- Presenter: Anna Picard
- Producer: Natalie Steed
- Contributors: Stephen Bourne, Melissa Doody, Julius P Williams, Allyson Devenish, Tuffus Zimbabwe
A couple of weeks ago, a social media post by the renowned South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen alerted me to a musician I hadn't heard of before – Jessie Margaret Soga (1870-1954). I've now added her to the timeline.
Since beginning this research, I've been really struck by how few historical South African musicians I've been able to identify in Britain, particularly given the connections that existed with South Africa during this period so it was great to hear about all the amazing things she did. It's also very interesting to note that she was so heavily political (in the Scottish suffrage movement) at a time when a more well-known Afro-British musician – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – was very involved with Pan-Africanism. Both used their musical skills to raise funds and awareness in support of their respective sociopolitical activities.
Jessie M. Soga was a Xhosa-Scottish singer born in South Africa. Shortly after her father Tiyo's death in 1871 when she was still a baby, the remaining family moved to Scotland where she became involved in singing from childhood initially as a performer, and then as a teacher.
She studied singing and music at the Royal Academy of Music in 1894-5, and later gaining further qualifications from there as her career progressed in the early 20th century. During this period, Soga featured as a soloist in several large scale concerts with choral societies across Scotland while also becoming very involved in women's suffrage campaigns and organising multiple fundraising events for the cause.
Despite the rest of her family returning to South Africa over the years, Jessie Soga remained in Scotland and died in Glasgow at the age of 83.
Thanks to Bongani for bringing Jessie Soga to my attention. I strongly recommend listening to his work, if you haven't already!
Sowande brothers updates at BFI
Among Fela Sowande’s compositions are soundtracks that he wrote for films including The Plainsmen of Barotseland (1943) and African Awakening(1962). He also makes an appearance as a pianist in the 1946 wartime drama The Lisbon Story. All of this means he has featured in the British Film Instituted archives. While doing the research for my last blogpost, I realised something that had confused me in the BFI archives previously – a reference to Olu Sowande as narrator in the documentary Nigerian Harvest (1962) took me to Fela’s page. I assumed that someone had mistakenly made a reference to Fela’s full name (Olufela) and ignored it. When I realised that one of his brothers was called Olu, I got in touch with the BFI and after providing evidence that Olu was a different Sowande, they not only updated the link but created new pages for the remaining brothers so they can be referred to if any one find them in old films or footage.
Mistakes happen with names – especially non-European ones – so much in archives. There must be so many other Black musicians that are lost within them because someone has made what looks like a small mistake that can bury their work for a long time.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor violin repertoire
Schott Music have recently reprinted Suite de Pièces by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor for violin and piano. It has been available as download only for a while but if, like me, you prefer to perform from printed scores, this is a welcome addition. Thanks to Ian Mylett at Schott for telling me about this.
There are several other works by Coleridge-Taylor that were originally published by Schott but are no longer available. Hopefully, more of these Schott editions will be reissued soon… I’m updating the plainsightSOUND database as this information comes in, so get in touch if I’ve missed anything!
Listen to Suite de Pièces performed by Maria Ioudenitch (violin) and Sahun (Sam) Hong (piano). Maria Ioudenitch performs on the on the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius
Timeline additions
Four new people have been added to the plainsightSOUND timeline – Yinka Sowande, Olu Sowande, Meki Nzewi and Christopher Oyesiku. There are so many more people to add to the timeline and I’m looking for other ways to display this data too. Let me know if you have any more ideas!
Image: Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos Yellowcrunchy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Within musical families, creative interest among several siblings is pretty much expected. When we look back in history though, it is not unusual to find individual siblings who become more well-known within specific genres or fields. A while ago, I wrote about Frederick Bridg(e)tower who - as well as his child prodigy brother George - excelled and remained in music throughout his short life. We also have the Aldridges - Luranah, Amanda and Ira - who were the children of the African American actor Ira Aldridge (Alex Ross wrote an interesting article on the elder Aldridge back in 2013). Added to these are the Sowande brothers, of which Fela Sowande (1905-1987) is probably the most well-cited among British musicians today. The brothers - Fela, Yinka, Olu and Tunji - all received their initial choral training at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos. Fela and Yinka were also organists at the church. I've previously written about Fela, but his brothers were pretty interesting too.
