Broadway World: Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in Fela Sowande's Africa Suite

Fela Sowande (1905-1987)

The Africa Suite of Fela Sowande will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia on Sunday, October 7 at 2:30 PM and Monday, October 8 at 7:30 PM, according to the COP website, 

https://chamberorchestra.org/cop/africa/2018-10-08/

Broadway World

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (COP) Season Opening Concert, AFRICA Begins Migrations Season

September 18, 2018

A founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (COP) announces the opening of their 2018/2019 season Migrations with their season opening concert, AFRICA.

The Chamber Orchestra's Migrations season takes audiences on a journey through many regions from which Philadelphia residents and their ancestors originated. AFRICA features music of two major African composers: Nigerian Fela Sowande, whose beautiful and graceful melodies, many derived from sources from his native land, are the core of his African Suite; and Tunde Jegede, born in London of a Nigerian father, who traveled to The Gambia to study the griot tradition of native music and storytelling, which dates back to the 13th century.

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Fela Sowande, the son of an Anglican minister in Lagos, studied church music as well as organ and piano in Nigeria, until, at the age of 19, he moved to London. There he made a name for himself as a jazz musician, founding a band, playing with Fats Waller, and performing as soloist for an early London performance of Rhapsody in Blue. He found a post as organist for the BBC, playing a wide variety of music. Eventually, he returned to Nigeria and became head of the music section of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, where his programming explored (among other things) traditional Yoruba music, mythology and culture. After teaching African studies in Nigeria and America, Sowande passed away in 1987.

The African Suite was composed in 1944, and frames traditional African folksongs in a more European idiom, while retaining their characteristic rhythms and pentatonic melodies. The melodies are accompanied by a variety of sounds that call to mind nature, African plucked instruments, lullabies, nostalgia, and lively dance episodes. The finale became well-known to Canadian audiences as the theme for a popular program, "Gilmour's Albums."