Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year's Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signaled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers - Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen - at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland.

The lushness of the Tropics, scantily-clad bodies, tribal aesthetics and syncopated rhythms… from the famous loincloth worn by Josephine Baker to Elizabeth Taylor’s performance as Cleopatra, Africa has always had a place of choice in the popular imagery of the 20th century. Whether as roots giving unity to separate black identities, the cradle of humanity, or the reflection of original purity, Africa - real, supposed or imaginary - has influenced most of the music, dance-forms and graphic arts of the last hundred years. With detailed comments from Bruno Blum, these splendid titles have been placed in the historic context of the Civil Rights struggle and the independence of the West Indies and the dark continent. Patrick FReMEAUX

Percussionist Kahil El'Zabar writes the next chapter in his continuing study of the music that shaped the future of jazz.

Africa Sings is a probing celebration into African music, through classical music and jazz, through legacy and tradition. The recital begins with Ang�lique Kidjo singing Bella Bellow's Senye, segueing into the premiere recording of Philip Glass's orchestral song-cycle Three If� Songs, composed for Kidjo in 2014. The focus goes then to American music with Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige in Maurice Peress orchestral arrangement, before shifting to Europe and Alexander Zemlinsky's Symphonic Songs sung by Martin Achrainer which set, in translation into German, the poems of the great Harlem Renaissance poets Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, and Frank Horne. Kidjo joins the venerable Bruckner Orchester Linz and conductor Dennis Russell Davies who cruise through the Ellington before digging deep into the Zemlinsky with baritone Martin Achrainer in tour-de-force performances from beginning to end.

AFRICA TODAY! BEST OF CONTEMPO

In the spirit of Paul Simon’s epic, this new release from ARC features a collection of African songs. A potpourri of music has been chosen, from a capella to instrumentals, these songs hail from all over the great continent, including tunes from Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, and more. The songs are sung in a variety of native African languages, showing the immense diversity that exists throughout the African countries.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra teams up with its Assistant Conductor Kellen Gray to record works by three of the twentieth century’s greatest African American voices. Released to coincide with Black History Month, the two symphonies by William Levi Dawson and William Grant Still proved to be fundamental in the utilization of Afro-American idioms within the symphonic form. Each composer focused on one of the two original staples of African American music: folk and jazz.

William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony takes its inspiration from West African folk idioms, American Negro spirituals and early African American folk rhythms and songs from Gullah culture. William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 draws its influence from elements popular in jazz and pre-jazz popular genres. Although the latter is the more well-known figure in American music, Dawson was every bit as significant in the timeline of African American music, and his only published symphony is astonishingly mature for a composer’s earliest efforts at symphonic writing. This program also celebrates the centenary of George Walker’s birth with the inclusion of his Lyric for Strings.

Kellen Gray has reunited with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a second instalment of African American Voices. Though representing differing schools of thought regarding African American classical music, the composers here are united by their roots in black history, culture and its rich musical heritage. Drawing upon jazz and spirituals – ‘I Want Jesus to Walk with Me’ serving as the source material – Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations engages with African American history, namely the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. In this work, re-discovered in 2017, Bonds tackles the themes of strength, resistance, determination and faith. Bonds’ contemporary, the prolific composer Ulysses Kay cultivated a neoclassical voice, as his Concerto for Orchestra exemplifies, very much in line with William Grant Still and his teacher Paul Hindemith. A versatile musician, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson comes a generation later. In his Worship: A Concert Overture, we can hear a blend of Baroque counterpoint, elements of the blues, spirituals and black folk music.

REVIEW:

Margaret Bond (1913–1972) wrote her 1964 Montgomery Variations as a seven-movement theme-and-variations on the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” Bond’s impassioned cri de coeur bypasses the constraints of academic cd’s and don’ts as it chronicles in boldly theatrical music the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement, from the Montgomery bus boycott through the tragic 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. Bond dedicated the piece to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., though sadly never heard it performed during her brief lifetime.

