WHEN the legendary Fela Sowande was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame for 'Letters' on October 9, 2010 in Lagos, it was for his 'outstanding contributions to the creative endeavour that has put Nigeria on the world map in promoting, learning, scholarship and making better lives of fellow country men,' a citation that was only a tip of the ice beg, a prelude to his numerous and incredible accomplishments.It all began in Lagos where, as a young man, he made considerable impact playing the organ and composing. He eventually registered as an external student with the Royal College of Organists and displayed extraordinary talent by obtaining the Fellowship of the college in 1943.Fela Sowande would probably not have emigrated to the UK and USA, had there been a greater appreciation in Nigeria of the role he played in the development of Nigerian art music. A likely victim of this same circumstance is Prof. Akin Euba who is presently working in Europe and America. It is akin to the case of the prophet who s not recognized in his own country.Prof. Nketia says of Sowande's exploits in London: 'I first heard about him in London in the 1940s' My British friends who were always getting me tickets to concerts and other events told me about a Nigerian who played every Sunday, at Kingsway Hall, and that many people went there just to hear him. No doubt, there were others who went there as a matter of sheer curiosity. For the sight of someone from the colonies playing the organ and conducting the choir at a major place of worship was a rarity in those days' I felt very proud of his achievement because I was also in music and knew what it meant to get to that point.'During the Second World War, Sowande joined the Royal Air Force but was later released at the request of the Ministry of Information to become the music director and adviser of the colonial film unit. During this period, he wrote several background music for radio and films. Cultural and educational programmes, using African melodies as themes.There was his signature tune for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programme on West Africa that was introduced in 1943 and was on until the 1960s. This tune was based on the Obangiji theme, a well-known Yoruba sacred song composed by late J.J. Ransome Kuti.Sowande returned to Nigeria in 1953 and worked briefly with the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, now Radio Nigeria. While there, he initiated several cultural music programmes, introducing African repertoire to the materials that the then NBC Dance Orchestra performed. He also made sure that the band's performance met international standards by featuring Chris Ajilo, Mike Falana and E.C. Arinze among others.Sowande later moved to University of Ibadan. And in the quest to satisfy an unquenchable desire for new levels of creativity and excellence, he left the country for a position at the University of Pittsburgh.Sowande's works cover three major media ' the organ, the voice and the orchestra. Some of his organ compositions include Kyrie, Oyigiyigi, Laudamus Te, Prayer, Go down M<oses, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Yoruba Lament, Via Dolorosa and Obangiji. According to Tunji Vidal, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 'Sowande's organ compositions show the masterly use of contrapuntal and variational techniques, sometimes with veiled linguistic connotation. An examination of his organ works show that many of them based on themes derived from either Yoruba sacred songs or from Negro spirituals.'Sowande's idea of the new modern African art music composition is a fusion of Western musical techniques with African folk melodic contents.'The late composer himself summed up his idea of modern African art music composition when he said that the African musician must be aware that though he alone can supply the emotional subjective side of his music, that music must have a framework on which to rest, and this framework is supplied only by the technical and theoretical side of music, the objective side. Only by combining the two, can he hope to achieve.Sowande's other compositions in the vocal medium include Arts Songs for Tenor Voices, String Orchestra, and St. Jude's Responses for choir, organ and Negro spirituals like My Way's Cludy arranged for mixed voices and piano.This concept of music composition was also extended to the standard Western orchestra exemplified by the highly acclaimed African suite, recorded at the Hamstead studios of Decca Record company in 1951. African suite, which is in five movements, uses African folksong themes European harmonic techniques within the framework of European technical forms.Sowande, awarded professor emeritus of music (Pittsburgh University), consistently fought against what he called musical colonialism of the African Culture by promoting the use of identifiable African musical traits and characteristics without compromising ecstatic standards. For example, in 1960, he decided to take his African Symphony, which he composed to celebrate the Nigerian independence tot eh United States of America for performance and recording because of the lack of orchestral that could play the composition. In spite of the furor that greeted his decision, Sowande said of himself: 'I don't compose unless I feel that I have to put it this way. I never say to myself that I must write something: Something says to me: 'I want to be written.' This is the only time I compose.'This revered African musician and composer died at the ripe age of 82 on his 22 acre American home in Rudolph, Ohio, in the United States of America, in 1987. An organist, composer, researcher and writer of international repute, Sowande's unrivalled list of achievements in the field of music art and humanities are a glorious tribute to Nigeria and Africa. But the protection of his legacy is said to have been largely left to the discretion of only his family.More disturbing is the belief that some of his great works may have actually passed on with him. His numerous respected compositions and publications appear to have gone underground, leaving only traces in libraries and archives in far away Europe and America. He was a professor emeritus to the Pittsburgh University and he also taught at Howard University and Kent State University to mention a few. He was in fact invited to give guest lectures at 23 universities.Sowande was the first African to conduct a symphony orchestra. Not only that, he conducted his own works, which again was the first symphony composed by an African to be performed by a symphony orchestra.A distinguished Smithsonian Library, Kent State Repository, the Pittsburgh archives, Howard University, Durham University, Indiana University and the BBC. His works are still featured regularly on the BBC.
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