Omo Bello (soprano), Rebeca Omordia (piano), Richard Olatunde Baker (percussion)

Bankole: 3 Yoruba Songs
Bankole: Àdúrà fún Àláfíà
Bankole: Òjò máa rọ̀̀!
Euba: 6 Yoruba Folk Songs
Richard Olatunde Baker: Drum Improvisation
Onovwerosuoke: 12 African Songs
Ishaya Yarison: Ubangiji makiyayina ne
Ishaya Yarison: Ku zo, mu raira waƙa
Joseph Bologne: L’Amant anonyme
Wallen: Peace on earth
Thompson, S: Psalm to Windrush
Onyeji: Giri Giri
Richard Olatunde Baker: Atilogwu Dance Improvisation
Ngobili, C: Selense

SOMM Recordings is excited to announce African Art Song, a continuation of pianist and “African classical music pioneer” (BBC World Service), Rebeca Omordia’s exquisite exploration of African classical music repertoire in her African Pianism series, in which she partners award-winning soprano Omo Bello. Throughout, an illuminating, and frequently mesmerizing musical tapestry appears, incorporating five indigenous languages and cultures with songs that merge African and Western European musical forms with African melodies to produce songs full of simplicity, playfulness, and most importantly, joy. The repertoire recorded by the two artists ranges from the love songs of Joseph Bologne (1745–1799), to works by living composers Shirley Thompson and Errollyn Wallen, whose “Peace on Earth” has grown from a song for Christmas to a song of peace for all seasons. The plaintive longing heard in “Adura fun Alafia” (Prayer to God / Prayer of Peace,” by Nigerian composer Ayo Bankole, is a prayer reflecting the depth of devastation and starvation experienced during the Nigerian Civil War, known as the Biafra War (1967–1970). Ghanian-Nigerian composer Fred Onovwerosuoke’s “Twelve African Songs” are a kaleidoscope of dances, healing dances and calls on the rain. Percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker’s two compositions “serve as intermission, as a way of bridging the multiple musical languages”. Baker’s compositions join those of Ayo Bankole, Akin Euba, Christian Onyeji, and Chijioke Ngobili as first recordings. French-Nigerian Omo Bello is the winner of many of Europe’s most prestigious awards, including the Luciano Pavarotti Giovani competition (2010), Arca d’Or Prize (2013), Paris International Opera Competition (2014), and more after beginning her career as a scientist. Bello combines her talents by giving charity performances in the service of medical research associations and in working with the Operabuja festival in Nigeria to build a music conservatory and promote classical music and the lyrical arts.