Omo Bello Interview
Below is the transcript of my interview with Omo Bello, who 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 in the show notes 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 .
Here is the link for the podcast and video versions of this interview, and you’ll also find the show notes with all the links to Omo Bello, African Art Song,
and Rebeca Omordia as well as ways you can support this series.
Omo Bello (00:00:00):
When you come from Lagos, Nigeria, you are not expected to become an opera singer. You're not expected to have that type of passion. So I must admit it was an extremely lonesome journey at the time. I didn't care. I didn't care. I just felt like there's something about this and I want to be able to do this, and I will go to any length to know how to do this, how to sing like this, because this is the ultimate
Leah Roseman (00:00:40):
Hi. You're listening to Conversations with Musicians with Leah Roseman. This podcast strives to inspire you through the personal stories of a diversity of musicians with in-depth conversations and great music that reveal the depth and breadth to a life in music.
(00:00:55):
Omo Bello is a French-Nigerian operatic soprano, and in this episode, we are focusing 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 the pianist and curator of the African Concert series, Rebeca Omordia, and I'll be linking that episode in the show notes for you.
(00:01:18):
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.
(00:01:38):
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, leahroseman.com. The podcast theme music was commissioned from composer Nick Kold, and you can use the timestamps to navigate the episode. It's a joy to bring these inspiring episodes to you every week, and I do all the many jobs of research, production and publicity. You can support this independent podcast through both the collection of merchandise with a unique and expressive design from artist Steffi Kelly, as well as through my Ko-fi page. This weekly podcast is in season four, and I send out an email newsletter where you can get access to exclusive information about upcoming guests. Have a look at the description of this episode where you'll find all the links.
(00:02:28):
Now to Omo Bello. Hi Omo, thanks so much for joining me here today.
Omo Bello (00:02:35):
Hello, Leah.
Leah Roseman (00:02:36):
So when I interviewed Rebeca Omordia a couple of months ago, I asked her what her next project was with the African Concert Series, and she said, oh, I'm doing this wonderful recording of African Art Songs with Omo, and so I'm glad we could get this organized.
Omo Bello (00:02:53):
Me too.
Leah Roseman (00:02:54):
It's a really, really beautiful recording. So when we release this, this will just have released, and I've had a preview copy, so I've had the joy of listening to this beautiful album. Thanks so much for that.
Omo Bello (00:03:06):
Well, it's my pleasure. It was a real pleasure to be on board with Rebeca because she carried me on this wonderful journey, I must say it's her brainchild. And yeah, it was lots of unexpected surprises in a good way for me on this journey to recording the art songs, African art songs,
Leah Roseman (00:03:26):
Unexpected surprises in the way of new repertoire or other things.
Omo Bello (00:03:31):
Oh yes, definitely new repertoire, but complexity in a good way of colors, rhythms, and also the way one looks at something from this perspective. So in my case, the classical music perspective, and I'm looking at the notes and looking at it from that perspective, and then I find a whole different perspective of how to go about it. So yeah, I learned a lot about connecting into this different type of dance style rhythm and music that's more feeling than head. So yeah, it was quite unexpected for me, the palettes that I discovered, and of course enriching for me as an artist.
Leah Roseman (00:04:20):
Now, as an opera singer, you have to sing in many different languages, but for this album, it was actually five indigenous languages of Africa plus French and English. Correct?
Omo Bello (00:04:31):
Correct.
Leah Roseman (00:04:32):
So were you familiar with any of the African languages that you sang in?
Omo Bello (00:04:36):
So I say I have good notions of one of them, which is Yoruba, and this is because I grew up in Lagos, which is Nigeria's most populous city. My parents are not Yoruba, but we grew up in a city that's in the Yoruba region of Nigeria. So yes, I don't speak the language very fluently, but I have good notions. So that was the one that I'd say I was most comfortable in Yoruba repertoire as it's where I was able to draw from those experiences, the memories of having grown up in Lagos. But the other ones, it was quite a discovery, and yes, there's the Igbo repertoire, the Hausa repertoire, and from East Africa and et cetera. So the Caribbean, and of course the French repertoire was quite comfortable for me. I say comfortable in the sense that Chevalier Saint-Georges was a contemporary of Mozart. And so his writing reminds me a lot of Mozart's music, and I found myself extremely comfortable in that domain, having sung quite a number of Mozart repertoire. And then of course, the French language being a language I'm very familiar with having lived in France for nearly 20 years now. So yeah, it was quite discoveries, surprises, and yeah, lots of emotions during the recording of this music, all these music, yes.
Leah Roseman (00:06:26):
And have you had a chance to perform some of this repertoire live with Rebeca?
Omo Bello (00:06:31):
Absolutely. So in 2023, if I'm not mistaken, yes, may, we did a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London where we did a couple of them. And so that was actually the beginning of this adventure for me. And I remember at the time when Rebeca wrote me asking me if I was available, interested in embarking on this journey, I remember thinking, oh my. So as much as I know some art songs and African art songs, there are very few at the time, there were very few because I spent so much time concentrating on the art song proper and opera music and oratorio music, of course. So I had only few as at the time in the repertoire, and then I had never done an entire program of just that. Usually it's as an encore as a little bit of in French you say "clin d'oeil" or a little bit of cherry on the cake when you're doing a recital.
(00:07:41):
I put in one or two here and there, and then I just was like, wow, how is this going to happen? I was a little worried because I felt, how could this work out just African art songs? And then that's why I say it was a surprise for me to discover that there were so many different types in the sense that the languages, the types of dance associated with them, the types of instruments that they're portraying or being accompanied traditionally with music. And so the colors, and I realized that, wow, there's much more than even one recital in this material for several recitals. That was quite an interesting discovery. And then we realized also that in this album, there's possibilities to have other albums coming from not just this one, but sequels because the material is so rich. And we covered practically just, we didn't go that wide. We just went a little bit West Africa, a little bit East Africa, and then the Caribbean, and there's so much more. And we realized, wow, okay, this is great.