Yinka Sowande (1910-1993)
Williams Olayinka Sowande also studied music in England and later held various positions as organist at Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos in Nigeria during his lifetime. Unfortunately, I don't have a huge amount of information on Yinka yet, but I'm hoping more is coming soon.
Tunji Sowande (1912-1996)
While Fela initially studied economics, Tunji Sowande studied Law at Kings College, London while also sustaining himself with a successful career as a jazz drummer and saxophonist. Like Fela, he was associated with high profile musicians including Rita Lawrence, Ronnie Scott, Johnny Dankworth and Paul Robeson. Unlike his eldest brother, however, he eventually decided to focus on his career as a barrister - having been called to the bar in 1952. From there, he became the first Black Head of Chambers at a major set in 1968 and in 1978 was appointed the first Black Deputy Circuit Judge in the UK. The play Just an Ordinary Lawyer by Tunji Aluko explores his life through words and music. Take a look at the trailer below:
Olu Sowande (1916-1968)
Olubunmi Jonathan Sowande was the youngest of the four musician brothers. His received his initial voice training from his mother and his first piano lessons from eldest brother Fela. On April 3, 1956, he travelled to England to study operatic singing at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. As a member of the London International Choir, he introduced his peers to Nigerian folk songs. Olu returned to Nigeria in 1960 - around the same time as bass singer and music educator Christopher Oyesiki - and took up a post as a Senior Program Assistant at NBC. Through his weekly program Olu Sowande's Show he showcased several important musicians including the now famous Fela Kuti (an alumn of Trinity College of Music, London).
Special thanks
This post was inspired by a fantastic Olu Sowande biographical Facebook post by Professor Godwin Sadoh in 2020. Professor Sadoh writes extensively on Nigerian musicians and ethnomusicologists, including in his book The Centenary of the Cathedral Church of Christ choir, Lagos available in paperback and ebook formats.
All four of the brothers now appear on the plainsightSOUND timeline.
News
2020 has been a very different year. Among all of the chaos and uncertainty, none of which I will go into, it’s felt very strange to be carrying on with this project at times.
I’ve been working hard in the background and I’m still getting round to putting it all on the website, so watch this space. In the meantime, here are some of the places plainsightSOUND has been mentioned that you might have missed.
- As It Comes Podcast – The As It Comes Podcast is hosted by cellist, Davina Shum. I spoke to her way back on Episode 5, but you should check out the rest of her guests too.
- Music Matters – Race, equality and music – I featured as a contributor in this episode where Kate Molleson hosts an online panel discussion on issues relating to race and equality within the classical music industry.
- The Listening Service – Is it canon? – Tom Service discuses the classical music canon – who decides what’s in and what’s out? Can it and should it change?
Website Updates
Resources
I’ve added a few more recommendations to the resources list. Highlights include broadcasts/podcasts, links to Castles of our Skins, Nate Holder’s work on decolonising music education and more. Take a look and recommend anything that you think could be added.
Database
One of my favourite parts of plainsightSOUND is being able to direct people on the most up-to-date sources, so it was brilliant to get an email this week clarifying where some of Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ works have been most recently available. These have been updated in the database, including direct links where possible.
I need your help help to complete the plainsightSOUND database, so if you have any information that you think should be added, please get in touch!
With everything that’s been going on this very weird year that is 2020, more people have shown an interest in the research I’ve been doing that goes into this site, my PhD and Decus Ensemble. It’s been extremely busy but, after passing my MPhil to PhD upgrade in June (YAY!), I blocked out some time to get the next chunk of my project done – the plainsightSOUND database.