Ulysses Kay (1917–1995) reflects in his 1948 Concerto for Orchestra the influence of several of his mentors – including Paul Hindemith – as a thoroughly tonal work conceived in mid-20th century, in a moment in which the music of the followers of the Second Viennese School reigned supreme in the classical music worlds of both Europe and America. Kay’s classically structured, richly orchestrated, harmonically dense, and contrapuntally complex composition remains at its core a consonantly melodic, post-Romantic work.

In his 2001 Worship: A Concert Overture Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932–2004) successfully amalgamates sacred and secular music, incorporating blues in his nobly elegant treatment of Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.

-- All About The Arts (Rafael de Acha)

Songs are the heart of the African people. -Rebeca Omordia SOMM Recordings is excited to announce African�Art�Song, a continuation of pianist and "African classical music pioneer" (BBC World Service), Rebeca Omordia's exquisite exploration of African classical music repertoire in her African Pianism series, in which she partners award-winning soprano Omo Bello. Throughout, an illuminating, and frequently mesmerizing musical tapestry appears, incorporating five indigenous languages and cultures with songs that merge African and Western European musical forms with African melodies to produce songs full of simplicity, playfulness, and most importantly, joy. The repertoire recorded by the two artists ranges from the love songs of Joseph Bologne (1745-1799), to works by living composers Shirley Thompson and Errollyn Wallen, whose "Peace on Earth" has grown from a song for Christmas to a song of peace for all seasons. The plaintive longing heard in "Adura fun Alafia" (Prayer to God / Prayer of Peace," by Nigerian composer Ayo Bankole, is a prayer reflecting the depth of devastation and starvation experienced during the Nigerian Civil War, known as the Biafra War (1967-1970). Ghanian-Nigerian composer Fred Onovwerosuoke's "Twelve African Songs" are a kaleidoscope of dances, healing dances and calls on the rain. Percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker's two compositions "serve as intermission, as a way of bridging the multiple musical languages". Baker's compositions join those of Ayo Bankole, Akin Euba, Christian Onyeji, and Chijioke Ngobili as first recordings. French-Nigerian Omo Bello is the winner of many of Europe's most prestigious awards, including the Luciano Pavarotti Giovani competition (2010), Arca d'Or Prize (2013), Paris International Opera Competition (2014), and more after beginning her career as a scientist. Bello combines her talents by giving charity performances in the service of medical research associations and in working with the Operabuja festival in Nigeria to build a music conservatory and promote classical music and the lyrical arts. Nigerian-Romanian Rebeca Omordia has been labelled "a classical music game changer" (Classical Music). Her recording of Errollyn Wallen's Piano Concerto won the BBC Music's 2024 Premiere Award. Alongside her wide-ranging career as a soloist and chamber musician, she is artistic director of the African Concert Series, in residence at London's Wigmore Hall. African Pianism, Volume One was hailed by Gramophone as a "fascinating new series", featuring, "a bounty of largely unfamiliar yet richly rewarding music", and selected as a Top Album of 2022 by Canada's Textura Magazine for "the remarkable music and Omordia's sterling realization." Volume Two, was named an August 2024 Gramophone Editor's Choice.

Burna Boy is among contemporary African music's brightest stars and creator of an enigmatic new genre he simply dubs "Afrofusion." After a recent conversation with Burna Boy, The New York Times went on to declare him as "a leader amid a bounty of new African pop," before going on to make it clear that "Burna Boy hasn't diluted his African heritage to reach his global audience. Instead, he has placed an unmistakably African stamp on music drawn from all around Africa and from across the African diaspora." Throughout TWICE AS TALL, Burna Boy takes stock of his accomplishments, his vulnerabilities and at the same time encourages ambition and perseverance in the face of uncertainty and against all odds. While this album is a pure, unapologetic African body of work, it boasts of a global contemporary sound that is for everyone. For the "African Giant" this project is a product of a potpourri of emotions and he is now standing "twice as tall."

