1.

Compare and contrast Ephraim Amu and Fela Sowande

a. childhood background and experiences (early education, exposure to music, etc.);
a. Amu
i. Ephraim Amu was born 1899.His first education was at age 6, at Bremen
Mission school, and at 12, he entered the Peki-Blengo E.P. Boarding Middle
school where he showed interest in music and agriculture. His music
teacher there, Mr. Karl Theodore Ntem, played the organ, and Amu got
lessons from him for doing farmwork.
ii. In 1916, he started teacher training education at Abetifi Basel Mission
Seminary. At this school, he studied secular subjects like English and math,
as well as sacred subjects like Bible study and church history.
b. Sowande
i. Sowande received early musical training from his father, Emmanuel
Sowande, and Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips, who taught him organ and
voice. At the church where Phillips was, the Episcopal church in Lagos, the
services and anthems were in English, but Phillip’s external choir sang music
from popular composers like Bach, Handel, and Mendelssohn. Sowande
graduated from King’s college in Lagos. In 1924, Sowande played in the
Chocolate Dandies jazz group.
b. training as adults (what they studied and where, etc.);
a. Amu
i. In the years of 1926-1933, Amu taught music, nature study, agriculture, and
Ewe at the Scottish Mission Seminary at Akropong. Here, Amu began
research on Ewe music, Akan drumming, and Ghanaian music in general.
Amu collected traditional songs and studied their characteristics. He had a
preference for African culture over Western ideas.
ii. Later, from 1937-1940, Amu pursued additional music studies in London at
the Royal College of Music, where he learned more of harmony,
counterpoint, orchestration, ear training, and composition. These studies
helped Amu to discover better ways of depicting the inflections of speech in
the contours of his melodies.
iii. After this, Amu returned to Ghana and taught at multiple colleges there,
include the Achitoma College and the Kumasi College. He continued his
focused studies when he moved to Legon in 1962 and became a research
fellow at the University of Ghana until 1971. In this time, Amu received an
honorary doctoral degree in music, which occurred in 1965.
b. Sowande
i. In 1934, Sowande studied civil engineering in London, as well, he also
privately studied organ with George Oldroyd, G.D. Cunningham, and
Edmund Rubbra. He continued to study the organ at the London Trinity
College and the Royal College of Organists where he became a fellow in
1943.
ii. In addition to these studies, Sowande studied jazz from Jerry Moore in the
1930s. From him, he was introduced to jazz music of Earl Hines, Teddy
 Wilson, and Art Tatum. Sowande incorporated similar virtuosic piano
playing into his own jazz music.
iii. In 1941, Sowande graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music from the
University of London.
c. professional careers (as teachers, performers, scholars).
a. Amu
i. During the time of his first teaching job at the Scottish Mission Seminary in
1926-1933, Amu’s musical style was inspired by African melodies and
hymns. This may have been due to the fact that his congregation seemed to
be able to sing African songs more easily than Western hymns. The way in
which Amu composed was first he would write the soprano part, and then
he would add the other four voice (alto, tenor, and bass) to provide
harmony. Amu’s harmonic language used triadic chords of Western music,
which contrasted to typical Ghanaian music, which used parallel thirds and
sixths. However, though he used Western triadic sonorities, his harmonic
progressions would not always progress on a typical Western manner.
ii. While teaching at Akropong, he displeased the officials there frequently.
When Amu preached to the congregation, he would do so in traditional
African attire, which church officials subsequently forbade. As well, Amu
introduced to his students African styles of music and how to play
traditional African instruments, such as different sorts of drums and horns.
The Synod Committee at Akropong thought this to be detrimental to the
church, yet Amu continued his teachings and was consequently dismissed,
despite being ordered to cease such activity. He continued his teaching
career at the more prestigious school of Achitoma College in Accra, from
1934-1936. After this, he returned to Ghana, and did not resume his
