Akin Euba
Akin Euba | |
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Born | Olatunji Akin Euba 28 April 1935 musicologist , and pianist |
Olatunji Akin Euba (28 April 1935 – 14 April 2020), was a Nigerian composer,
Career
Born on 28 April 1935 in
Euba was professor and director of the Centre for Cultural Studies at the
Euba's scholarly interests included the musicology and ethnomusicology of modern interculturalism. He organized regular symposia on music in Africa and the Diaspora at Churchill College, Cambridge as well as the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. These events featured such notable composers and scholars as J. H. Kwabena Nketia and Halim El-Dabh. With his Elekoto Ensemble, he brought together musicians from Nigeria, China, India, Germany, Malta, and the United States.
His compositions involve a synthesis of African traditional material (often from his own ethnic group, the Yoruba people) and contemporary classical music. His most ambitious composition is the opera Chaka: An Opera in Two Chants (1970), which blends West African percussion and atenteben flutes with twelve-tone technique.
Euba died on 14 April 2020, two weeks short of his 85th birthday.[1]
Works
- Six Yoruba Folk Songs, arranged for voice and piano
- 1956 – Introduction and Allegro, orchestra
- 1963 – Five Pieces for English Horn and Piano for Derek Bell
- 1964 – Four Pictures from Oyo Calabashes
- 1964 – Impressions From an Akwete Cloth, piano
- 1967 – Morning, Noon, and Night, singers, dancers, and Nigerian instruments
- 1967 – Olurounbi (or Olurombi), Symphonic study for Orchestra
- 1970 (rev. 1999) – Chaka, Opera
- 1970 – Ice Cubes, string orchestra
- 1970 – Scenes From Traditional Life, piano
- 1975 – Alatangana, ballet for singers, dancers, and Nigerian instruments
- 1979 – Black Bethlehem, soloists, chorus, Nigerian drums, and jazz ensemble
- 1987 – Wakar Duru: Studies in African Pianism 1–3, piano
- 2003 – Below Rusumo Falls, voice, dancer, kayagum, flute, drums, and piano (text: Olusola Oyeleye)
- 2011 - "emem was born into the world
Discography
- 1989 – Piano Music of Akin Euba, performed by Peter Schmalfuss (includes Scenes from Traditional Life and Wakar Duru: Studies in African Pianism)
- 1999 – Chaka: An Opera in Two Chants, from an epic poem by Léopold Sédar Senghor. Point Richmond, California, United States: Music Research Institute MRI-001CD.
- 2005 – Towards an African Pianism: An Anthology of Keyboard Music From Africa and the Diaspora. Vol. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States: A Bridge Across: Intercultural Composition, Performance, Musicology, Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh, ABA 001 CD.
- 2005 – Towards an African Pianism: An Anthology of Keyboard Music From Africa and the Diaspora. Vol. 2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States: A Bridge Across: Intercultural Composition, Performance, Musicology, Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh, ABA 002 CD.
Writings
- Euba, Akin (1970). "Music Adapts to a Changed World: A Leading Composer Looks at How Africa's Musical Traditions Have Expanded to Suit Contemporary Society." Africa Report, November 1970, pp. 24–27.
- Euba, Akin (1989). "Yoruba Music in the Church: The Development of a Neo-African Art Among the Yoruba of Nigeria." In African Musicology: Current Trends: A Festschrift Presented to J. H. Kwabena Nketia, ed. J. C. DjeDje and W. G. Carter (Atlanta, Georgia), pp. 45–63.
References
- ^ Gregory Austin Nwakunor, "Akin Euba, the father of African pianism, dies at 84", The Guardian (Nigeria), 15 April 2020.
- Uzoigwe, Joshua (1992). Akin Euba: An Introduction to the Life and Music of a Nigerian Composer. Bayreuth, Germany: Bayreuth African Studies Series.
- Omojola, Bode (2001). "African Pianism as an Intercultural Compositional Framework: A Study of the Piano Works of Akin Euba." Research in African Literatures 32(2):153-174.