Rebeca Omordia Interview
This is the transcript of my interview with Rebeca Omordia, focusing on her African Pianism album Volume 2. You’ll find the link to the podcast, video and show notes with links here.
Rebeca Omordia (00:00:00):
It's closer to the West African percussion pieces. And that's why, for me, that was the easiest to play, even though it's one of the most difficult ones technically. But because it uses similar technique, African pianism techniques to the West African pieces, in a way it was easier to perform than the rest of the pieces. It's a dance, it's a joy to play this music. And I've also, I'm working now with Ubuntu Ensemble who are performing the strings version of these miniatures, and it's fascinating always to discover new inflections of this music.
Leah Roseman (00:00:47):
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. Concert pianist, Rebeca Omordia has just released her second African Pianism album, volume two, which was just named Editor's Choice in the Gramophone Magazine. And it's a wonderful and fascinating, beautiful kaleidoscope of piano works from West Africa, North Africa, South Africa, and East Africa. Rebecca spoke to me about her extensive research about these composers varied styles and the different traditional music traditions, which are often at the heart of this music. We talked about her experiences growing up in Romania with a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Now based in London, Rebecca spoke to me about the African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall and many of her collaborations, including Errollyn Wallen, whose Piano Concerto written for Rebecca is featured in this podcast along with excerpts from several of the works on the African Pianism album, volume two. 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. Before we jump into our conversation, I want to let you know that I have a new way you can support this independent podcast through a great collection of merch with a very cool, unique and expressive design from artist Steffi Kelly. You'll find that link in the description of the episode. This weekly podcast is in season four, and I send out an email newsletter where you can get access to sneak peeks upcoming guests. Have a look at the description of this episode where you'll find all the links, including the store for the very cool shirts, mugs and more, and the support link to buy this independent podcast a coffee.
(00:02:40):
Now to Rebeca Omordia. Hi Rebeca, thanks so much for joining me here today.
Rebeca Omordia (00:02:47):
Hi, Leah. Thank you for having me on your podcast.
Leah Roseman (00:02:50):
It's really an honor to meet you and you're such an amazing pianist and what you're doing with repertoire too is so inspiring. So you've just released this new album, African Pianism Volume two, and I had found your work when you had the first volume, and this is such a beautiful volume. I've really enjoyed listening to it. So we'll be digging into that and some of your history and other projects, but maybe we'll start with some of this album. Now, the term African Pianism was coined by Akin Euba?
Rebeca Omordia (00:03:21):
Yes, Akin Euba.
Leah Roseman (00:03:22):
So he died in 2020. Had you met him?
Rebeca Omordia (00:03:25):
I was in touch with him at the beginning of my research over 10 years ago, and he sent me a lot of his music and we discussed about my project, but I had never actually met him.
Leah Roseman (00:03:39):
Okay, so he was a distinguished Nigerian composer and pianist and musicologist, correct?
Rebeca Omordia (00:03:46):
Yes, yes, he was. In fact, he was the second, he was part of the second generation of composers that developed the African art music style, the African art music genre as a new classical genre. So he was a pioneer of African art music alongside other West African composers.
Leah Roseman (00:04:10):
So I wanted to include some of his music from your album. And I was having trouble choosing because I really loved it, like all the Wakar Duru, the different numbers, but I thought maybe number one, and you have its music on the first volume as well.
Rebeca Omordia (00:04:24):
I have music by Akin Euba. I have three Yoruba songs without words on volume one, but volume two brings together some of the Wakar Duru style.
Leah Roseman (00:04:34):
So do you want to speak to that music before people hear number one?
Rebeca Omordia (00:04:37):
Yes. Well, Akin Euba is one of the composers that developed the African Pianism style. He coined the term and he documented this new style of piano playing that expresses certain features of African traditional music in his piano music. In his Wakar Duru study, he explores Nigerian folk tunes, Nigerian highlife songs as well, various ways of expressing the drumming technique of the West African drums on the piano and Wakar Duru study number one is based on one of Nigeria's highlife songs.
Leah Roseman (00:05:24):
You're about to hear Waka Duru: Study in African Pianism, number one by Akin Euba from Rebeca Omordia's album, African Pianism Volume two on the SOMM recordings label, you'll find the link to buy and stream the music in the description of this podcast.(music)
(00:10:30):
Okay, thanks for that beautiful performance. I wanted to ask you, your experience as a child growing up in Romania was still under Ceaușescu's regime and you had a pretty traumatic experience with your family having to leave. Do you want to speak to that?