teaching career until 1948, when he returned to the Achitoma College,
developing curriculum that covered both African and Western music. He
continued to teach here until 1951. Then, Amu moved on to teach at the
Kumasi College of Science and Technology until 1959. At this school, Amu
was able to observe Asante culture, and it is here that Amu reached his peak
as a teacher and as a composer.
b. Sowande
i. As a performer, Sowande made several successful performance. A
noteworthy fact is that he was the first African soloist for Gershwin’s
Rhapsody in Blue, which was in 1936 in London. From 1938-1939, he played
with Adelaide Hall at a London nightclub. Additionally, he was the first
organist in Britain to play jazz on a Hammond organ, which he did in the
Fela Sowande rhythm group. Beginning in 1953, Sowande was the music
director of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Later, in 1957, he was
sponsored by the US State Department to tour as an organist and guest
conductor, and additionally was a lecturer on this tour.
ii. As an educator, Sowande had a lecture series, “West African Music and the
Possibilities of its Development,” as a part of the BBC’s Africa service, which
 begun in 1940. On this, Sowande made the point that traditional music
could be preserved through the orchestral medium. In 1962, he established
the Sowande School of Music, which became a part of the University of
Nigeria. Other teaching positions he held include teaching at the University
of Ibadan from 1962 to 1968, at the Howard University from 1968 to 1972,
and the University of Pittsburgh from 1972 to 1987
d. significance as a composer (general accomplishments, musical style, pieces).
a. Amu
i. As a composer, Amu had a successful concert of his music for the Colonial
Secretary Northcotte, which occured eight months prior to his dismissal
from the Scottish Mission Seminary. In this performance, two pieces were
for solo voice accompanied by organ, two pieces used African instruments,
and the other six were of the program were choral pieces, all of which were
well-received.
ii. Amu’s music contains many elements typical to tradition Ghanaian songs,
such as polyrhythms (specifically, duple against triple), parallel thirds and
sixths, and non-Western harmonic progressions. As well, Amu would use the
Ghanaian language in his songs, and he used the tone languages of Ewe and
Twi, which were his way of matching the contour of a melodic line with the
inflection of the Ghanaian language. The most Western element of his music
was the contrapuntal texture.
b. Sowande
i. As a composer, Sowande wrote many organ works, African-American
spirituals, and orchestral works, as well as folk song arrangements, sacred
works, and solo art songs. A specific accomplishment was that he was the
first Nigerian composer to write a symphony.
ii. Sowande’s organ music contains elements like complex harmony, motivic
development, and counterpoint. In his choral works, he used techniques
such as call-and-response, heterophony, pentatonicism, and complex
rhythms.
e. specific comments on individual compositions (actual references to melody, rhythm,
harmony, texture, etc., along with measure numbers where they occur and comments
about what makes this intercultural music with some African traits).
a. Amu’s music
i. Enne ye anigyeda is a four-part homorhythmic choral work. Amu
demonstrates the use of African rhythms in measures 3, 7, and 11, where he
uses a quarter note triplet over the meter of 2/4. Additionally, the melody
moves in thirds, traditional to African music, in measures in measures 22-23
and 25-26. Another African aspect of the melody is that it is cyclical, open-
ended, and repetitive, as observed that the melody in the first three phrases
are the same rhythm and contour.
ii. Adawura bo meo is a four-part a capella song. Similar to Enne ye anigyeda,
Amu demonstrates the use of triple over duple, specifically in measures 7-
10, 12-15, and in the same way many other times in the piece. Another
 traditional African element in this song is dualism, like interlocking parts, as
seen across all four voices in the first 4 measures.
iii. Prelude for atenteben and piano demonstrates the same triple over duple
rhythm in measures 8, 11, and 16, and at other points in the piece. A
traditional element of African music is a percussive sound, which is heard in
the staccato quarter notes of the piano accompaniment throughout the
piece.