Insingizi's third international release, Siyabonga follows their two critically acclaimed CDs, Voices of Southern Africa Volume 1 & 2. This extraordinary trio from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe offers uplifting performances filled with harmonious a cappella singing, traditional chants, hand percussion, and superb choreography. Their songs possess a gentleness and honesty that is soul stirring, conveying a wide range of challenges facing people today. The group's success has caught the eye of renowned music critics worldwide; in March 2010, Insingizi - Dumisani Ramadu Moyo, Blessings Nqo Nkomo, Vusa Mkhaya Ndlovu - were rewarded with the "Prix France Musique du Monde 2010" (Radio France World Music Award) at the Babel Med World Music Forum in Marseille, France.

Cedille Records intends its African Heritage Symphonic Series as a follow-up to CBS Records' Black Composers Series from the 1970s, and I'm happy to say Volume 1 makes for a strong start. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), chiefly remembered for his cantata based on Longfellow's Hiawatha, actually was British-born, and his music is understandably more European sounding than that of his African American colleagues, though in some cases you can hear instances of traditionally African harmonic modulations. Thus, the Danse Nègre from the African Suite (1898) sounds sort of like Vaughan-Williams' The Wasps spiced up by Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. Dvorak is a composer who comes to mind again in the Petite Suite de Concert (1910), where Coleridge-Taylor exhibits the same qualities of tunefulness, rhythmic fluency, and sparkling orchestration as the Czech master.


William Grant Still (1895-1978) greatly admired Coleridge-Taylor, but he also was heavily influenced by the great jazz musicians of his time, in particular W.C. Handy, known as the "Father of the Blues". It's the sound of the blues that opens Still's Symphony No. 1, and to hear it in full symphonic dress immediately calls to mind George Gershwin (both composers knew each other's music). Various forms of jazz and blues permeate the symphony, yet Still constructs his work according to classic symphonic principles, and the result is a highly original, thought-provoking, and ultimately enjoyable creation.


From the African diaspora, we turn to the motherland for the music of Fela Sowande (1906-87). Sowande's Africa Suite (1930) utilizes traditional melodies of his native Nigeria, allowing us to hear the actual modes and rhythms of Africa presented in European orchestral timbres--a hybrid that works thanks to conductor Paul Freeman's rhythmic exactitude and to enthusiastic playing by the Chicago Sinfonietta. Freeman and his band give vibrant performances of the Coleridge-Taylor works as well, and show a far less self-conscious demeanor in the Still Symphony than Neeme Jarvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, playing with much more relaxed authenticity and "cool". Cedille's recording is a model of three-dimensional realism, making this disc both a sonic and musical treasure.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Review quotes about "Lyric for Strings" by George Walker:

"Deserves to be as popular as the string elegies by Grieg, Faure and Elgar". Classical New Jersey
"Intense, haunting, lyrical beauty" News Journal, Mansfield, OH
"Hushed beauty and passionate intensity" American Record Guide
"A gorgeous find" Cincinnati Enquirer
"A finely crafted and deeply felt piece" Philadelphia Inquirer
"Intensely moving and beautiful" High Fidelity
"It reminds one of Barber's Adagio for Strings, only less sentimental and ultimately, more profound" Baltimore Evening Sun
"A Masterpiece" Fanfare Magazine
"One of the most beautiful pieces ever written" News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware
"A Gem." Baltimore Sun
"As a piece of gentle art . . . it has few peers." Philadelphia Inquirer

The latest entry in Cedille's very worthy African Heritage Symphonic Series offers the most interesting repertoire yet. The four works included here, all by living composers, demonstrate a wide range of styles and compositional techniques that place their respective authors squarely in the mainstream of contemporary music. Whereas earlier issues focused on the process of "assimilation", of artists coming to grips with a musical culture that labeled them outsiders and aliens, and while even here prejudice and stereotyping to some extent determined the career options open to the two older composers (David Baker and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, born in 1931 and 1932 respectively), these works all project the feeling of having been written from the "inside".