Leah Roseman (00:08:58):
Wonderful. I look forward to the next album. What I was hoping to do is we'll alternate talking about the album with also your life and music, and I love to include some music early in the episode. So I was thinking we could start with one of my favorite songs from this album by Ayo Bankole, and I don't want to pronounce things wrong, so it's very tragic. He was murdered. Do you want to speak to the prayer that you sing and his life a little bit,
Omo Bello (00:09:27):
Yes. So "Adura fun Alafia” it's Prayer for Peace, and he composed a, the composer composed that melody, that song during the war, the Biafran War, which is the war where a region in Nigeria wanted to, they wanted to secede. And so of course they broke out the Civil War and all the millions of people died, of course, and lots of the catastrophe and devastation and the tensions and everything that follows all of that. So he wrote this piece in that context of war. Of course, it's a song I think that's always ever, ever needed because we have found even today that wars are something that happens to still be ongoing. It's a prayer for peace and comfort, for restoration for all things beautiful. (music)
(00:14:22):
Having grown up in Lagos, met his son, and I met his musicians who worked with him at the time, and so I was able to get some background of who he was, and everybody spoke well of him. So it was indeed tragic, all the more tragic being that it was a family tragedy. So of course when I sing his music, there's all of that emotional background and foundation in the weight of the pathos that I sort of, and that's why I feel more comfortable, I think, in the Yoruba music. And I agree that Ayo Bankole's music were amongst my favorite. So he was of course, this brilliant pioneer in this genre, and he studied in the United Kingdom, was able to take from this genre, which is classical music, go back home and then create this whole exciting new sub genre, or shall we say, I think for me to be able to, because many times, that's why I say this journey was quite exciting for me because many times I feel so comfortable having studied the conservatoire here, and I just feel so comfortable in the opera genre and I just love this music, and I'm like, ah, this is what I want to do.
(00:15:51):
But I reflect on how it must have been for him to have been exposed to classical music, to love it, enjoy it, compose, perform, and then decide, no, I want to do much more. I want to go back and I want to create something much more than just perform or enjoy the comfort of the institutions that we have here in the West. So he went back home where there's practically nothing in terms of institution, in terms of exposure, the community, the culture, and all of that. And this sort of rallied people around, and they have this community, the Musical Society of Nigeria, where people of mind got together and sort of started this campaign as it were, a foundation sort of pushing and defending and promoting and creating beautiful music that we get to enjoy today. And that was actually where I started at the Musical Society of Nigeria, my music studies as it were in Lagos, and I was at the time of the university studying cell biology and genetics.
(00:17:00):
So I was in line on that journey to become a medical doctor, but the passion for music was so strong, and I was sort of battling between two worlds, the science world and then the music world in the sense that I got the bachelor's degree, I was working at the medical research lab, but this hobby at the time, which was music that I was doing, was taking up more and more of my being, my time, my energy, my passion. I just felt, I remember then carrying out research in the lab and thinking to myself that I don't think I want to do this for the rest of my life. I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life as a researcher or in the science medical field. And I remember very clearly thinking that I would be very miserable if I continued on that path. And so eventually when the opportunity came to come France where I live now and go to the concert and all of that, I jumped at it. And of course I left my science degree and never looked back. It's like this opportunity to be what I dreamed of being, which is a singer ever since I was a child. And yes, it has been quite the journey.
Leah Roseman (00:18:36):
So if we could go back to your childhood, I understand your mother would take home VHS from the Library of Music?
Omo Bello (00:18:44):
Yes. So at the time, we had a subscription at this library close to our home, and I remember the first time she brought home the VHS case sets of my Fair Lady. So there was my Fair Lady, but the one that struck me the most, the first one was the Sound of Music. That was the one that just, I think something shifted in me. I think the first time I saw that film and the musical, for me, it was the music of that film that just something shifted in me. I remember vividly how of course we would sit the movie and then that was it, everybody's content, but I was never content. I would go back and watch again and again, and I was very obsessive in the sense that I would make sure to note all the lines and to learn the music so diligently.
(00:19:53):
And then when I'm done, I remember I would go into the garden and pick up sticks or whatever and start rehearsing. I had a show coming up and that was me growing up as a child. And I remember so well how I would just be looking for some sort of accompaniment because the children, there's not one person singing. There were duets and all of that. And I would try to get my brother or my sister to come try and do the other part, and I would sing and get them to do the other part. And if they make mistakes, I remember correctly, no, no, no, that's not how to do it. So I became this bossy, the choir master, the soloist, the duet singer and all of it at the same time. And I remember just imagining how wonderful it to be to just have that type of life.
(00:20:36):
That was my childhood. I found an escape in music because I was quite the shy child. I still am quite shy in my normal everyday life, but I find that I've expressed myself most in singing, even though not much with words. So that was for me, this escape for me in terms of creativity and in terms of getting traveling far away as a child and imagining these possibilities and feeling like you could conquer the world and you could be whatever you want to be. Yes. So there was Mary Poppins, there was these kids praises that Maranatha music used to make that also, we had all sorts of tapes. I mean, we would watch them days on end because at the time, of course, there was no social media, there was not much in terms of entertainment at creative release and escape for us at the time, growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, we sort of had this middle class upbringing where we were sort of, shall we say, shielded.
(00:21:58):
Shielded in the sense that we were not allowed to play much outside because of course it was dangerous. You had to be at home and stay home in the gated communities because of security. So that for me was the way of escape. And I remember going into secondary school, which is from age 10 to 16, and I took up music a little bit, and I had opportunities to do some school competitions. Of course, I was so shy, so I had this, shall I say, paralyzing stage fright that always overwhelmed me. But in spite of that, I felt I needed to push further in music. So eventually I was invited to a concert in the church, and I remember seeing at that concert for the first time in my life, an orchestra, a big orchestra. So we had what the equivalent of a philharmonic orchestra, obviously not the same standards, but as high as the standards could have been there in Lagos, Nigeria.
