Nigerian – All Classical Research

Born in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, October 3, 1932
Died on August 7, 2000

Akpabot was a Nigerian composer and ethnomusicolgist. He studied composition, organ, and trumpet in London at the Royal College of Music,¹ and studied Nigerian music at the University of Ife in Nigeria.²
Akpabot studied ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago and Michigan State. His doctoral dissertation, on the music of the Ibibo people of Nigeria, was published in 1975.³
Akpabot taught at Michigan State University and the University of Uyo in Nigeria.⁴
Akpabot’s compositions include concert works blending Nigerian folk elements and Western classical style, as well as sacred music.⁵

Born in Oyo, May 29, 1905
Died in Ravenna, OH, March 1987

Pronunciation: “FAY-la SHWAHN-de”
IPA: [felə ʃwɑnde]

Sowande was a composer and organist from Nigeria.
Sowande studied in England; he was a fellow of the Royal College of Organists and Trinity College of Music, and he earned his B.Mus. at the University of London.
Sowande worked in Nigeria as a liturgical musician and as musical director of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Later in life he taught at Howard University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Sowande’s music (especially his sacred music) combines the influence of church music and the composer’s Yoruba heritage.⁵