b. Sowande’s music
i. Go Down Moses is a work for solo organ. This piece uses dualism in a
number of ways. Throughout the piece there is a heavy use of two
contrasting phrases such as when the melody is played alone beginning in
measure 9, which is responded to with dense chords in measures 10-12, and
then the melody again in 13-15, which is likewise responded to with dense
chords in 16-24. Beginning in measure 33, the organ uses an
accompaniment figure with thirds and sixths, reminiscent of African
polyphony which would typically use parallel thirds or parallel sixths. At
measure 143, Sowande uses an ostinato in the pedal figure which is a trait
tradition to African music.
ii. In movement 1, “Joyful Day”, of his African Suite, an orchestral piece,
Sowande uses the melody from Amu’s Enne ye anigyeda. The piece begins
with percussive sounds from the harp and violas, which give the texture an
African feel. As well, the violas figure is an ostinato, which is typical of
African music. In measures 45-46, the texture could be that of any other
Western piece, but the tremolos of the strings provide a percussive effect.
Another Western aspect is the contrapuntal part of measure 51-54.
2. Akin Euba
a. childhood background and experiences (early education, exposure to music, etc.);
i. Euba was born in 1935 in Lagos, Nigeria. In his childhood, he would experiment
on a piano that his parents had. An early influence of his life was traditional
music of Islamic origin which had elements of dundun drummingFrom 1943 to
1948 he studied piano formally with his father who sang at a Methodist church
in Lagos and played clarinet in a Lagos dance band with Fela Sowande. It is
worth noting that Euba was not a willing student when it came to formal
lessons. At age 7, his parents thought he would have a musical career, which is
lucky for him, as most Nigerian parents would not be supportive of such a
future.
b. training as adults (what they studied and where, etc.);
i. In 1952 to 1957 Euba attended Trinity College where he received a bachelor’s
degree in piano and organ, and theory and composition. In 1964 to 1966 he
attended the University of California in Los Angeles where he received a Master
of Music in composition. Lastly, in 1967 to 1974, Euba attended the University
of Ghana where he received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology.
 c. professional careers (as teachers, performers, scholars).

d. significance as a composer (general accomplishments, musical style, pieces).

e. specific comments on individual compositions (actual references to melody, rhythm,
harmony, texture, etc., along with measure numbers where they occur and comments
about what makes this intercultural music with some African traits).
i. Scenes for Traditional Life is a solo instrumental work for piano. I will discuss
elements from movement 2. General African elements that occur throughout
the piece include ostinato as repeated melodic figures, a desire for strong
rhythmic articulation, percussive sounds, and interlocking parts. The movement
begins with a melody in 17/8 which is repeated throughout the movement as an
ostinato. The melody in the left hand at measure 8 contains the use of repeated
notes, reminiscent of African drums. This melody is elaborated in measure 10
and 11 in the right hand in measures 21 and 22. A specific example of
interlocking parts is the rhythm of the left hand figure against the right in
measures 3 and 4, where the left hand fills in the space of the longer notes of
the right hand and vice versa.
ii. Wakar Duru is a piece for solo piano. Movement three contains a continuously
repeated percussive harmonic figure in the left hand, with syncopation
traditional of African music. The melody of this movement heavily uses dualism
in the call-and-response of the phrases, specifically, the figure in measure 5 and
6 are responded by measure 7 and 8.
iii. parts 4, 5, and 6 from Chant Two of his opera Chaka
1. Chaka is an opera in two chants. I
3. Gyimah Labi
a. childhood background and experiences (early education, exposure to music, etc.);
b. training as adults (what they studied and where, etc.);
c. professional careers (as teachers, performers, scholars).
d. significance as a composer (general accomplishments, musical style, pieces).
e. specific comments on individual compositions (actual references to melody, rhythm,
harmony, texture, etc., along with measure numbers where they occur and comments
about what makes this intercultural music with some African traits).
i. Dialects 3 (Earth Beats)