(00:23:17):
And I remember listening to the music, most likely an oratorio or something, Haydn or Mozart, or Bach, one of those sacred music composers. And I remember thinking, how is it possible for all of these people to be in harmony, in accord, in one voice? It was so powerful. And I remember thinking that day that I definitely want to do this. It looks so difficult, but I want to do this. Because previous to that time, I had been more interested in the musicals. And of course in secondary school I was interested in pop music, but coming face to face with classical music in that form was mind blowing. I was shaken. And the first thing I said to my mother was, I want to play the violin. So from singing, I got to play the violin, and then eventually I got to play a little bit of the piano while continuing to sing. I got to learn oratorios, Messiah, Handel the Creation, Haydn, et cetera, et cetera. And it was just this world of music becoming ever more present, more intense, more taking up everything. I remember I never went to parties as a teenager. I wasn't interested in parties, I wasn't interested in much of a social life. I just wanted to be in with music at all times. So it was like this companion for me.
(00:25:13):
And so eventually when I was done with secondary school and had my O levels, I got into the university, of course, there was no formal structure in the form of a conservatoire where I could go and study formally music. So it was all of this was just like a hobby, a very, very, very intense hobby, but a hobby, nevertheless. And of course, at an amateur level. So when I got into the university, I remember I would go for my lectures, and then as soon as I'm done with my lectures, go straight to the music school and just be there to night. I mean, I would be there, go to concerts, go to rehearsals, just basically stay there. I was living there practically and just go home at night as late as possible. Got into trouble a lot of times for coming home late because I was in music. And I remember then the family, the extended family didn't see me much. They didn't get to see me at most events because I wasn't interested. I was just like this weirdo. So eventually, I remember very vividly how a lot of people would wonder, why are you so interested in this music of all music and what makes it so special?
(00:26:42):
It's like, why do you want to do that? Nobody thought it's interesting or appealing, but for me it was this power of the voice. In the case of the human voice, the power. I felt like this was the ultimate. This was where the human voice had its most extensive expression. I felt like the human voice couldn't get, you couldn't exploit all the potential and capacity and power and everything, beauty, color of the human voice like this, it can get better than this. And so eventually all the weirdo comments changed, and it now became, wow, so your talent took you this far, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, I must add that it actually also was a journey, a lonesome journey, because I mean, when you come from Lagos, Nigeria, you are not expected to become an opera singer. You're not expected to, to have that type of passion.
(00:28:02):
So I must admit, it was an extremely lonesome journey and a journey of, I think maybe in comprehension, but at the time, I didn't care. I didn't care. I just felt like there's something about this and I want to be able to do this, and I will go to any length to know how to do this, how to sing like this, because this is the ultimate. So eventually, as I was living the double life at the university, studying sciences, the sciences, and then at the music school, the Musical Society of Nigeria School of Music, studying music, eventually we had this little concert where we put up little concert, the voice, singing, piano, saxophone, just a little concert for the cultural attache of the French Embassy who was visiting. And so we all just put up a little bit of a concert and then carried on with our things.
(00:29:09):
And months later, I discovered that that cultural attache fell in love with the talent, fell in love with the voice, and had these possibilities of giving me a scholarship and all of that. So while still at the University of Lagos, I was sent to France. So I came to France for a week, and I was sent to the Conservatoires around France, about four or five of them, and to some key people here to listen to the voice and to see, and to get some feedback from the professionals as to if it was worth it, because I was on another journey to be a doctor, and this was a whole new different path in another direction. So when I came to France, I remember very vividly going to the opera for the first time, going to all sorts of wonderful experiences, seeing how this can happen for real people make a living out of this, and people do this all day long, not just as a hobby and in your free time.
(00:30:23):
And I remember being so over the moon, I also remember meeting teachers who told me for the first time that my voice was quite of interest for the first time I heard things like timbre. So timbre is that particularity about the voice that gives it that material that you can distinguish in a voice and how that color in my voice was special. And I was like, wow. So I've been singing just because I love singing. I didn't care if I had a beautiful voice or not, but now I'm understanding that this voice is worth it. Okay, that's it. So I basically went back to Nigeria, completed my degree of course, and then more or less after I defended my bachelor's degree, meé,moire thesis, the mini, what you call now writeup for the bachelor's degree defended my writeup. And that was it. I left. I had to learn the language French, I had to learn, catch up, a lot of catch up because I came to France at the age of 21. So there was a huge amount of catching up to do and a lot to learn, and of course to discover this voice. So it took me on a huge journey to sort of make my dream a reality. And so that's how I just look back and think that was one heck of a determination that I had. So yeah, it's more or less a shortened version of my story.
Leah Roseman (00:32:22):
If we could just go back to the album for a couple of minutes. There's a Ghanaian Nigerian composer, and I don't want to say his name wrong, Fred Ono - , how do you say it?
Omo Bello (00:32:34):
So let me try. So Fred Onovwerosuoke, okay, he was born in Ghana of Nigerian parents. That's it, because the name sounds Nigerian. Okay, so Ghanaian Nigerian, then an American. So I got to discover Fred O, as we call him, for as is diminutive. So I got to discover his music from Rebeca. So basically, like I said earlier, I had a couple of art songs, African art songs at hand for Encore pieces. And then she showed me this whole vast repertoire. She sent me so much music and I was going through the different music, and then I came across Fred O's Music, and it's like, wow, this is amazing. And she explained to me he lives in the US and yeah, this collection that I sang from is basically he collected folk songs from across Africa and then put them into, he sort of put it into formal music in a written form with a compliment that we're familiar with and all of that.
(00:34:04):
So basically what happened with, for example, the Ngulu is when I look at the music, of course I know I'm able to, I read it immediately and then hum it along and all of that and then learn it. And then when we got to rehearsals together with Rebeca, and I remember thinking as we were playing, something is not right, and she was playing and I was singing, and I was doing the notes properly as I would prim and proper and et cetera. And then something was wrong, and I said, it's not working out, what's going on? And then she explained to me that in the case of Ngulu, it's a wind instrument that's actually a local wind instrument. The name, I forget the name right now because it's from East Africa. So it's a wind instrument that's actually playing at this moment. And so there's this whole dance, so there's the dance and there's the wind instrument, shall we say, like a flute, a local flute, so local flute and a dance.
