Saturday, April 14, 2012

Oyebade Dosunmu: Facebook page 'African Art Music' & MRI Choral Anthology


Oyebade Dosunmu responds to our post on the Fela Sowande Singers Debut Concert:

Dear Bill,
 
Thank you so much. I would have responded earlier but had to fly out of town right after the Fela Sowande Singers' concert to attend a few meetings and give a talk. The concert was very successful. It was well attended by a very enthusiastic audience, and the choir and soloists performed exceptionally well. A precedent has definitely been set for future exciting projects.
 
I truly appreciate what you are doing to bring awareness to the work of black composers and scholars. The exposure is much needed. I have long felt a similar need to create networking and creative fora for African composers and performers. Several month ago, I set up a Facebook page called African Art Music: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanArtMusic 
 
Here's a brief description of the purpose of the page:
 
"African Art Music is an online community serving exponents of modern art music resident in Africa and the world over. Here, composers, performers, and aficionados of all categories have opportunities to network with one another and share their creative ideas. The forum provides a global space where art music events, publications, recordings and projects may be announced, and a round-table for brainstorming on developments--old and new--in the world of modern African art music."
 
I have been working on creating a fullfledged website..., for which, eventually, the Facebook page will be a companion site.
 
The other project I have been pursuing is an anthology of African and African Diasporic vocal and choral works, to be published by MRI press. Although the call for scores  is technically closed, I am still very much soliciting compositions. The call for scores can be found here:
 
 
Your commitment to promoting the underexposed field of African/African Diasporic art music is inspiring and I would be happy to collaborate with you towards achieving this goal anytime the opportunity presents itself.
 
Regards,
 
Oye

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