Omo Bello: Celebrating African Art Song

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

10/21/24

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100m

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Omo Bello is an acclaimed French-Nigerian operatic soprano , and in this episode we are focussing on her newly-released album “African Art Song” on Somm recordings with pianist Rebeca Omordia. Many of you heard my episode this past summer with pianist and curator of the African Concert Series, Rebeca Omordia, and I’ll be linking that episode below for you.

Omo talked to me about overcoming shyness and stage fright, her childhood and university years in Lagos, Nigeria, and some of her mentors including Grace Bumbry and Thomas Quasthoff. I was fascinated to gain insights from her life as an opera singer, and to learn about many of the composers from Africa and the African diaspora featured on this wonderful album, including Ayo Bankole, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Ishaya Yaron, Chirstian Onyeji and Shirley Thompson .

Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/omo-bello

Episode with Rebeca Omordia: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/rebeca-omordia-african-pianism

African Art Song album: https://somm-recordings.com/recording/african-art-song/

Omo Bello website: http://www.omobello.com/about.html

Omo Bello instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omo_bello

Merch store to support this series: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

Linktree Social Media: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

photo: Vincent Pontet

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:53) African Art Song album with Rebeca Omordia

(09:12) Ayo Bankole

(10:40) Ayo Banko’s Adura fun Alafia Prayer for Peace

(14:22) Ayo Bankole

(17:00) Omo’s childhood and university years in Lagos

(32:22) Fred Onovwerosuoke, cultural context to interpret this music

(39:13) excerpt of “Ngulu” by Fred Onovwerosuoke

(40:11) the voice as instrument

(44:49) other episodes you may like, and different ways to support this series

(45:33) Grace Bumbry

(53:44) Shirley Thompson

(58:15) excerpt from Shirley Thompson’s "Psalm to Windrush”

(59:44) Omo Bello Music Foundation in Nigeria

(01:07:47) Ishaya Yarison

(01:10:26) excerpt from Ishaya Yarison’s Ku zo, mu raira waƙa

(01:11:54) Christian Onyegi, African Art Song album themes

(01:15:34) Giri Giri by Christian Onyegi

(01:17:31) percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker on the album, transmitting oral tradition of the music

(01:20:46) challenges in music education in France

(01:28:17) Thomas Quastoff, Des Knaben Wunderhorn album

(01:34:21) challenges and joys of an opera singer

Previous Episode

Gilad Weiss: Moving Strings

October 14, 2024

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101m

Gilad Weiss takes us on a visit to his music studio and improvises on several of his instruments, including the fretless guitar, and some of the instruments from Turkey and Central Asia, such as the kopuz, the baglama and the Turkmenistani dutar. He also spoke to me about his duo project with the Anatolian kamanche player Melisa Yildirim and we’re including a track from their beautiful album, which is linked below, along with Gilad’s album Improvisations on Fretless Guitar Volume 1, and the ways to connect with Gilad. He shared his valuable insights about teaching music, and teaching the guitar, improvisation and interesting details about the modes and tuning systems for the various instruments he demonstrates. This episode has a lot of improvised music; Gilad spent much of the interview with an instrument in his hand; please use the detailed timestamps (below) to navigate the episode, which like all my episodes you can either watch on my YouTube or listen to on all the podcast platforms, and the transcript is here too: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/gilad-weiss

https://giladweiss.bandcamp.com/album/improvisations-on-fretless-guitar

https://www.youtube.com/@TheShfanfan

https://www.facebook.com/giladweis

https://www.instagram.com/gilad.weiss.hadad/

https://talus.info/

It’s a joy to be able to bring these meaningful conversations to you, but this project costs me quite a bit of money and lots of time; please support this series through either my merchandise store or on my Ko-fi page:
https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Here's the merchandise store: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

You may be also interested in my episodes with lutenist Elizabeth Pallett, guitarists including masters Derek Gripper, Daniel Ramjattan, or Marc van Vugt, along with many episodes featuring traditional and improvised music from around the world. Catalog of Episodes: ⁠https://www.leahroseman.com/about⁠

photo: Daria Perelmuter

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:24) saz, dutar, guitar, fingernails

(06:31) intro to “Late Night” from Improvisations on Fretless Guitar, Volume 1

(07:16)fretless guitar “Late Night” from Improvisations on Fretless Guitar, Volume 1

(11:50) Gilad’s fretless guitar, Erkan Oğur

(14:29) fretless guitar improvisation

(16:30) album with kamancheh player Melisa Yildirim

(24:49) Yeldeğirmeni Zeybeği | Windmill Zeybek from Talûs with Melisa Yildirim and Gilad

(28:11) musical experiences in Turkey, Engin Topuzkanamış

(33:40) kopuz (tambur) history and demo, tuning system

(36:50) kopuz improv

(39:37) huseyni mode and tuning systems

(43:18) kopuz improv

(44:00) kisa sap baglama

(46:23) other episode you will enjoy, different ways to support this series

(47:15) different playing techniques, history of microtonal frets

(55:48) tambur

(58:46) Turkmensitani dutar

(01:04:08) Gilad’s early musical influences

(01:11:07) Gilad’s approach to teaching music and guitar

(01:18:25) improvising and different approaches to learning

(01:28:35) different guitars, approach to tuning and teaching guitar

(01:34:44) next recording project

Next Episode

Mark Growden: Living an Adventurous Life in Music

October 28, 2024

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101m

Mark Growden is a brilliant, curious, and expressive American multi-faceted musician. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, music educator, conductor, and visual artist. In this episode we focus on his large and varied instrument collection and he demonstrates several unusual instruments, including different jaw harps, biclycle handebars, and overtone flutes. He shares his unique journey, and how he developed new skills in response to different challenges and opportunities. I was fascinated to hear about his inspiring recent trip to Kyrgyzstan, about many of his mentors and collaborators, and his expressive approach to musicianship training. Mark has devoted his life to making music for other people and to helping other people make music for themselves, and he is an advocate for openess about respect and understanding for people with neurodivergence and mood disorders. Mark is the founder and Artistic Director of The Calling All Choir, The Chromatic Community Music Center, SF SingFest, and The SF Jaw Harp Choir. He has released several critically acclaimed albums and has toured the US extensively. He has composed original musical scores for dozens of dance and theater companies and scored several films. We are featuring music from 3 of his albums during this episode and you’ll find his discography linked below.

This episode on YouTube, and the transcript:

https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mark-growden

Mark Growden website: https://markgrowden.org

To support this series, please either buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

or shop at my merchandise store: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

You may be also interested in my episodes with other wide-ranging musicians involved in community music, instrument-making and exploring, such as with Linsey Pollak, Kavisha Mazzella, Philip Griffin, Polina Shepherd, Jesse Stewart, Sarah Jeffery, and Gary Muszynski.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(03:16) Kyrgyzstan, Irina Bogatyryova, jaw harp music, Kutman Sultanbekov

(08:25) overtone flutes, bicycle handlebars, selijefloyte

(14:06) jaw harp history and demo

(17:32) jaw harp technique

(21:21)clip from bicycle handlebars improvisation on Mark’s album Saint Judas

(22:02) in-blown flutes, interdental embouchure, Central Asian flutes

(28:23) Mark’s childhood, music education, bands

(31:24)Orff Schulwerk, Blues

(35:05) New Orleans, writing for choirs, leading Community Sings

(42:36) Mark’s early music education