(00:35:25):
And then she said to me, you have to, okay, now you've learned it, you've learned the notes, et cetera, but you have to take away all of that and feel a dance and a flute, so a flute and a dance, what's going on here? It's like a ritual dance, the flute and the dance. And I remember thinking, okay, let's try it. And then all of a sudden left the three, ternary time thinking of and just went into the swaying type of notion. And then something just happened. I couldn't even possibly put specific words, but taking out the metronomic approach
(00:36:25):
To it and putting the swaying type of dance, of course, drawing from my childhood, my culture, to sort of put it in context, something just happened. And I feel like that was the point where it's like there was this unwinding of the mystery of what it was that wasn't going right with it. And so that happened a lot, even in Yoruba music. There were certain points where it's just like, this isn't working out. This is not supposed to be made for the piano. And I said to her, this isn't working. And then she would just remind me, but yeah, let's remember that this is so and so instrument locally. This is the instrument that's used in this particular type of cultural thing. And then we go back to the cultural context, think and remember what is the instrument? What is the context? What is going on here?
(00:37:20):
What is the dance? How does it go? Seeing and remembering images of the dances and all of that, how they do the dances, how the dances work, because it's these people who the culture is such that it was never written it's culture that was passed down from generation to generation. So it's something that was done by rote and was done by style. People just learned the style and just embraced it and sucked it up. They didn't write it. So it was quite revelatory for me, especially in Fred's music, to take that approach. The same thing for Ne Nkansu, I mean, that one was just crazy because it's impossible, I think otherwise without going into the dance, because Rebeca is on her own, I'm on another one. And there's a lot of almost like jazz even, but in a completely different way. And so you have all of that going on. I mean, when we were done with it, I was like, wow, this is a masterclass in so vocal dance music, something just was amazing about it. And I actually appreciate the genius of Fred O to have been able to transpose that into written music, because that's the part that is quite fleeting to sort of convey when you are trying to draw from these folk songs and put them into paper, right?
Leah Roseman (00:39:12):
Yeah. (music)
(00:40:11):
You are so articulate, and I have so many questions and directions I want to go in, but I was just thinking about being a trained singer as you are in art song and opera. You've mentioned a few times you referred to your voice as the voice that I think singers do think of the instrument the way I think of my violin that we're connected, but somehow it's separate. Is this true?
Omo Bello (00:40:34):
Absolutely. I feel like yes, indeed the voice is an entity on its own. And that's why for me, when I first came to France and I was introduced to the voice, I was like, wow. So I felt almost like this voice was a gift, is a gift that was given to me. And I just came to realize that it happened to be a special gift. And much later when I finished, I was almost done from the Conservatoire. So in my third year I went to Italy to do a competition, the competition in Vercelli. So I took part in the section that's for young singers, it was called the Pavarotti Singing Competition. And I got the first prize, and I remember very vividly. So that was like, this is my first big international competition, first prize with the judges, critics and all of that. And in the Italian press, same scenario, they wrote something to the tune of "a voice of gold".
(00:41:53):
So that was another big shock for me. Wow. So it's like not only was I given this special gift, but this special gift is worth gold, and then all of a sudden it takes up this whole new responsibility because I felt this burden, this desire, this hunger to search, to search and search and search and try and find perfection as close to perfection as I could find, as I could bring out from this voice. And I find myself, when I think about this entity, that's the voice also very, I have a lot of mixed emotions. For example, when I listen to a recording of me singing a lot of mixed emotions, because it's like this, that's for me is that clear distinction between me, Omo, and that voice, because it's like, wow, I didn't know I was able to do that. Oh dear. Okay. Oh wow, okay.
(00:42:58):
The voice actually does sound like this because another thing about us singers is we never get to hear our voice the way the listener hears the voice. So that means it's always a discovery, for example, to hear a recording, it's always, it's always like, wow, that's how it sounds. Oh wow. Because what we hear from the inside when we sing is not the same as what the listener hears. So that's this huge paradox, which is the voice. And that's why usually we are sort of dependent on a coach, an accompanist, a teacher for much longer than instrumentalists, because we never do get to hear the voice as the listener hears. So getting to encounter, for example, the voice in Mozart is completely different from encountering the voice in Bellini and in art songs. And the same thing when I listened to this album, I was like, oh my, wow, okay. Oh wow, that's a new color. Oh, how did I do that? Oh, sounds like this. That was in how, it's also because there's mechanics going on when I'm singing, there's mechanics, but to get the results is something different. So I don't know if that explains for me also another aspect of this voice being a different entity because we encounter it and we meet it each time we listen to a recording of our voices, which is quite spectacular.
Leah Roseman (00:44:49):
I wanted to let you know that you may be also interested in my episodes with Rebeca Omordia, Sarah Jeffrey, Jeeyoon Kim, Thomas Cabaniss, among so many other wonderful musicians. It's a joy to be able to bring these meaningful conversations to you, but this project cost me quite a bit of money and lots of time. Please support the series through either my merchandise store or my Ko-fi page. You'll find the links in the show notes for the merch it features, a unique design by artist Steffi Kelly, and you can browse clothes, phone cases, notebooks, water bottles and more. You'll also find the link to sign up for my newsletter where you'll get access to exclusive information about upcoming guests. Please check out my back catalog with weekly episodes going back to 2021; I've linked everything in the show notes. Now back to Omo Bello
(00:45:34):
Omo, I wanted to ask you about a couple of your mentors. I was interested in Grace Bumbry, who she was a Black American singer who had moved to Europe and died recently.
Omo Bello (00:45:47):
Absolutely. I met her for the first time in Paris when she came to do, was it Treemonisha I think? Yes. At the, and I remember I was at the Conservatoire at the time. So of course for me it was like, wow, what an icon is in town. And my teacher who worked at this Chatelet at the time, got me tickets to go see the opera and then organized a rendezvous, an appointment for me to sing to her. So I remember singing to her Verdi Aria from Aida, and she said, interesting. So from there, she that first encounter with her led to me going to Berlin to go see her really properly and spend a summer, practically an entire summer with her, about a month, six weeks thereabout, to sort of study with her. And I wasn't satisfied. I told you I went on this whole search thing, and then from there I went to Vienna, no, not Vienna, Salzburg.
