African Art Music is a richly diverse genre bridging Western classical music and traditional African music. It emerged in the 20th century as African musicians studying in Europe returned to their home countries to incorporate inherited traditional African melodies and rhythms into their newly acquired understanding of the classical idiom.

Nigerian composer Akin Euba coined the term ‘African Pianism’ for this new fusion of Western forms and multi-voiced African accents - a style of piano music that expresses certain features of African traditional music.

Africa is home to more than 3000 ethnic groups, each with their own language, culture and music. Music is part of people’s everyday lives, existing at the heart’s core of the African nations’ beliefs, customs and traditions. Highly lyrical melodies using complex rhythms accompanied by traditional instruments are closely linked to rituals – weddings, funerals and social and cultural events – expressing people’s joys, sorrows and celebrations.

Rebeca Omordia, whose new album celebrates African Pianism (photo: Foursquare Media)

When African composers began to incorporate traditional melodies and rhythms characteristic to their own ethnic groups, it produced music that synthesizes – and celebrates – the cultural diversity of the vast African continent. The resulting, now substantial, repertoire ranges from songs and solo instrumental works to chamber music and orchestral works; music composed for Western instruments or in combination with African traditional instruments.

In West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, there is a School of West African Art Music with prominent figures such as Ephraim Kwaku Amu (1899-1995) – the father of Ghanaian Art Music – and Fela Sowande (1905-87), progenitor of Nigerian Art Music. Sowande is arguably the best-known African art composer, his African Suite (1944) for string orchestra is based on West African popular Highlife tunes. After studies at the University of London, he became a Fellow of Trinity College of Music and studied organ with Edmund Rubbra. He performed as an organist for the BBC and as Choirmaster at London’s Kingsway Hall before returning to Nigeria where he began an academic career at the University of Ibadan while also presenting for the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation.

Other composers followed suit: a large group of young Nigerian composers – Akin Euba, Joshua Uzoigwe, Samuel Akpabot, Ayo Bankole, and others – went on to found the Nigerian School of Art Music.

A prominent Ghanaian figure, Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (1921-2019), a student of Amu’s, was one of the most significant musicians to compose and write on African musical aesthetics. Considered a 'living legend' during his lifetime, Nketia was professor of music at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh, and lectured all over the world, including at Harvard University, Stanford University and City University London. He revolutionised the system of notation in transcribing African art music rhythms and melodies.

In his widely acclaimed book The Music of Africa, he provided a detailed analysis of the indigenous musical traditions of Africa, highlighting the similarities and differences of practice and style from an historical, social and cultural perspective. He described it as 'a study of unity and diversity', emphasising that 'the music of Africa, like its language, is ethnic-bound. Each society practices its own variant'.

Nigerian Akin Euba (1935-2020), inventor of the concept of African Pianism, published his PhD thesis, Dùndún Music of the Yoruba, under the guidance of Professor Kwabena Nketia. Professor Euba directed a research centre at the University of Lagos, was Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh, and organised symposiums all over the world, most notably at Cambridge University, exploring the significance of inter-culturalism in musical composition and performance. He published many academic works, including the book Yoruba Drumming: The Dùndún Tradition (1990). His Chaka, An opera in two chants (1970) was recorded by the City of Birmingham Touring Opera, conducted by Simon Halsey, in 1999.

Professor Euba became preoccupied with the concept of African Pianism in the 1960s while looking for a 'key that could unlock the doors to an African identity in modern composition'. In 1963, he composed Igi Nla So (‘A Big Tree Bears Fruit’) for piano and Yoruba drums. According to Professor Euba, 'one of the surest ways of achieving an African identity in composition is to employ African traditional instruments'. He goes further by explaining that 'the piano already displays certain affinities with African music, and by creating a type of African pianism to blend with African instruments, it should be possible to achieve a successful fusion'. Persuasively, he argued that the techniques used 'in the performance African xylophones, thumb pianos, plucked lutes, drum chimes ... form a good basis for an African pianism style'.