Rebeca Omordia (00:10:46):
Yes. Well, it was growing up in Romania also on the Ceaușescu regime was both good thing and a bad thing. Good thing from a musical's perspective is that Romania has a very old tradition of classical music. So I had access to the western classical music, that's one of the highest levels. And musical education is also free in Romania. So this was one of the good things. The negative thing was the fact that mixed race marriages, my father Nigerian, my mother Romanian, they were not socially accepted and in fact, they were not accepted at all by the regime. If one of the Romanians would marry a foreigner, they would have to move to the foreigner's country. So they were not allowed to stay in the country. That did not work for my parents. And of course it eventually created a lot of problems. And in 1989 when I was six, we were deported from the country.
(00:11:51):
One night in, we were arrested and we were taken to an interrogation room when my parents had to sign some documents that we would leave the country within 48 hours. So that was quite a traumatic experience for a 6-year-old, and especially I was very happy child. Generally I was full of energy and I used to love to play a lot, well, as most children. So having to go through that without understanding exactly what was happening. We had had problems with my father not being allowed visa to be in the country and all sorts of immigration problems, but that was a completely different level of traumatic experiences for a child. So we were deported. We ended up in Yugoslavia, then in Greece, and this was even few months before Ceaușescu's regime ended, and we were abroad for about almost a year, and we were allowed eventually to come back to the country because my sister had been left behind, so my parents had to return for her, of course, yes. So my parents, their feelings were mixed. They would've not returned to Romania, but they had to return because of my sister. So we returned to Romania, and that was also the year where I would have had to start school, primary school.
(00:13:26):
So in the end they decided to enroll me in school and my parents settled. My father eventually received this citizenship a couple of years later, of course after a lot of bureaucracy, but I was enrolled in school. My coming into contact with music, that's also was quite a crucial moment. We had had the piano home because again, as I mentioned, Romania has a very old traditional of classical music, and a lot of the families, whether they were musical or not, they would have an instrument at home. The children will learn to play music, you will perform in various, if it was not a professional setting, it would be another setting, but you will have access to instruments or you perform church. And this was also one of the reasons we had the piano home. And while I had never taken any lessons, I was always playing around the piano and I was playing by ear and I loved music.
(00:14:37):
And when we were deported and we were in Yugoslavia, there was one moment we in a train station waiting. I'm not sure if it was for a train or for, we're still looking for accommodations. So we had to sleep in various squats, like squatting in various places. So there was a violinist that she was playing the train station, she looked to me homeless, but the music she performed, to me, it seemed so sincere and so moving that for a moment, everything had stopped, all the dark, the gray feeling, and my parents, they were so serious and things were horrible for me, that was completely taken out of my world, away from my sister. I was very close to my grandparents, my whole world. So music became a very important element, I would say, for my existence. So when we returned to Romania many, many, many, many months later, and I was supposed to enroll in to school, primary school, and my parents, my father being a doctor, and as a Nigerian doctor in Nigeria, you must, if you are going to become a serious person, you need to have a profession, which is a doctor or engineer or lawyer.
(00:16:11):
And being a musician was not accepted, but I remember, so I was enrolled in the primary, local, primary school. I remember I went to my parents and I told them was literally a few days before the first day of school started, and I told them that I wanted to go to the specialist music school because I wanted to become a pianist. Of course, for them, this was a huge surprise for me being so small and so restless for them or according to them, I was a very restless child who was looking for trouble and me coming with this new idea was something extremely eccentric. But at the same time, they knew that I was very stubborn. So if I had made up my mind about something and I was very serious about wanting to go to the music school and learning to play piano, eventually they agreed and we just made the arrangements for me to be enrolled in the music school. Of course, there's also a long story there, because with the specialist music school, you need to have, take an audition, have an exam, take an exam to see if you're musical at all. But of course I had missed all the deadlines since it was really late. But through a coincidence of my mother having her best friend as a singing teacher there who managed to find a place for me, I was without the piano teacher for many, many months because of that. Nobody wanted me a child that looked different and had just appeared from nowhere.
(00:17:55):
But eventually we found a teacher and I started having piano lessons and that's when it all began.
Leah Roseman (00:18:02):
Yeah, and soon after you began these piano lessons, he enrolled you in a competition and you did very well, correct?