(00:47:07):
She was living in Salzburg at the time to study more. And if two things that really stuck from that encounter up until today is that desire to be faithful to the authenticity of one's voice in its unpretentious state. So her way of seeing the voice was to approach it with clean, clear vowels and just have this direct take on all things voice. That was very, very novel for me at the time, because I remember then at the Conservatoire, I was going through a tough period where of course I came in with the voice as it was naturally, because I didn't know anything about technique coming from Lagos. I was just singing with the natural talent. And I got to the Conservatoire and I got sort of confused in this haze, this huge schools, different schools of thoughts about how to put the voice in this particular place and do this with the voice and then have this color, and have this thing and this and that and that, and the results of all of that, all those gimmicks, shall I say, was trying to make the voice sound like what it wasn't.
(00:48:52):
So when I got to her, that's Grace Bumbry, she took me back to the basics, which is staying true, faithful to the voice, what it is in itself without needing to embellish anything, without needing to create anything artificial. This sounds basic, simple and straightforward, but strangely enough, strangely enough, a lot of young singers are taken into that path of making the voice sound like what it isn't. And that's the mistake. And in any case, I think is quite common these days in the, so I remember having lessons with her where there was a lot of technique, and the technique was basically to sit at the piano and run scales very slowly on each of the five vowels, taking rest in between, short breaks in between and just cleaning out the vowels. So it was as simple as that. And yet so complex, right? So spent so many weeks with her studying, and then it was not long after I left Salzburg that I went to do the Pavarotti competition and then got the first prize.
(00:50:15):
So I realized that yes, she was in, she obviously was on to something, and that's what definitely took her far and up till today. I feel, for me, anytime I think about the voice and think about that, all things, purity of sound, purity of cleanness, of notes of the vowels in the Italian style, I think I remember her of course, and yeah, she definitely was the one who put me on that notice that attention, you cannot try to sound like so-and-so that you listen to in the recordings. You cannot try to make the voice sound older than it is because you want to sing so and so repertoire. You have to stay with the voice that you have so that it can last and not wear out and all of that.
(00:51:20):
She's a very disciplined woman, extremely rigorous, had to be. And I think she sacrificed a lot for music because I know for example, that she never had children. She adopted, she adopted a son eventually. But yeah, she gave it all for the career. And that's a part for me that was like, wow, I can't do that. So I feel like, no, I needed to have a family and I needed to children and have the ones who, because it's like there are days when the voice, I mean the voice, like I said, the voice has its ups and downs. That's the human body, the human nature, it's not perfect. So there are days when you are not all of that, and there are days when it's fantastic. So you have to be able to have a sort of distance. And I feel like having a more accomplished private family life sort of gives you a balance in the sense that it's not just about, oh, my voice, oh, my voice, oh my voice.
(00:52:39):
Which I think is one of the faults of singers. And when you get home and you have little ones to take care of and who don't give a, they don't care whether you sign that spectacular high C tonight and everybody gave you a standing ovation, they don't care. They love you even if you crack the note. So I think that balance for me was the part I felt, yeah, I took from her that I don't want to do that. I want to do it differently. So yes, she taught me a lot early on, I feel, and I remember her a lot when I warm up the voice, I mean just simply singing bowels. I remember all those notes sitting at the piano with her, ironing out the notes, nothing spectacular. I've seen all the divas, other divas who tell you, put the voice here or put it on some fancy balloon up in the sky that doesn't work, ironing out the vowels. For me, that's Grace Bumbry, and it just sort of stuck with me. Yeah,
Leah Roseman (00:53:44):
Wonderful. Now in this album you have the work of two female composers, Errolynn Wallen, and she was featured on my discussion with Rebeca Omordia. But today maybe we could talk about Shirley Thompson and her beautiful Psalm to Windrush, Windrush.
Omo Bello (00:54:01):
Psalm to Windrush is I think one of the more lyrical pieces of Shirley Thompson. And I understand from the background ground, there's this whole windrush generation that came to the United Kingdom from the Caribbean islands, and who at some point there was this huge political scandal whereby they had to be taken away. So from what I understand, it's like this homage to the ones who put sweat, the blood, their all to build their dreams. And I feel like it's a story that speaks to me because usually to be able to build that dream many a times you need to leave home.
(00:55:28):
You often get up and leave everything you hold dear and sort of go far away and chase that dream. Listening to it, I feel as many times it's like I had to sort of draw in the tears, draw in the emotions, because if you get too emotional, you will not be able to control and master the instrument. But it's listening, I feel. So, what's the word now? It speaks to me in any case on a personal level because that's a story that rings home going far away and fighting for what you believe in, fighting for your dreams and putting everything that you need to do into it and sacrifice.
(00:56:33):
I think she's exceptional as a composer, and it's not easy to be a successful female composer. So I think she's phenomenal in that she's been able to overcome all these odds to be who she is. So yeah, that's why when I look at people like Grace Bumbry and Shirley Thompson, who are the pioneers who putting all of that, all of everything they have, so that today when I come and sing, it looks normal, right? Because somebody went ahead and broke those, broke down those doors and just went and did it. And then people behind coming after are able to just do those things like it's normal today. So yeah, I a lot of, I haven't met her yet, but through her music, I feel like I can connect to her grit, strength and what more can I say? And it's amazing that these two women are going on to do so many exceptional things, and there are not many female composers. So I think it was very important also to Rebeca and I that we give homage to these exceptional women who are just icons.(music)
Leah Roseman (00:59:44):
Now I wanted to ask you about the Omo Bello Music Foundation. Is that something you've continued to work with?
Omo Bello (00:59:52):
So yes, absolutely. It's something that has been heavy on my heart for the longest time because, so coming from Lagos, Nigeria, coming to France, studying at the Conservatoire, is Nigeria is 220, or is it 250 million people at the modest estimates of the population census. And yet I'm the only one who had this scholarship to study in France from the French government. So I feel this huge, first of all, when I got that scholarship, I felt this huge responsibility, the first, that's huge in the sense that I felt this desire, this, I put so much weight on myself at times, I felt like I have to do this right because I was given this opportunity. So when I was able to finish my study, started off with a career and all of that, and I got this encouragement from this, it's a small community, but still of classical music lovers in Nigeria. And then I looked back and I realized that there's so much talent and the only difference between them and me is the opportunity. I had, the opportunity, they didn't.
