.”