Rebeca Omordia (00:18:09):
Yes. This was months into taking the piano lessons because it was a regular tradition that attending a specialist Music School, you already, they train you right from the beginning to become a professional musician. And so a professional pianist in this case. So you start taking part in all these national competitions and you learn about the travel. It means how to travel to perform and in very competitive environment. So I was entered after a few months and my parents had, so that I made great progress. Now I loved to play the piano. My parents were also very excited and the truth that I was very keen to practice, which also kept me quiet and in a good place away from trouble. So they also supported that and I entered the competition. We traveled, I think in west of Romania, and I performed among many children. Of course, everywhere I would turn up people would be, "what is this? Look how she looks." Always, "where is she from?". But gradually I won the first competition. I appeared on national television, which again was during the communist regime before Ceaușescu's regime then that we didn't have access to television. The only broadcast that would be on TV were communist broadcasts about the dictator or some sort of where they're trying to communicate some press conference about Ceaușescu, whatever he was doing. But now people had a national channel and they had access to watch concerts to see what was happening culturally in Romania. So suddenly they see this young Black, according to them, Black child playing the piano. Of course, I became famous and well famous locally and nationally, and then every year I was entered competitions and I will win or sometimes gets less surprises, but that will always gain something. And I was working very hard and my parents were supporting that, which was very important. And it became my life and my full-time activity.
Leah Roseman (00:20:32):
I thought it would be interesting to talk about more of the album. Almost all the composers you chose were born in Africa except Florence Price. You decided to include one of her pieces. Is that because it's based on a Spiritual and do you want to speak to that?
Rebeca Omordia (00:20:50):
Yes. Well, first of all, Africa is patriarchal. So there are not many if at all women composers from Africa. Most of the composers of African descent from Africa diaspora. And so I believe the purpose of my album series is to create awareness of this repertoire and also hopefully to inspire female musicians to write, African female musicians to write music. Among the female musicians from the African Diaspora Florence Price's piano music, I find it's most appealing. I think the Fantaisie Nègre is one of, is a very powerful work. The fact that it's based on an Negro spiritual, of course that also makes an element for my African Pianism album because that's also one of the conditions of African Pianism style to include, even though her piano music is European style. But the fact that it features in Negro spiritual, it goes with my theme, the African Pianism album. So I think I love Florence Price's piano music, but I think she has so much to say and says it so well from a pianist's point of view. I think it also creates awareness for the African musicians based in Africa about the music of the African diaspora composers, and also to also inspire them and inspire female musicians to write more music. So that's the main reason for including Florence Price on this album.
Leah Roseman (00:22:28):
This is an excerpt from Fantaisie Nègre in E Minor by Florence Price. You'll find the link to buy and stream this album in the description of this podcast. (music) I understand she wrote so much music and there's a lot to go through. Have you discovered some of her music that other people haven't recorded yet?
Rebeca Omordia (00:24:46):
I don't think so. I haven't researched Florence Price's, piano music, the way I've researched African composers, because there's not enough time in a day even for the African Compose. And plus Florence Price now benefits from great awareness. Many people perform her music, her piano music, her orchestra music. So she's become a well-known composer. The reason for including her in my program is because I love the music of African Americans. I love Florence Price's piano music, and every art must be political. And I think in this case, including Florence Price on my program, apart from my great admiration for her works and for her style of writing is also a political reason for bringing awareness to African composers about what African musicians or musicians of African heritage can achieve, especially female musicians, because that's something that's not been explored in Africa.
Leah Roseman (00:26:02):
So when you perform in Africa, Rebeca, are you accepted as a woman who's also a foreigner?
Rebeca Omordia (00:26:10):
Depends. For instance, in Nigeria you claim your father's country or your father's place or your father's ethnic group. And in Nigeria, I'm seen as Nigerian. I'm not seen as necessarily as foreigner. I'm not. Of course they see me mixed. They call sometimes oyinbo. But I am in Nigeria, I'm home in other places in Africa. I've been to North Africa, I've been to South Africa. I'm seen as mixed or I'm seen as a dual heritage. And also because of my upbringing, especially my education of being a graduate of the Romanian Music School, that also brings a great influence on who I am also as identity.
Leah Roseman (00:27:11):
Let's see, speaking of North Africa, Salim Dada, the Algerian Miniatures Miniatures Algériennes were originally for string quartet.
Rebeca Omordia (00:27:22):
Well, yes, they were originally for string quartet. Salim Dada has also arranged them for orchestra string orchestra. We are performing them at the African concert series for string quintet. And then he has also published them and arranged them, a very successful arrangement for piano solo. And I believe some of the miniatures, especially number two, has been performed a lot by various pianists. But nobody has recorded these pieces until I discovered them. And it was a very interesting discovery. My first contact with North African music was through the Moroccan Nocturns on my volume one African Pianism, Nocturns by Nabil Benabdeljalil which was a fascinating discovery.
(00:28:20):
Oriental, as he calls, the composer calls them Oriental Nocturns. So this was fascinating. And of course, for volume two, I wanted to explore North Africa further. And I went to Algeria and that's where I discovered Salim Dada. I had known some of his miniatures, especially the number two, some pianists have performed it even in the African Concert Series. So I wanted to have a look at the whole set. And he sent me the music and I thought it would've been quite similar musical language to the Moroccan pieces because it's North Africa, but in fact was something completely different. That also shows the diversity of the African continent, that there's no one country within the same region that is the same or has the same musical tradition. So I had to learn a lot of new things, new rhythms, new ways of phrasing, and of course, thanks to the composer. And he's helped me deciphering the style of the species.