(01:01:45):
And I realized that there's so many people in that position of having so much talent. So many little girls, so many little boys who today are like me listening now they have the internet, and so many of them discovered me on YouTube, and they go to YouTube and they listen to all my performances on YouTube, and they're carried away, and they're going to this whole creative adventure in their mind of how they want to sing. And they write to me and they express the desires, and of course they cannot because the infrastructure is not there. And the Conservatoire the knowhow, the teachers, the instruments, et cetera. And so I felt so frustrated for the longest of time wondering what can I do?
(01:02:47):
I felt at first, sometimes powerless because I felt I'm just one person, what can I do? So initially the idea was to just push, push in my career and somehow me pushing to the highest possible heights and being visible will sort of make other young girls look at me and fight and have that model to look up to and fight to go after me and to follow me following those footsteps and try and achieve their dreams, et cetera. But then again, that's good in itself. I was doing all of that, et cetera, but I realized I can do more still, what can I do? So in 2018, 17, 18, when I went in Lagos, same thing, I saw a lot of frustration, people who have so much talent and they don't have an outlet to express the talent. And I said to myself, well, I don't have it all.
(01:04:02):
I feel powerless, but I can start somewhere. So we got together, a couple of friends, I went and registered the foundation with a corporate affairs commission there in Lagos. And then we started doing concerts. We went to the slums and we were playing for the children there. And we went and just started doing things, just do what we can do. I mean, we feel so powerless, but at least let's just do something. So that's how we started off. And so we went and did concerts in the slums, and we went to, of course, because I'm an opera singer and in Lagos Nigeria, I was able to go to the French consulate, the French cultural attache and speak with them. I went to the Expatriate schools, which are schools of means, and the idea was to try to form bridge between the wealthy schools and the less privileged schools, the ones in the highbrow areas with the ones in the slum, sort of try and create a link where they'd be able to help them.
(01:05:16):
And so we did all of that. When I came back, I still felt frustrated what to do. So later on we went to, got the orchestra, an orchestra in the south of France, collaborated with them to try to get instruments to send to Nigeria to get lutiers to make violins, et cetera, and then send them over. So yeah, it's been quite a journey also with this foundation because I feel so much hope. There's so much that could be done. There's so many talents, there's so much desire. You see these children, they don't have fixed stereotypes in their heads about what art and music can be. So at that age, they are so malleable, just like, I mean, I saw the Sound of Music and I just fell in love with that. I saw the orchestra and I said, I want to do that. So it's all about exposure.
(01:06:23):
And these children are obviously not engaged in much by way of creative arts because the parents don't have the means. So I just sit and I think, and I daydream a lot about so much possibilities, but the most important thing is we just with our little means and with our talents and with what we had in hand, our instruments, in the case of the instrument and me, the voice, we just went there and did what we could do. And then, yeah, so it's not a big foundation in the sense of funds yet in any case, but it's just like me and a group of friends, musicians in Nigeria who just went out and in our little way in the community looked out for the children to introduce them to a world that is mind blowing. So yeah, that's just the start for me, for this foundation. And then I feel like as time goes on, opportunities will come up.
Leah Roseman (01:07:39):
That's wonderful. About your foundation. I can link it directly to the show notes of this podcast.
Omo Bello (01:07:45):
Okay, super.
Leah Roseman (01:07:47):
Back to your album with Rebeca. I wanted to ask, there's Ishaya Yarison, a Nigerian living in the US
Omo Bello (01:07:55):
Exactly, yes.
Leah Roseman (01:07:57):
I was hoping we could have a clip of, and I won't be able to say it, Kuzo
Omo Bello (01:08:01):
Zo, it's, yes. So same thing for me. Ishaya Yarison is a composer that I didn't know about until this whole research and studying and got to know him through Rebeca. And we had so much Yoruba music, which is from the west of Nigeria. We had Igbo music from the east, and I was like, we need to get music from up north. What's going on there in terms of formal written music, because northern Nigeria is dominantly Muslim, so usually in terms of the choral singing that Nigeria is quite, Nigerians are quite passionate about choral singing, church music and all of that, you don't get much from up there. So usually it was like I had nothing, no knowledge whatsoever of any music from northern Nigeria. And so it was quite a joy to discover his music. He sort of takes it into a sort of more classical approach as opposed to folk song style.
(01:09:23):
So yeah, it was more or less straightforward in the sense that his style of writing is more fidel, faithful, to the classical music style. The two pieces that I sang of his, including the Ku zo , are Psalms. And yeah, it was quite interesting for me to get to study the language, which is Hausa, for the recording. So he sent notes, recordings of the diction, and I had to work on it. So my parents grew up in the north, so I remember I have memories of them speaking the language, but I don't know the language at all. And so it was interesting for me to be able to get to familiarize myself with the language, this part of the country. I would be interested to get to know more of the music from there because it's quite unknown to me as of today.(music)
Leah Roseman (01:11:54):
Okay, wonderful. In my interview with Rebeca, we talked about Akin Euba quite a bit and included some of his music, and you have a lot of his music on this album.
Omo Bello (01:12:03):
Yes.
Leah Roseman (01:12:03):
But I did want to also ask you about Christian On - , I can't say his name,
Omo Bello (01:12:09):
Onyegi, Christian Onyegi? Yes. So my mother is Igbo, so she's from the east of Nigeria. And I remember of course, family events functions as a little child, and I remember that world, that atmosphere in the accompaniment is familiar to me from my background. So it was quite closer to home, shall I say, Onyegi's music. So the, it's like on for, so the raindrops, shall we say. It's funny because on the album, on the one hand we have Yoruba music, which is the one Ayo Bankole's, that one is called translated as Let it Rain. And then on the other hand, we have Giri, Giri, which is also about rain, right? So it was quite funny to have those two. And then there were themes, those types of central themes like infancy, lullabies, infancy in general. So there's the death of an infant, the naming of an infant, the twins, et cetera.