His research produced many essays but also piano works including Four Pictures from Oyo Calabashes (1964) and Wakar Duru: Studies in African Pianism (1987). In his definition, the ingredients of an African pianism include: 'a) thematic repetition, b) direct borrowings of thematical material (rhythmical and/or tonal) from African traditional sources, c) the use of rhythmical and/or tonal motifs which, although not borrowed from specific traditional sources, are based on traditional idioms, d) percussive treatment of the piano'.

Techniques of African pianism have been adopted by other African composers, notably Professor Kwabena Nketia in his African Pianism: Twelve Pedagogical Pieces (1999). In his introduction, he gives further insight into the theory of African pianism: 'African Pianism refers to a style of piano music which derives its characteristic idiom from the procedures of African percussion music as exemplified in bell patterns, drumming, xylophone and mbira music. It may use simple or extended rhythmic motifs or the lyricism of traditional songs and even those of African popular music as the basis of its rhythmic phrases'.

Nigerian composer Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005), one of Africa’s most important composers, also employed the technique of African pianism in a series of works titled Studies in African Pianism, including Talking Drums (1991).

The prolific Nigerian Ayo Bankole (1935-76) – whose life was cut short at the age of 40 when he and his wife were murdered by a half-brother – left a large body of work, including chamber music, songs and many piano pieces including Piano Sonatas, Nigerian Suite, African Suite. Egun Variations for piano was inspired by a theme drawn from traditional Egun music of the country’s south-west region.

Although not always evident, characteristics of African Pianism can be found in most West African composers’ music where traditional African melodies and rhythms are employed as base material. A leading figure of the younger generation of the West African School of Art Music is composer Fred Onovwerosuoke, a former student of Professor Nketia, born in 1960 in Ghana to Nigerian parents from the Igbo tribe. He is known internationally for his chant Bolingo, used in Robert de Niro’s 2006 film, The Good Shepherd. ‘FredO’, as his friends call him, travelled all over Africa gathering material that he used in his widely acclaimed 24 Studies in African Rhythms for piano, each study inspired by a song or a dance from a different country in Africa.

From this group also stands out Nigerian Igbo composer Christian Onyeji (b.1967) ethnomusicologist and Professor of Composition at the University of Nsukka, Nigeria, whose piano work Ufie (Igbo dance), employs the drummistic piano style inspired by the percussion ensembles in South Eastern Nigeria.

Africa is a large continent and gradually each country developed its own style of African Art Music. North Africa has a different musical tradition – its languages and cultures are similar to the societies of the Arab world. Composers from Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, wrote music in a classical idiom while using characteristic melodies and rhythms – the use of certain melodies such as 'maqams' creates a common link between their works. Leading North African composer Nabil Benabdeljalil (b.1972) from Morocco is mostly known for his Symphonie Marocaine en quatre tableaux. Originally trained in the Russian tradition at the Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev, followed by studies at the University of Strasbourg, Benabdeljalil’s long engagement with traditional repertoires – including Arabic singing and his six Nocturnes for piano – represent a wonderful synthesis of his various stylistic approaches.

As Professor Kwabena Nketia states, in the southern part of the African continent we find that most composers practiced the Western style of music introduced by European settlers. Many works, although inspired by the South African landscape, are European in style. Such is the case of composer David Earl, whose Scenes from a South African Childhood for piano is inspired by his childhood in the Jonkershoek Valley, near Stellenbosch, and yet retains a European orientation. Born in 1951, Earl developed an early career as a concert pianist before moving to England in 1971 to study at Trinity College of Music. His first recital at Wigmore Hall in 1974 was described as 'stylish and powerful' by The Times. He composed many major works including operas, ballets and piano concertos.

African Art Music does not only bridge the gap between two cultures – Western and African – but also reveals the rich cultural diversity of the African continent reflected in its music.

African Pianism, my new disc on SOMM Recordings, is a continuation of my own work exploring the wonderful variety of voices and accents in African art music. With contributions from Algerian percussionist Abdelkader Saadoun, it brings to wider attention the piano music of seven African composers – Ayo Bankole, Akin Euba, Christian Onyeji, J.H. Kwabena Nketia, Fred Onovwerosuoke, David Earl and Nabil Benabdeljalil – and seeks to shine a light on a musical treasure trove waiting – and deserving – to be discovered.

Rebeca Omordia's new album, African Pianism, is available now from SOMM