Leah Roseman (00:29:27):
Okay, well, I really love them. And I had trouble picking one to include. I thought we could include Soirée au Hogarr .
Rebeca Omordia (00:29:35):
Yes. That's the last one. Number five. Yes. That's one terrific piece, in fact is for me, it's closer to the West African percussion pieces. And that's why for me, that was the easiest to play, even though it's one of the most difficult ones technically. But because it uses similar technique, African pianism techniques to the West African pieces, in a way was easier to perform than the rest of the pieces. It's a dance, it's a joy to play this music. And I've also worked, I'm working now with Ubuntu Ensemble who are performing the strings version of these miniatures. And it's fascinating always to discover new inflections of this music. There's always a way of translating the physical plane of the piece to what you hear, to what you read, to what you hear, to what the audience needs to receive. So there's a long process, and even though I have recorded this pieces, it's a continuous rediscovery of the rhythms and of the melodies. And that's how you know when the composer is a genius.
Leah Roseman (00:31:03):
You're about to hear an excerpt from Miniatures Algériennes, number five, Soirée au Hogarr by Salim Dada. (music)
(00:32:55):
Well, maybe we could include, sometimes it's good to include just a short clip of something to give people a taste and then they'll go, of course, everything will be linked directly in the description of this podcast. There's also the Crépuscule sur la baie d'Alger, which is another one of those movements, which is very different.
Rebeca Omordia (00:33:11):
Yeah, that's very different than in fact that yes, and in fact that piece does. It's inspired by the Algerian genocide, and I think it's a very haunting piece. Yes, yes. It's a very powerful piece. It starts with a dance, one of the Algerian dances and then the middle section, it makes a reference. I know this from the composer himself through the Algerian genocide and through what the Algerian people experienced. So that's why I think the whole five Algerian miniatures is, it captures the essence of the Algerian people's experiences, their music, their joys, their sorrows, their life.
Leah Roseman (00:33:57):
Next, you're about to hear an excerpt from Miniature Algérienne number three Crépuscule sur la baie d'Alger by Salim Dada.(music)
(00:34:06):
Let's speak about your African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. You began this a few years ago.
Rebeca Omordia (00:35:41):
Yes.
Leah Roseman (00:35:42):
And you're including choral music and chamber music.
Rebeca Omordia (00:35:46):
Yes. In fact, the African Concert Series was an extension of my first album, Ekele, piano music by African composers, which opened the opportunity to launch the African concert series. The album was released in 2019, and the African Concert Series was launched in 2019. When I had started researching this music, I discovered so many works, not only the piano music, but songs and chamber works, and the initial plan was to have an album series, exactly what I'm doing now. But I had the opportunity to launch the African Concert Series, and I started programming the works I discovered, and now we are in its sixth year, the African Concert Sereies sixth year, and we're resident at the Wigmore Hall. We have teamed concerts with chamber music, African art songs, choral music, music from various regions of Africa, music from North Africa, also music from the African diaspora. We're very fortunate to also have Wigmore Hall hosting the series.
Leah Roseman (00:36:58):
But when you started and you put out your album Ekele, you self-funded it?
Rebeca Omordia (00:37:04):
Yes. Well, in fact, I've self-funded all the albums, but I've also self-funded. Yes. And I've also self-funded the African Concert Series. First couple of years, this was pioneering work in its true sense. And yes, but later we received support, great support. We received grants from the Arts Council in England in 2021 and 2022 also in 2023. And that's when the series in 2023 made Wigmore Hall, its London Home and it has received support ever since. But I think with every pioneering works, someone has to make some sacrifices. It was a project I strongly believed in, and I've given it a lot of work and a lot of personal investment as well, and I have no regrets. Yes, in fact, it's extremely rewarding to see that now it's received such great support and so many people are discovering such fascinating repertoire.
Leah Roseman (00:38:13):
Yes, yes. Hi. Just a short break from the episode, which I hope you're enjoying so far. I wanted to let you know that I have a new way you can support independent podcast through a beautiful collection of merch with a very cool, unique, and expressive design from artist Steffi Kelly. You'll find that link in the description of the episode. If you want to check out over a hundred episodes you may have missed in addition to your podcast player or YouTube, I have an extensive website, leahroseman.com with show notes, transcripts, the complete catalog of episodes, and you can sign up there for my weekly newsletter to get access to sneak peeks of upcoming guests. Please do share your favorite episodes with your friends, follow me on social media and share my posts. And if you can spare a few dollars to help support the series, that would be amazing. You'll find that link in the show notes along with the merch store. I'm an independent podcaster and I really do need the help of my listeners. Now, back to the episode.