(01:13:35):
Lots of themes on infants in the album. And then rain is another one. So it's quite interesting how these things just sort of were woven together even though they were from different cultures and ethnic groups. So in the case of Onyegi with Giri Giri, so Giri Giri is like the onomatopoeia for the raindrops ,festivity that surrounds the rain season and all of the goodness it brings because that's the assurance that the crops will grow and the people will eat and people will get chubby because it's a sign of wealth and health to be chubby. And then, yeah, so the dancing and the festivities that accompany rain, the rainy season, that's what Giri Giri is all about. It's this happy festive type of atmosphere. And dancing, not yet, I've not met Christian Onyegi yet, but I've of course met him through his music. And it was quite , the accompaniment, for example, of the Giri Giri is supposed to be the percussions in the traditional festivities. It's the percussions that do that. So it was quite funny for Rebeca to have that transposition for the piano in our case. And yeah, usually the singer of the song in the local context would be singing and dancing and have beads around the wrist, the ankles, and yeah, it's quite an image for me that's very gay and lovely. And of course drinking and palm wine and all of that.
Leah Roseman (01:17:30):
That's great. And you mentioned percussion. You guys did also include these wonderful percussion improvisations as part of this album?
Omo Bello (01:17:39):
Yes. And that was a very good introduction because many of these, all of these basically except for the new composers, the modern composers, contemporary composers like Ishaya Yarison, these pieces, especially the folk songs are made to be played with the precautions, the local flutes, the local string instruments, et cetera, not with the piano in their original context. So yes, it was great to have this sort of little excerpts from Richard on the percussion to be able to give a sort of authenticity to that atmosphere of what it could be like. With the percussions alone, it's usually quite a lot of percussive rhythms that are quite complex and quite exciting because all these instruments are, I mean, there's the one that's called a talking drum that has these sonorities that are quite amazing because the players are able to play in the way they speak. So I mean, it's just amazing.
(01:19:10):
And these are people whose technique, technique is passed on from father to child and is sort of learned an apprenticeship type arrangements. And you have them say that and then they play It just really, really, really impressive for me. When I hear those types of of things. And I mean, I begin to wonder in the line of Ayo Bankole and his contemporaries, I begin to see also, and that's another aspect of the foundation that comes to mind in the vision. All of these oral traditions are so unique and I feel like techniques have to be researched so as to come up with methods to pass them down in a written or in a form that one can be able to communicate to generations to come because they're so unique in their style, in their delivery of which one of this is the talking drum. So yes, Richard played the talking drum also on the album.
Leah Roseman (01:20:46):
Yeah, I was just thinking about music education. Now, you did go through the strict Conservatoire in France, but as older, because you weren't a child, and I think Omo, I heard you say in another interview something about you're criticizing the strict solfège that a lot of children have to do before they can really get to the music.
Omo Bello (01:21:07):
I feel it's a pity to have to endure, make a child, endure that because children, like I said, concerning the children in Lagos who, I mean, we went to the slums in Lagos and we were playing classical music and they were just over the moon. And I feel at that age, they are in it for the pleasure, only the pleasure. And it's like that childhood, how this music, and I mean babies, it's fascinating to me how babies have the capacity to sing before they speak. And the, there's this innocence, naivete about the child and the child's approach to music that I feel is essential to draw them into music. Now, as pertaining to France where I live, the school of thought is that the children who want to learn music have to go through rigorous long hours of solfège training, more or less first or more dominantly than the music itself, than the instrument itself, than the voice.
(01:22:44):
If it's the case of singing. And I feel like what the result is, is that the public of that strong community of amateurs who would have continued with music are completely lost. I've met countless numbers of adults who frustrated come up to me and say how much they wanted to learn the guitar. I wanted to learn the piano, wanted to learn this or that, and they couldn't keep up with the solfège and they just gave up. And I feel it's a pity to separate at that stage, how do I say, not separate, but I feel it's a pity to not have the amateur route be a legitimate route. Not everybody has to be a maestro, a prodigy, a genius wonder kid on the instrument. The ones who just do it for the fun of it have their legitimate place in this music community. And I believe that this is the reason why the classical music audience is becoming, it's not renewing in the younger people.
(01:24:23):
I mean, you have the concert, everybody knows that our public is old, old and is dying out and reducing and all of that, especially in you see it from the operas and then the concert halls, et cetera. So we keep talking about this, but how come the ones who want to learn it as children are being, how do you say no to a child? Because the child does not want to learn solfège. I would not have wanted to learn solfège. when I was listening to Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music. I would just in it to sing and dance and be happy. Why would I want to learn solfège. at that age? So of course you have the benefits. It's a tool. It's a very, very important tool. I do admit, however, it's a tool. It's not more than a tool and that's it.
(01:25:32):
So even the greatest voices, I know that's another school of thought, the greatest voices of the past, Pavarotti, et cetera, were known to not be very, very skilled at sight reading and all of that. And I know that it's very helpful to have that ability pick up the music and just like that, master it, but it's a tool and that's it. There are other means now with the technologies of today to accomplish the same thing, you have lots of what I call it in the case of singers have lots of backing tracks. Even in classical music where you learn can learn your music with a backing track, you can learn your music by learning the piano. You don't necessarily have to know solfège.. So there are different routes and different tools that all come together. And I feel it's not worth it to lose an entire community of music supporters, music, concert goers, et cetera, even if they don't become, these people don't become professionals. I feel like they're the whole community that we need the professionals to support what we do and we lost them in the of perfection or in the name of elite training methods that I think have become redundant.
Leah Roseman (01:27:15):
Yes, I agree with you. I'm curious, the pianist we're hearing, is that Rebeca practicing?
Omo Bello (01:27:21):
Ah, no, it's the Saida. She's the one I'm rehearsing with for a concert I'm doing here in Paris next month. And it's actually a very unique type of music. First time in my life I'm going to be singing in Azerbaijanese. Do we say that in French? You say Azerbaijanèse. So melodies, art songs from Azerbaijan that I'm going to do at the Cultural Center of the Embassy of Azerbaijan here in Paris. Yeah. It's in the spirit of exploring other art songs from other countries. This has been quite the discovery, this whole Persian colors and music. It's a whole different world, I can tell you that I'm discovering. Yes. So that's
Leah Roseman (01:28:15):
Wonderful.
