The commercial success of this release is perhaps no surprise, for it certainly delivers something different from most anything else listeners are encountering in 2022. The contents are exactly what is promised by pianist Rebeca Omordia, herself of Nigerian-Romanian background: works for piano by African composers. A few of these composers have been heard before on recordings, but for the most part, they will be new to listeners. There is one work by a white South African composer, David Earl, and several by a composer from ...
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The commercial success of this release is perhaps no surprise, for it certainly delivers something different from most anything else listeners are encountering in 2022. The contents are exactly what is promised by pianist Rebeca Omordia, herself of Nigerian-Romanian background: works for piano by African composers. A few of these composers have been heard before on recordings, but for the most part, they will be new to listeners. There is one work by a white South African composer, David Earl, and several by a composer from Morocco, Nabil Benabdeljalil, but most of the music draws on sub-Saharan African traditions. Omordia does well to play her strongest card first; the Egun Variations in G major of Ayo Bankole form an arresting little structure that merges a pentatonic scale, the G major tonality, and the variation form in an entirely original way. One of the Benabdeljalil pieces and one of the cleverly titled Three Yoruba Songs Without Words by Akin Euba is accompanied by a percussionist, Abdelkader...
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