(00:39:06):
So when you went to England to study, you won this Delius Prize in 2009, and that set off a three-year partnership with cellist Julian Lloyd Weber. Do you want to speak to that and playing British music with him?
Rebeca Omordia (00:39:22):
Yes. In fact, British music has been another one of my major projects. But in 2009, I was just finishing my Master's, in fact, advanced postgraduates diploma at Birmingham conservatoire, the Delius Trust Delius Society. They were hosting the Delius Competition, the music of the British Frederick Delius. And so I entered the competition with some of his piano pieces, and I also performed some Ravel because you were allowed to perform contemporary composers. And Julian Lloyd Webber adjudicated this competition, and he loved my playing, especially that my performance had also included some music with violin and piano. So it also showed some of my chamber music qualities. And so after the competition, he came to me and he suggested that maybe if he ever needed a pianist, he would call me, which he did a few days later. And in fact, it coincided with some anniversary of the British composer of Frederick Delius.
(00:40:29):
And also John Ireland was 50 years from their death, John Ireland's death. And we performed on BBC Radio 3 music by Frederick Delius and John Ireland. And that's when our partnership started. And Julian has been an advocate of British music for many, many years. So it was only natural that our recitals and our programs will feature a lot of British music for cello and piano. And we started performing all over the UK. We toured in many important venues. And this was also another fascinating discovery for me because I hadn't known any of the British composers until then. And the discovery, also the piano music of John Ireland was another project, which in the end led to the doctoral thesis that is on the piano music of John Ireland and British music. So that was parallel into parallel with my research in the African repertoire. So there are two projects parallel, separate projects going hand in hand at the same time.
Leah Roseman (00:41:40):
And your doctoral thesis, you published it as a book in Romania, correct?
Rebeca Omordia (00:41:45):
Yes, because it was written in Romania and I did my doctoral thesis at the National University in Bucharest Music University in Bucharest, that as a result, we published the thesis as a book later on at the end of my program about the piano music of John Ireland.
Leah Roseman (00:42:06):
Are there any thoughts to translate it into English and publish it in English?
Rebeca Omordia (00:42:12):
Of course, that's something that I have been thinking about, but it's probably for later on in my career that might be something that I will further develop. But at the moment, I'm mainly focused on the African music, which has become the center of my career, performing the music recording, curating concepts of African repertoire, which also requires a lot of research. So while I'm still performing some British music, this is been put a bit on a hold for now.
Leah Roseman (00:42:50):
And in 2019, you formed a duo with the South African bass soloist, Leon Bosch. And you made some recordings with him as well?
Rebeca Omordia (00:42:57):
Yes, in fact, I had been very, very familiar with his name because he's a legendary double bassist and he's very known in the UK, especially in the UK. But when I recorded Ekele, my first piano album of African composers, he heard me perform this music on BBC Radio three. So he contacted me and he said, well, we met and we discussed that he, I was also, he'd commissioned so many works from South African composers, so he was interested in us collaborating on the recording project, even though our initial project was to record the South African composers, he was at the time working on another British music project. And also having, as I had the previous experience of perform British music, this was a natural way for us to start our work together. We recorded British Double Bass, we recorded the South African Double Bass, and then we continued with our work together through the African Concert Series platform. He's commissioned works from at least a hundred of South African composers, and he's premiered a lot of these composers at the African Concert Series. His Ubuntu ensemble of musicians from South Africa, they're based in the UK, have also been pioneering this repertoire, and they have performed many times at the African Concert series. So my work with Leon Bosch has been also as duo partners, but also through the African Concert Series continuing this pioneering work of bringing to the audience, to London audience, the music pie composers from South Africa and also from other regions of Africa.
Leah Roseman (00:44:49):
Rebeca, it's interesting when you said a hundred composers from South Africa, my eyebrows kind of went up because I'm Canadian, and of course we play a lot of Canadian composers and sometimes from other countries. But I think with new music and classical music, it gets a little siloed because each country kind of supports their composers. But it's wonderful to learn about all this music that's being written all over the globe.
Rebeca Omordia (00:45:11):
Yes, there's so much music and there's so many interesting works, so much fun to play. And there also, I was raised the Western classical tradition, and I've performed Western composers and there's so much piano repertoire as pianists. We're very fortunate that there's so much to play, but I think it comes a day when you should look further, and it also helps you develop as musician knowing beyond what it's called now, the standard repertoire that has been played and recorded and played and played. And there's nothing to rediscover. And I think it's fascinating when someone comes and says, look, this is music for my country, and let's have a look. Let's have a listen. And it's not only a musical way of growing as an artist, but you also learn about the culture and the traditions of that respective country because that's always reflected in the music, the composer's rights. It's fascinating.
