Seperewa Kasa for Chamber Ensemble
Seperewa Kasa (“Seperewa speaks”), commissioned by Ensemble Modern for the Oluzayo Festival, is a work based and inspired on the music traditions of the Akan, in particularly on the Seperewa, a 12/14 strings harp-lute dating back to 1600. The choice of the ensemble for this work (Flute, Piano, Strings and Percussion) reflects the desire to highlight the qualities of the Seperewa: an instrument with a very light, floating and watery character and color. The textures that the players of this instrument produce are very often based on arpeggial figures and fast virtuosic passages. All of this is taken into consideration while trying to recreate and adapt this textures to Ensemble Modern. The strongly polyrhythmic writing also wants to recreate the complex layers that can be found in Akan percussion ensembles.
Agbadza for Piano Solo
Agbadza, winner of the First Prize at the “2021 Carlos Guastavino International Composition Competition”, is a work inspired and based on the music materials of the “Agbadza”: a traditional music and dance of the Ewe people of Ghana. After a brief introduction, which imitates the kind of "recitar-cantando" with which the Ewe singers begin their performances, the piece starts with a strongly rhythmic section where pentatonic Ewe melodies are treated in a "call and response" form. The middle section, slow and dreamy, evokes ancient historical Ewe songs. The initial rhythmic drive is then resumed when the first section is repeated in a varied way, interrupted by interludes that break the rhythmic regularity. Finally, the end of the piece resumes the initial introduction.
Eweland Rhapsody for Orchestra
A orchestral work that features a large percussion section of 9 percussionists, Eweland Rhapsody is an attempt to combine the traditional European orchestra with the music of the Ewe people of Ghana, where the instrumentation is primarily percussive, and rhythmically the music features great metrical complexity. The title of Eweland Rhapsody was chosen because of the rhapsodic nature of this composition. In fact, this work is based on various Ewes traditional melodies transcribed by myself. These Ewe melodies, of a very short nature, are used as starting material from which to develope the various sections of the piece. The melodic material is combined with the rhythmic pattern, along with harmonic and formal aspects of Ewe music. In addition to this, the processes and approaches to the musical creation of the indigenous Ewe musicians influence the textures and compositional techniques used.
ŊUSẼ
Commissioned by Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation, "ŊUSẼ" is a word from the Ewe language that can be translated as "something powerful," referring to the rhythmic power of the Ghanaian Gahu and Kinka genres on which this composition is based. After a brief introduction of the Akuba drum, based on a phrase commonly used by Ewe musicians on the Atsimevu drum, the piece starts with a powerfully rhythmic and fast section, built on the power of the Gahu rhythm, given by an elementary element: the overlapping of the Gankogui bell pattern against the four main beats (4/4 time). This section features a traditional Anlo Ewe melody and is orchestrated in a way that tries to resemble the dialogues and call-response during a traditional Ewe performance. The second section is a slow "Adagio pastorale" with a darker and more serious tone, interrupted by a small "intermezzo" with a more sparkling character and joyful color. Interval, scalar and harmonic materials are constructed based on how indigenous Ewe musicians approach music composition and performance, and the section is built upon a traditional Ewe melody recorded by the composer on a field-recording trip to Anloga, Volta Region. Rhythmic elements of the Agbadza are also included to bring a flavor of novelty and diversity to the composition. Finally, we hear again the first rhythmic section based on the Gahu and Kinka genres, followed by a final "coda" where different "ostinatos" (ground bass) slowly decrease the dynamics and speed of the composition, fading the piece to the end.