Bert Bailey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I'm about to leave on a trip to a few east African countries: the
>Rep of South Africa, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.  I've
>occupied many gigabytes with good music, but found it strange to realize
>that I draw a complete blank on CM composers from the continent.

Part of the problem is that the African instrumental music tradition is
very different from its Western classical equivalent; & unlike in East Asia
or the African-American jazz, there's no political or cultural pressures to
integrate the two styles (& often the contrary).  The South African Volans
is probably the only African classical composer to have achieved any real
fame, largely due to the Kronos 4t's determined advocacy on his behalf.
Historically, the two best known composers strictly in the conventional
classical tradition (ie, deliberately not including jazz-based composers
like Ellington & Joplin) would be Samuel Coleridge Taylor & Chevalier St
Georges.

Live in peace
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