A couple of weeks ago, I was doing my regular trawl through YouTube for African composers and found this track from a CD rerelease of Fela Sowande’s African Suite for Strings performed by The New Symphony Orchestra conducted by Trevor Harvey.
I keep finding mentions of this piece in my research but this is the first professional recording that I’ve found, even better that it’s from not long after he wrote it.
Originally released on the London Gramophone Corporation label in New York, USA, Sowande wrote the liner notes himself – with lots of background info to help out an audience that probably wouldn’t have heard much like this before.
Track listing:
- Joyful Day
- Nostalgia
- Onipe
- Lullaby
- Akinla
Despite being recorded 1950s, the sound quality is great and I’m really glad that Kipepeo Publishing decided to release this. If you want to get hold of the album yourselves, details are below.
BUY
The album is available via Kipepeo Publishing at World Beat Archives. Follow them on Twitter @Kipepeo_UK
If you want the vinyl, it looks like there are still a few copies left on Discogs