The reason for this impression probably results from two factors: increased acceptance of African American composers as writers of "classical music", and probably more importantly, acceptance of African American popular music idioms (especially jazz) into the language of so-called "art" music. Baker's Cello Concerto and Perkinson's Sinfonietta No. 2 make this process very clear. The first work, written for the composer's friend and teacher Janos Starker and commandingly performed by Dutch cellist Katinka Kleijn, remains a gritty and harmonically dense piece in which the soloist communes with various sections of the orchestra in sustained dialog. It's chamber music writ large, its improvisatory feel pointing more powerfully to the composer's extensive jazz credentials than to his facility for more overtly popular elements. On the other hand, Perkinson's piece combines various folk songs with the famous BACH motive to create a Bartókian synthesis quite unlike anything else.


William Banfield's Essay for Orchestra reveals a touch of Sibelius in its accumulation of incident over long-held pedal tones, but its thematic material and interesting orchestral garb, with extensive percussion commentary accompanying all of the other instruments, create a very distinctive impression. The first work on the disc, Michael Abels' Global Warming, refers both to the environmental phenomenon and to the emotionally contrasting idea of improved relations among nations, and the music illustrates this dichotomy beautifully, with an opening (and concluding) evocation of heat and stillness enfolding a dance section in which imitation Irish folk music rubs shoulders with something vaguely Middle Eastern. It's delightful. The Chicago Sinfonietta's amazingly assured performances of this wildly diverse assortment enjoy perfectly balanced, warmly focused recorded sound. This is a very satisfyingly executed project that makes its points in the only way that ultimately matters: by offering excellent interpretations of interesting, thoughtful, and enjoyable music. [2/8/2003]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

African Homeland: Voices and Rhythms from Zimbabwe

African Hymns

SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce African Pianism, a revelatory collection of music by seven African composers. Released to coincide with Black History Month in the United States, it marks the label’s solo debut of Nigerian-Romanian pianist Rebeca Omordia.

First recordings include three haunting Nocturnes and percussion enhanced En attente du printemps by Moroccan Nabil Benabdeljalil. And Five Kaleidoscopes for Piano by Ghanaian-born to Nigerian parents, Fred Onovwerosuoke, best known for Bolingo, featured in the 2006 Robert de Niro film, The Good Shepherd. They evocatively reference a beehive, love of homeland, Nubian folklore and the elemental power of Nature. African Pianism takes its title from Ghanaian J.H. Kwabena Nketia’s set of Twelve Pedagogical Pieces, richly influenced by the rhythmic, tonal accent of African percussion music. Ayo Bankole’s Egun Variations, remarks Robert Matthew-Walker in his booklet notes, “skilfully melds… Nigerian musical language within a European G major tonal structure”.

Fellow Nigerians Christian Onyeji and Akin Euba also interrogate African drumming technique to brilliant effect in the former’s Ufie (Igbo Dance), the latter’s Three Yoruba Songs Without Words celebrating indigenous song. David Earl’s Princess Rainbow, from his autobiographical Scenes from a South African Childhood, is a touching memory of fly-fishing with his father.

Hailed as an “African classical music pioneer” (BBC World Service), award-winning pianist Rebeca Omordia is an exciting virtuoso with a wide-ranging career as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. She is artistic director of the African Concert Series in London, part of Wigmore Hall’s Family of Partners. The 2022 series launches at London’s Africa Centre on January 25. Rebeca’s previous SOMM release, The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams was hailed by MusicWeb International as “spellbinding music”.

REVIEW:

With African Pianism, Rebeca Omordia has delivered what is sure to be one of the most mesmerizing, invigorating and frankly marvelous piano records of 2022.