Omo Bello (01:28:16):
what we're rehearsing.
Leah Roseman (01:28:17):
There's another one of your mentors, I was interested in Thomas Quastoff, the German singer, because he had these severe birth defects resulting from thalidomide. And I'm wondering how that affected his career in terms of being different, or do you think it did?
Omo Bello (01:28:33):
I feel like he, Thomas, so I met him in Paris and then went to study with him in Berlin on Lieder, German art songs. I feel his handicap was a stepping stone in the sense that it makes him so much more, he had to go really reach very far out of his comfort zone to go for what he wanted and get it. So in this case, for a different reason, with Grace Bumbry, with Thomas Quastoff, I find this high level of "exigence" the French say, rigor, just not even leaving any little detail, just to chance to just happen. And so I met him at the concert in Paris when I went for masterclass. He gave, and I remember very clearly how he would sing a line, repeat, repeat, repeat, fine. He would speak about how it came back over and over again. This talk about how get to the bottom, always get to the bottom of things, how to strive to always, I mean, there was a day he just was a little bit upset like, ah, the young singers of today are not going far enough to reach for to get that, that's to get out the best out of what they can get going the extra mile to fight and fight over and over and over to get it.
(01:30:25):
So I just sense the same type of rigor in any case. And at the same time, humility this down to earth approach of life, the whole thing is a gift. The whole thing is an honor to get to that height in spite of all the odds, right? So he's a very lovely and warm kind and person. And I think yes, it definitely draws from that humility to have had to go deep to search and get answers and solutions and succeed in spite of all odds.
Leah Roseman (01:31:13):
Your beautiful debut recording the Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn, did he help you with that coaching for that repertoire?
Omo Bello (01:31:20):
Yes, that was exactly why I went to him in Berlin and we spent a lot of time going through the background of you learn the music, you learn the text, and he was very happy with the work put in, but also to get that context from a German native speaker and to also get, because Des Knaben Wunderhorn is in this case from the German folk songs, even though it was written by Mahler who was Austrian, it's called from German folk art. So to get that, I needed to get that background from a native about this whole style, the culture, the little things that sort of put things in place.
(01:32:31):
So yes, it was very, very wonderful to have him coach me for that album. And I remember how many times you would be doing a lieder and you think you get it right and all of that, and then he just says, no, try it like this. And then he sings and then you're listening, oh dear. I haven't even scratched the surface. There's just something about a native speaker singing in his language with all the baggage of the cultural experience that come with it. That just infuses into the colors in the voice and I'd just be like, I haven't even started. It was helpful, have that I am a native English speaker to sing in German because it's also quite similar in the way the consonants are articulated and et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, it was a wonderful experience. In any case, recording Mahler's Knaben Wunderhorn,and studying with Thomas. I also went to Verbier thanks to him and did the Contessa in Marriage of Figaro there and some other concerts at the festivals, their Christmas festival, et cetera. Yeah, and of course I've kept in touch with him ever since. Yeah,
Leah Roseman (01:34:21):
Wonderful. So my last question for you today is just in terms of your role as an opera singer. I'm curious because it's at the intersection of acting and music so different than the rest of we musicians. So you mentioned at the beginning of this interview how shy you were as a child and how you've had to come out of that. So I'm imagining inhabiting roles as you learned opera must have helped with that because you're playing a part.
Omo Bello (01:34:46):
Yes, indeed. Because it's almost as if in the case where the voice is another entity. So this is where you have an entire entity of a personage. And it's amazing, I think to be able to put on this persona when you go on stage that's so different from who you are. I think it's just the best thing in the world because many times, I mean, so many times I find people who meet me in person say things like, but you are so shy or you are different from the person who was on stage and it's like a bizarre event because they're expecting something bubbling and over the top and diva ish and reckless or whatever, and then it's the complete opposite. So I feel like my best way of expressing myself is in singing and of course singing on stage, in opera, in concert, et cetera.
(01:36:15):
It's such a joy to be able to study and perform different roles because I feel like it enriches me as a person and also my personal experience enriches roles of course, because I'm able to bring in my own, my experience, life experience into it. But I feel even before some life experiences are lived through these different personage, you can live them. I mean, for example, nobody would want to be like Contessa in Nozze de Figaro and have a husband who has the right to sleep in the entire town, all the maids in the town. But living in that role and trying to understand the perspective of such a person, it takes on something completely different. And then when you're done with that sort of production, you find yourself in the beginning a sort of huge, huge emotional, like a huge shock because it's like wow, so much going on in the music and having lived that put on that skin for six weeks or four weeks or whatever it is, that one was in that production because a huge, the décalage when you get back to the production is over, and then afterwards it's like when you're walking around, you see things differently.
(01:37:55):
I mean, you just feel like, oh, okay, this is how so and so would have done it, or this is how so and so did it. So I think it just sort of creates experiences that enrich who I am as a person in real life, having to be able to have this opportunity to be different people on stage. And it's interesting because I feel like those experiences on stage in performance are so rich that in real life, after having traveled so much and lived all those extreme things like creatively and emotionally and on stage and in life cuisines, when you go travel cultures, visiting places, et cetera. I feel like when I'm done with a production, my best place to be is at home.
(01:39:17):
The French say casanier, that's like home homebody par excellence, just take it back and just take it all in. On the one hand, it's extremely enriching, but on the other hand, so as not to have an overload of all of this, I feel like when I'm done, I go back into a shell in quotes, as it were, to sort of take it all in and sort of get back to reality, put on the ground, et cetera, in my space. And in that way I find a balance between me and the persona that I found, the other personas that I play.
Leah Roseman (01:40:06):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for this today.
Omo Bello (01:40:10):
Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.
Leah Roseman (01:40:14):
I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please share this with your friends and check out episodes you may have missed leahroseman.com. If you could buy me a coffee to support this series, that would be wonderful. Or you can browse the collection of merch with a very cool, unique and expressive design from artist Steffi Kelly with notebooks, mugs, shirts, phone cases and more. I'm an independent podcaster and I really do need the help of my listeners. All the links are in the show notes. Have a wonderful week.