Leah Roseman (00:46:26):
And I wanted to ask you about your connection with Errollyn Wallen, the well-known British composer because she wrote a piece for you, the concerto that you recorded.
Rebeca Omordia (00:46:36):
Yes. Errollyn Wallen is a genius of composer. She had been featured at the African Concert Series in the past. We had some of her chamber of music performed, but she's a tutor, a composition tutor at Birmingham Conservatoire, and I am an alum, of the Birmingham Conservatoire. So in 2019, Julian, who was a Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire, he commissioned a piano concerto for me to premiere with Birmingham's Conservatoire symphony Orchestra. Of course, the pandemic delayed the project, and in a way, in the beginning, it felt as if it'll never happen. But this concerto was written during pandemic, during lockdown and Erollynn Wallen, we were working together on it. She would write things, she would send it to me. We'll talk so much on the phone about the style. The last movement of the concerto is in fact based on a Romanian theme from where I was born. So it's a very personal piece and was also a piece that connected us during a moment of solitude. She wrote it when she was in a lighthouse totally alone in Scotland. I was stuck in my flat in London. So it's a piece that connected us. It took longer to have it premiered, but also because of that, it later created the opportunity of having it recorded with the BBC concert orchestra. So it's a very personal work.
Leah Roseman (00:48:23):
Yeah, I really loved that last movement. It's called Joyful. And I was wondering, do you want to talk to her and the recording company, if we could feature it on this podcast?
Rebeca Omordia (00:48:33):
Yes, yes, I will. I'm sure they will be very happy to have it featured. It's based on, I was born in South Southern Romania, the region called Oltenia. Of course, Romania, it has the same language, but the regions, they have different populations of different temperament. I would say many times people would say, how would my mother and my father get along with each other coming from such different cultures? But the culture of the Southern Romania is quite similar to the Ebo culture where my father comes from. So people, they're very joyous exactly as the piece, as the song is. They're full of life. They're also very temperamental. So Errollynn really managed to capture this in this Piano Concerto in the last movement. And this is in fact a traditional dance, danced always at celebrations that birthdays, weddings, and it's fascinating to watch and great fun to be part of. And also as a pianist, great fun to play it alongside this stellar orchestra.
Leah Roseman (00:49:53):
This is the last movement of Errollyn Wallen's Piano cConcerto with Rebeca Omordia and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Andrews on the resonus label. You'll find this album linked to Rebeca Omordia's website in the description of this podcast. (music)
(00:52:48):
Well, it'd be great if you could come to Canada and play it with my orchestra. Maybe that'll happen.
Rebeca Omordia (00:52:52):
Yes. I never know. I'd love that. Yes.
Leah Roseman (00:52:55):
I wanted to ask you, so your dad is a physician and he at first didn't want you to be serious about music, but his father is a famous traditional flute player in Nigeria?
Rebeca Omordia (00:53:05):
Yes, exactly. That's something that I have been even discussing with my family recently quite a lot. It's because if we think of the history of the colonialism, my grandfather, he belonged to the generation that believed in what is called Native, they believed in the ancestors, they believed in the power of the ancestors. This music, it's a connection to the ancestors. It's said that when Ebo flute plays, it's has action in the after world and in the present, in the physical world, in the spirit world and in the physical world. So the music is inspired by rituals, by various traditional events. But my father's generation is the generation that had a great colonial influence. They became Christian. They were church goers. They believed in having a profession, science profession, lawyer, doctor, physician, engineer. So while my father told me so much about my grandfather and for him, he was also when I became a professional musician after being awarded a lot of prizes and become quite an established pianist, he would understand that I had inherited this musical quality for my grandfather.
(00:54:52):
And he used to talk about it a lot, but being a folk player, for me, I didn't understand it so much because my parents, I grew up in a church. I grew up in a Baptist church. My father used to preach in various churches. So we were very into the western type of upbringing. So I only discovered what it meant to be a traditional player when I started researching this repertoire, the African repertoire, and I discovered the meaning of the instruments because most of the African composers inspired the works from traditional music or traditional instruments. We have a concert at the Wigmore Hall on 20th of July, African art music for woodwind music for Western flute inspired from the African traditional flute. And there's so much knowledge in that music. And to be able to perform this music, you need to know exactly the context this music was written or the instruments this music was performed on originally. So there is a link and there is different experience that different generations have had, and I am grateful for the friends I have. They've taught me a lot of being persuasive, being disciplined, which I would've never become a professional musician without. But then I think sometimes I now drawn my inspiration from my grandfather's side because that's where this music comes from, and that's in the end where we come from.