That the music on this outstanding album isn’t already better known seems to me a perplexing injustice.

Kudos to Omordia for so eloquently bringing this truly great music to a wider audience; she is the most gracious but compelling of advocates, and we must hope her stellar efforts turn the tide.

-- Pianodao.com (Andrew Eales)

In casting her gaze exclusively on the music of African composers Akin Euba, Ayo Bankole, Christian Onyeji, David Earl, Fred Onovwerosuoke, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, and Nabil Benabdeljalil, London-based pianist Rebeca Omordia has created something truly special. Not only does she bring attention to figures whose names might be new to many a Western listener, she also presents a compelling argument on behalf of the classical music originating from their homeland, especially when so much of it entices for its distinctive melodic quality, rhythmic drive, and folk-influenced tone.

-- Textura

SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce African Pianism, Volume 2, a new installment in a collection of piano music by African composers. Following suit from her critically acclaimed first African Pianism album, Rebeca Omordia brings us a fascinating program with no less than 8 First Recordings. Among these is the 4th in a selection of three Studies in African Pianism by Akin Euba, a Nigerian composer who makes a return on this second volume and whose “African Pianism” style, inspired by the research of Ghanaian composer J.H. Kwabena Nketia. The music of Algerian composer Salim Dada attempts to be a means by which a natural message of peace and dialogue may exist between the Arab-Muslim world and European civilization. Moroccan composer Nabil Benabdeljalil, like Akin Euba, makes a second appearance in this series with a new set of four pieces including 3 first recordings. Fellow South African Grant McLachlan contributes his arrangement for solo piano of the anti-apartheid protest song “Senzeni Na?”, which begins “What have we done? Is our sin that we are black?”. Fela Sowande, a Nigerian composer of the previous century, figures on the program with hauntingly original “K’A Mura” from 2 Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies. Also representing the first half of the 20th century is celebrated African American composer Florence Price in her luxuriantly pianistic Fantasie nègre.

Hailed as an "African classical music pioneer" (BBC World Service) and "a classical music game changer" (Classical Music), award-winning pianist Rebeca Omordia is an exciting virtuoso with a wide-ranging career as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.

The "[Everything Jazz - Vol.5 ECM Edition]" collection stands as an essential, high-fidelity offering for any serious jazz enthusiast, compiling fifty carefully curated, generation-spanning masterpieces from the renowned ECM label that have earned acclaim both internationally and in Japan. What truly elevates this set is the commitment to superb technical brilliance; presented on the Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD) format-often for the first time-and enhanced with the Green Color Label Coat specification, these reissues promise pristine audio fidelity, faithfully reproducing the original master recordings with astonishing clarity. Beyond the cutting-edge sound, the collection adds substantial value with detailed booklets featuring brand-new liner notes and artist comments for each work, making this an indispensable, comprehensive package that blends timeless classics with definitive sound quality, ready for you to discover your next destined masterpiece.

These titles were recorded between 1971 and 1975 by Manu Dibango for professional sound illustration for the cinema, television or advertising. They have never been released on disc and are therefore exclusive. Unfortunately, information is missing but Manu Dibango remembers that his Parisian band then comprised: Jacques Bolognesi, Ivan Julien, Francois Jeanneau and Slim Pezin. On the sides cut in New York, we can appreciate prestigious guests such as Buster Williams and Cedar Walton (“Lea’s Love Theme”) and even Tony Williams. In 2008, these tunes have not aged at all and have even been upgraded by the gold-diggers. This album, a wonderful return to the future, should satisfy their needs, or at least make their mouths water. And watch out, as there’s more to come.