This week, I heard the sad news that the respected Nigerian composer, ethnomusicologist and pianist Professor Akin Euba passed away on April 14th. The work of Professor Euba has featured in many aspects of this project, particularly through collaborations with Decus Ensemble where I have been able to programme both his 5 Pieces for English Horn and Piano and his String Quartet.
Among the many tributes shared in the days since his passing, was one by Professor Godwin Sadoh who has been a great supporter of the plainsightSOUND project. I am sharing it below with his permission.
Akin Euba: Foremost Nigerian Musicologist and Composer Dies at 84
Akin Euba was born on April 28, 1935, in Lagos, Nigeria. He had his early musical training in Lagos before proceeding to England for advanced studies. In four years at the Trinity College of Music, Euba earned three diplomas:
Associate of the Trinity College, London (Piano Performance) 1954; Licentiate of the Trinity College London (Teacher’s Training Diploma) 1955; and Licentiate of the Trinity College London (Piano Performance) 1956. At UCLA, Euba graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Music in 1964 and completed his Master’s degree also at UCLA in 1966. In 1967, he registered with the University of Ghana as a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology under the supervision of late Prof. Kwabena Nketia, and subsequently graduated in 1974.
In the area of academic position, Euba has been a lecturer, Visiting Fellow, and External Examiner at a variety of universities in Africa and North America. His first position as Lecturer at the University of Lagos in Nigeria extended from 1966-68. From 1968-75, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Ife in Nigeria, where he served as the Founding Head of the Department of Music. He spent the Summer of 1969 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Assignments as External Examiner involved both the University of Ife and Makerere University in Uganda. Euba was a Professor at the University of Lagos from 1978-81. Among other appointments, he was Director of the Center for Intercultural Music Arts in London, which he founded, in 1988. He was also Honorary Visiting Professor, Department of Music, City University, London. Other academic appointments include Research Scholar and Artist-in-Residence at the IWALEWA House, the African Studies Center of the University of Bayreuth in Germany, between 1986 and 1992. He was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh between 1993 and 2011. Until his death on April 14, 2020, exactly two weeks before his 85th birthday, Akin Euba was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Emeritus in music.
While in the employ of the University of Pittsburgh, Euba taught several courses including Music in Africa, Introduction to Ethnomusicology, Field and Lab Methods, World Music, Creative Ethnomusicology, and Intercultural Musicology. He was well known for pioneering various theories, including those of African Pianism, Intercultural Musicology, and creative ethnomusicology.
Selected Activities
- Azusa Pacific University, School of Music’s first World Music Scholar-in-Residence, 2004.
- Composer-in-Residence, Ensemble Noir, Toronto, 2003.
- Organizer, 1st and 2nd biennial international symposium and festival on the theme “Composition in Africa and the Diaspora,” Churchill College, University of Cambridge, 2001 and 2003.
- Organizer, International symposium and festival on the theme “Towards an African Pianism: Keyboard Music of Africa and Its Diaspora,” University of Pittsburgh, 1999.
- Overseas Fellow, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, 2000-1.
Selected Honors/Awards
- Biography in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2d ed., 2001
- Biography in International Dictionary of Black Composers, 1999
May his soul rest in peace.
Prof. Godwin Sadoh
Former student of Akin Euba
It has been an incredibly busy few months - finishing off various project and starting new ones - but I'm really excited about this announcement. plainsightSOUND has been selected as one of the Project Pitches at Classical:NEXT 2020!
It's a great honour to be one of the 14 international projects selected. This year's group of entries chosen by the jury covers 12 different countries, and they all look fantastic. Classical:NEXT is considered the "largest global gathering of professionals for all sectors of classical and art music". This year, it takes place in Rotterdam, Netherlands and runs from 18th-21st May 2020. It's a great honour to be one of the 14 international projects selected. This year's group of entries chosen by the jury covers 12 different countries, and they all look fantastic.
This will be the first time that I'll be able to talk about the project to an international audience. It's also a chance for me to meet with potential project collaborators, which is even more exciting.