(00:56:41):
So yes.
Leah Roseman (00:56:45):
I was wondering, Rebeca, because obviously you've worked so hard, like you say, discipline, but you showed such talent at a young age having had no piano lessons and then quickly doing so well in Romania, and I think I'd read that you don't tend to feel nerves or you didn't use to feel nervous. Has that changed over time?
Rebeca Omordia (00:57:03):
Well, I first started becoming nervous when I was a teenager, so I've had nerves throughout my life. I've always had nerves in fact, and I think it's part of who you are as a human being. Any performance, you're supposed to be nervous. If you're not nervous before a concert, something strange. It's a natural way of dealing with pressure. I believe being nervous, it's a hormonal, I think it's a hormonal thing, but for me, I can be as nervous as this is. The listeners can listen to us, but this is strictly private. But I can be as nervous as throwing up in the toilet before going on stage. But the moment I put my shoes, concert shoes on, and I'm stepping on the stage, that's all gone.
(00:58:02):
That's nervous. Being nervous turns into adrenaline, turns into being inspired, turns into communicating with your audience. So I think it's part of the process. The same way you feel you have emotions, which is normal as a human being to having emotions, have nerves, being excited, all the feelings we experience, and I leave all my feelings to the fullest. I was a bit nervous about our interview because I don't think I'm always a great communicator or the way I express myself sometimes verbally is not always very clear, I think. But it's normal. We all have different abilities, and I think having nerves is natural.
Leah Roseman (00:58:55):
And in terms of memory, when you perform solo, you normally perform for memory.
Rebeca Omordia (00:58:58):
Yes. I think it's very important to perform from memory as much as you can, because that gives you a freedom in performing the piece. For me personally, when I perform from memory, the piece becomes mine and I can do, of course, you've learned the piece, you've learned the basics of that composes musical language, but then you have the freedom of, especially on the stage where you have the adrenaline, this what will be sometimes called nerves. You get sometimes inspired to bring out things that, or you hear things that you wouldn't normally hear during a practice session. So I am pro performing for memory because I am learning constantly learning new music, and I'm playing so much. Sometimes I perform with music because there's just too much information that the brain needs time to assimilate everything, to be able to reproduce it perfectly. I would say.
Leah Roseman (01:00:04):
Do you use a tablet with a foot pedal when you're performing with music these days?
Rebeca Omordia (01:00:09):
This is something that I'm exploring now. I'm quite late to just, I'm quite late to doing the technology movement, but this is something I'm experiencing now because it's been difficult finding page turners and with rehearsing and all that, it's quite difficult. It takes time to adjust. I had my first experience or second experience of performing with foot pedal was that the pedal wasn't working, and we ended up looking for a page turner that was just literally sliding the iPad and it was horror. I don't like that. Also, from learning from memory, I don't like to learn from memory from the iPad because usually when I print music, if I play with printed music, you have a better visual memory of how the music lays. But technology, sometimes we have to just join the wagon.
Leah Roseman (01:01:12):
I thought it might be nice to include a clip of the opening piece on this of your African Pianism, Volume two is Cry of Joy, Elilta, and can you say the name of the composer who's also a pianist, I believe?
Rebeca Omordia (01:01:25):
Yes. Yes. Composer from Ethiopia, Girma Yifrashewa. He's a pianist and also a composer who also performed here. He studied in Bulgaria as a pianist, and I think he also had some composition classes there. So his style of writing really fits under the hand for pianists. He writes very virtuosic music inspired by the krar music. Krar is an Ethiopian traditional instrument, so that's why you have the piece has a lot of ornamentation because this is characteristic to krar music and it's a beautiful piece, and it's a true cry of joy.
Leah Roseman (01:02:15):
That instrument you just mentioned, what kind of instrument is it?
Rebeca Omordia (01:02:18):
It's a stringed, it's a harp stringed instrument, the krar, K-R-A-R.
Leah Roseman (01:02:26):
Okay. Is it similar to the kora?
Rebeca Omordia (01:02:30):
It's much smaller in size. It actually looks like a harp, like a small harp. The sound would be between a harp and a kora, but it's got a different technique of playing. I think it's more similar to the European harp in terms of the way you pluck the strings than the actual kora that they played with the thumbs and with mainly thumb and both hands, so I haven't played the instrument and we've had it in the African Concert series featured with an Ethiopia ensemble. But it's beautiful music. It's a completely different style to anything I have played until now, even though the music looks European and the score, and it might feel European when you perform it when you're learning it. I still had to learn, listen to some European music to understand the phrase phraseology of this style, but it's beautiful. Yeah.
