Violinist Quinton I. Morris Recipient of a 2011 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award

[Quinton I. Morris]

Jeffrey James Arts Consulting tells AfriClassical that Prof. Quinton I. Morris is one of six persons awarded by the Mayor of Seattle; 300 people were nominated:

“Violinist Quinton I. Morris is a recipient of a 2011 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award. The announcement was made by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Mayor Mike McGinn announced the recipients. The Seattle Arts Commission recommended the recipients from a pool of more than 300 public nominations. The Mayor’s Arts Awards recognize the contributions made by artists, arts and cultural organizations and community members who make a difference through arts and cultural activities.

“The official press release said this:

Dr. Quinton Morris enjoys a multifaceted career as a concert violinist, chamber musician, teacher, director and founder of The Young Eight String Octet, the nation’s only string octet comprised of distinguished African American string players from the nation’s most prestigious music schools. Morris earned a Master of Music degree from The Boston Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts at The University of Texas at Austin.

“Morris is the Director of Chamber and Instrumental Music and Assistant Professor of Music at Seattle University, where last week he won the Outstanding Scholarship and Creative Work Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. According to one nominator, 'Morris' long list of achievements and awards is impressive, but even more impressive is his determination to make a difference for aspiring young musicians – particularly for youngsters of color who do not always have role models close at hand in the classical community.'

Morris has performed solo and chamber music performances across the country and around the globe, and recently marked his New York City recital debut with soprano Indra Thomas and pianist Maimy Fong to a sold out audience at Carnegie Hall. More about Dr. Morris at http://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/finearts/default.aspx?id=3216.” “The recipients will be honored at the Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 1 at Seattle Center.”

Nigerian Composer Fela Sowande, Born May 29, 1905; 'The Music of Fela Sowande' by Prof. Bode Omojola

[The Music of Fela Sowande: Encounters, African Identity and Creative Ethnomusicology;

Bode Omojola; MRI Press (2009)]

The Nigerian composer, organist and Professor Olufela Sowande was born in Oyo, Nigeria on May 29, 1905 and is profiled at AfriClassical.com. Bode Omojola, Ph.D., chronicled his life and career in the 1995 book, Nigerian Art Music, in which he observed: “Fela Sowande is undoubtedly the father of modern Nigerian Art Music and perhaps the most distinguished and internationally known African composer. The most significant pioneer-composer of works in the European classical idiom, his works mark the beginning of an era of modern Nigerian Art Music.” Bode Omojola has since devoted an entire book to the life and music of Fela Sowande: The Music of Fela Sowande: Encounters, African Identity and Creative Ethnomusicology. It was published in 2009 by MRI Press.

Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma has posted an excerpt on Fela Sowande from a manuscript on Black composers: http://www.africanchorus.org/Artists/Sowande.htm

The African Suite (24:52) was recorded on CD in 1994 on CBC Records SMCD 5135. The CBC Vancouver Orchestra is led by Mario Bernardi, Conductor. The liner notes outline the history and composition of the work: “The African Suite, written in 1944, combines well-known West African musics with European forces and methods. For the opening movement, Joyful Day, Sowande uses a melody written by Ghanaian composer Ephrain Amu, as he does in the fourth movement, Onipe. In Nostalgia, Sowande composes a traditional slow movement to express his nostalgia for the homeland (in itself a rather European idea). At the centre of the work is a restive Lullaby, based on a folk original. The finale of the Suite, Akinla, traces a very singular musical history. It began as a popular Highlife tune - Highlife being a pungent, 20th-century style, combining colonial Western military and popular music with West African elements and a history of its own.”

Prof. De Lerma writes: “After 1960 Sowande worked mainly as a professor - he was Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University in the US, worked at Princeton University, and in 1968 he accepted a position at Howard University in Washington DC - a post he held until 1972 when he became professor of Black Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His last position was in the Department of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University, which he held until his retirement in 1982. Olufela Obafunmilayo Sowande died in Ohio on March 13, 1987; he was 82 years old.”