Classical Music | Orchestral Music

Fela Sowande

African Suite   Play

Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra
Paul Freeman Conductor

Recorded on 05/24/2009, uploaded on 03/24/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Nigerian Fela Sowande's African Suite (three selections) from 1930, scored for string orchestra and harp, incorporates traditional Nigerian melodies and the influence of Ghanian composer Ephiraim Amu. The suite's first movement, aptly named "Joyful Day", is lovely and energetic, with a big-hearted opening that brings to mind Copland's Appalachian Spring from 1944. Sowande was also an accomplished organist, schooled in the works of Bach and Handel, which perhaps accounts for the fugal orchestral writing in the "Nostalgia" movement. The delectable, folkloric movement titled "Akinla" adapts a melody from West African "highlife", a spirited dance style that mixes African, Caribbean, and Western sonorities.


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