Leah Roseman (01:03:30):
You're about here an excerpt from Ilta Cry of Joy by Girma Yifrashewa, and this is the first track on Rebecca Omordia's, African Pianism Volume two. (music)
(01:05:21):
Yeah. You mentioned as a small child, you had all this energy and music allowed you to keep yourself busy, and with this project, I mean, it's endless, right? There's just so much. I'm sure you've already started research for your next album.
Rebeca Omordia (01:05:36):
Well, in fact, we have another album coming out in the fall, November, also part of my African Piano albums, but it'll be songs, African art songs, and we are exploring the West African songs. It's with a fascinating soprano. She's a Nigerian Omo Bello. She grew up in Nigeria, but then she was trained at the Paris. So she has this beautiful voice and she's so versatile, and she's learned all the pronunciation, all the various languages. The album, I'll tell you more when it's released, but this is the next my project of album releases. Of course, there's enough music for another African Pianism Volume 3, or there's also chamber music, something that I am looking to exploring, but there's a lot of work.
Leah Roseman (01:06:37):
Wonderful. Maybe you can introduce me to that singer. She might want to come on the podcast. That would be wonderful.
Rebeca Omordia (01:06:43):
Yes. I'm sure she'll be happy to talk about our project together. We worked together for a whole year before the album, before we recorded the album. We had to learn together. Of course, it was beneficial. My experience of recording African music previously and playing the piano part sounded completely different to how she had performed it previously with other pianists. So it was a fascinating experience for herself and formulas to discovering some of the same composers, which is of Africanism, but discovering their songs because it's a completely different approach to the music and also the song itself as a form of artist. One of the most natural ways of expression of African people song is their language, their musical language. So it's great to have recorded the African art songs.
Leah Roseman (01:07:51):
I'm curious, in the church that you grew up with in Romania, which was Baptist, was there gospel music in Romanian that you were singing?
Rebeca Omordia (01:08:01):
No, there were hymns. There were a lot of homes. It was quite a traditional church, the type of church where men sit separately from the women, and I was the child. Even in my teenage, sometimes I'll go and sit next to my father in the men's section and people will be like, they had mandolin orchestra, and they used to perform. Yes, yes. I had enrolled in the mandolin to learn mandolin classes, but this was after I already played the piano, and then we discovered that playing the bandolin to bruise my fingertips. So I quit because me, I wanted to be a pianist, but the music, it was more traditional European music. I wouldn't say it was traditional Romanian music because they didn't use the folk music for their hymns and for the church songs. It was more of what we'll find in maybe Anglican churches here in the UK, the same similar type of songs. That's the ones we would sing. And the church also had the choir was singing on voices, so I had access to a lot of music. There was music everywhere. There was music in church, music at traditionally celebrations. That's where you hear the folk music in Romania, at parties, weddings, even at funerals. And then there was the classical music school. So we had access to western music mainly. Yeah.
Leah Roseman (01:09:41):
So I guess my last question for you might be about self-care, because you're very busy soloist, you're touring a lot. So how do you cope with that, finding time to learn scores and take care of yourself?
Rebeca Omordia (01:09:55):
Well, I am always learning. I also travel a lot. So I used my traveling also as a place to work, and I find it fascinating to work on planes, on trains. In fact, I've memorized works on a plane memorized, piano sonata is on a plane, and I think it's great place. It's always good as a musician to change environment. It really helps the brain to process things differently. So from that point of view, it's been relatively easy. But in terms of self-care, this is something that I had to learn in recent years because as a pianist, I also spend a lot of time practicing the piano, which is a physical activity. And then when you research the music and you do a lot of, I have to sit at your desk, work on your computer, that's also sitting down. So there's not much exercise involved.
(01:10:50):
So I had to develop a personal regimen of, I wouldn't say training, but of keeping my body fit and keeping my hands in shape to serve me in the years to come. And I do a lot of yoga, well, light things. I'm not into extreme workout. I do yoga. I love to walk a lot. I have a huge park very close to where I live, and I do long walks almost on a daily basis. Sometimes I do cardio. I also changed my diet in recent years, so I used to be a great big, sweet tooth. So I had to make all the adjustments that when I started seeing the consequences of working hard or not having enough sunshine on my hands, then I had to take great measures. And I can say I'm in a very good place now, physically.
Leah Roseman (01:11:59):
That's great to hear and great advice. Well, it's been such a joy to have this opportunity to sit down and speak with you today. So thank you.
Rebeca Omordia (01:12:06):
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Leah Roseman (01:12:10):
I hope you enjoyed this episode. Pleased to share this with your friends and check out episodes you may have missed at leahroseman.com. If you could buy me a coffee to support this series, that would be wonderful. The link is in the description. Have a wonderful week.