Info about all of the pitches (including plainsightSOUND) can be found here. There's also an official Classical:NEXT promo video you can watch.
I'm really looking forward to spreading the word about historical Black classical composers. If you're attending the event in May, come and say hi!
I'm doing my best to keep the Events page on the site updated. If you're interested in where plainsightSOUND has been and will be in the future, do have a look.
This post is dedicated to Nigerian composer and ethnomusicologist, Joshua Uzoigwe (July 1, 1946 – October 15, 2005).
I recently received an email from Professor Godwin Sadoh, who has been an avid supporter of the work that has gone into creating this site. As a prolific scholar of African Art Music in particular, he was kind enough to provide me with a complete list of his publications featuring the life and work of Uzoigwe and "specifically set to preserve his legacy and meritorious contributions to Nigerian art music".
The full list is below. Let me know if you find any of these useful!
BOOKS
Five Decades of Music Transmutation in Nigeria and the Diaspora. Columbus, OH: GSS Publications, 2015. 50% discount for a limited period.
Joshua Uzoigwe: Memoirs of a Nigerian Composer-Ethnomusicologist. S.C.: Booksurge Publishing, 2007.
“Joshua Uzoigwe: An Introduction to the Life and Music of a Modern Nigerian Composer.” [M.A. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1998].
ARTICLES
"Cross-Cultural Expressions in the Music of Joshua Uzoigwe." Musical Times, vol.157, No.1935 (Summer 2016): 99–106. [UK]
“African Musicology: A Bibliographical Guide to Nigerian Art Music (1927-2009).” MLA Notes 66, No. 3 (March 2010): 485-502. [U.S.A.]
“Modern Nigerian Music: The Post-Colonial Experience.” Musical Times 150, No. 1908 (Autumn 2009): 79-84. [U.K.]
“The Emergence of Percussion in Nigerian Art Music.” Percussive Notes 46, No. 6 (December 2008): 52-61. [U.S.A.]
“Twentieth-Century Nigerian Composers.” Choral Journal 47, No. 10(April 2007): 33-39. [U.S.A.]
“Nigerian Art Music Composers.” NTAMA Journal of African Music and Popular Culture, Universität Hildesheim, Germany. January 10, 2007. [Germany]
“Hybrid Composition: An Introduction to the Age of Atonality in Nigeria.” The Diapason 97, No. 11 (November 2006): 22-25. [U.S.A.]
“The Creative Experience of a Contemporary Nigerian Composer.” Living Music 20, No. 1 (Spring 2005) : 6-9. [U.S.A.]
“Intercultural Creativity in Joshua Uzoigwe’s Music.” Africa 74, no. 4 (Dec. 2004) : 633-661. Africa is the official journal of the International African Institute, London, United Kingdom. [U.K.]
“Joshua Uzoigwe.” Published at http://africadatabase.org September, 2003. In Contemporary Africa Database, London, [U.K.].
“Creativity and Dance in Joshua Uzoigwe’s Music.” Composer-USA 9, no. 2 [Spring 2003]: 4-5. [U.S.A.]
These publications have been cataloged in prestigious libraries all over the world, including Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institute, American Ivy Leagues, and world-class university libraries in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa (especially Nigeria and South Africa).
FORTHCOMING
A CD of piano works by African composers including Joshua Uzoigwe's Talking Drums.
Pianist: Silvia Belfiore
Release Date: 2020.
More on Joshua Uzoigwe can be found in his Wikipedia page.
Don't forget you can find a list of more general information related to this research on the Resources page.
October is Black History Month in the UK and this year, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance have let me do a plainsightSOUND Instagram takeover!
This is an opportunity to highlight the musicians that feature on this site. It will hopefully encourage some new visitors too.
If you have an Instagram account and would like to join in the conversation, head over to https://www.instagram.com and search #plainsightsound. Don't worry, if you don't have an account, you can still see the pictures during Black History Month and after. Don't forget, you can use the same hashtag on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest news.
Everyone who appears should already be shown in the Timeline. Let me know if there's anyone missing...