Legendary South African bassist Johnny “Mbizo” Dyani (1947 – 1986) left a significant musical/political legacy in spite of his short life of 39 years. While still a teenager Johnny exiled himself from South Africa where an interracial band The Blue Notes was banned under apartheid rule. Regrettably he could not live to see the end of apartheid but remained an active component of anti-apartheid movement throughout his life. Johnny Dyani left a number of superb recordings on SteepleChase during the 70s and this is his most ambitious project with colourful instrumentation including steel drums. 180g Audiophile Vinyl

The inspiring group Afrika Mamas are three-time South African Music Awards nominees, and have toured all over the world. They sing in an a cappella or Mbube style, featuring rich textures, thick harmonies, reminiscent of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The twelve tracks featured on this disc are a fantastic representation of the works of this moving group.

After five Delmark albums with his New Horizons Ensemble and three as co-leader of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, saxophonist, composer, arranger Ernest Dawkins leads this brand new, specially chosen group for a program of straight ahead jazz featuring African, Afro-Latin and African-American percussion. The personnel is Ernest Dawkins, alto, tenor saxophone; Corey Wilkes, trumpet; Willerm Delisfort, piano; Junius Paul, bass; Isaiah Spencer, drums; Ruben Alvarez, congas, bongos, chimes, shaker; Greg Carmouche, Greg Penn, congas; and on the intimate ballad rendition of "God Bless The Child" Ben Paterson on Hammond B3 organ.

Willis James, former chairman of the Music Department at Spelman College, looks at how the complex musical and linguistic practices of west coast African cultures have been translated into the musical practices of African Americans. In this lecture performance, he covers spirituals, work songs, blues and jazz.

Deluxe edition features eight bonus tracks - alternate takes from the surviving four-track session reels, including an explosive rendition of the single, "Soul Vibrations," extended versions of the title track and "Little Sunflower," plus two fantastic jazzy readings of "Theme from Valley of the Dolls." Afro-Harping is the first of a rarefied and outstanding trilogy of soul-jazz albums by Dorothy Ashby. Remastered from the original tapes, Afro-Harping is filled front-to-back with sumptuous and hypnotic grooves. It's African percussion, soulful orchestrations, in-the-pocket rhythms and Dorothy's virtuosity take it beyond jazzy mood music and made it a favorite of beat heads and producers.

Double vinyl LP pressing. Deluxe edition features eight bonus tracks - alternate takes from the surviving four-track session reels, including an explosive rendition of the single, "Soul Vibrations," extended versions of the title track and "Little Sunflower," plus two fantastic jazzy readings of "Theme from Valley of the Dolls." Afro-Harping is the first of a rarefied and outstanding trilogy of soul-jazz albums by Dorothy Ashby. Remastered from the original tapes, Afro-Harping is filled front-to-back with sumptuous and hypnotic grooves. It's African percussion, soulful orchestrations, in-the-pocket rhythms and Dorothy's virtuosity take it beyond jazzy mood music and made it a favorite of beat heads and producers.

Classical Music

Brad Mehldau / AFTER BACH II - The album comprises four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D Major, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of the Baroque master-including his Variations on Bach's Goldberg Theme. Mehldau, speaking of the "universality" of Bach's music, says in his liner note: "The more you try to engage with him, the more your own personality becomes visible, unavoidably. You are not playing Bach-Bach is playing you, in the sense that he lays you bare... The greatest choice you make at all times is not out of an absence, but from what is there, in it's totality. Specifically, it is the constant choice you make in how to negotiate between harmony and melody."He continues, "This is why Bach is a model for me as a jazz musician. In my improvised solos, I want to make melodic phrases that carry harmonic implication, and create harmony that moves in a melodic fashion. This is a crucial component in the storytelling." After Bach II follows 2018's After Bach album, which originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall-called Three Pieces After Bach.

Pierre Gallon's new program portrays a night of music, hovering between fantasies and poetic dreams of the English Renaissance. His keyboards - harpsichords, a virginal and a toy piano - create a mosaic of nocturnal visions, interspersed with the fantastic and unexpected. As a contemporary counterpoint, Bernard Foccroulle's Night (2023) reveals the light of a new dawn.

After Hours