Romanian Me - Nigerian Me

I was born in Romania to a Nigerian Igbo father and a Romanian mother. Growing up in a mixed background, I had the greatest advantage of an upbringing influenced by two different cultures and I developed a profound understanding of both worlds.
My Nigerian paternal grandfather was a master musician at the Obi of Ika. Known as Okwa Ekpere. Grandfather performed traditional music on the Oja, an Igbo flute, for the king and for titled members of society. I grew up with my father singing Igbo traditional songs, and it was natural that later in my life I would want to discover more about African classical music.
My father was a pediatrician in Romania - he came from Nigeria to study medicine and met my Romanian mother. I went through the Romanian music school system and the Conservatoire in Bucharest before coming to Birmingham to do an MA. My musical influences were mainly Western classical until I started researching African classical music.

Romanian classical music - has a long, deep-rooted tradition developed by great musicians such as composer George Enescu who was also a distinguished pianist, conductor and teacher (Yehudi Menuhin and Dinu Lipatti were among his pupils), the conductor and composer Constantin Silvestri and Sergiu Celibidache, one of the greatest conductors in history. Romania has produced many great classical interpreters, from the pianists Clara Haskil, Dinu Lipatti and Radu Lupu to the singers Haricleea Darclee (Puccini’s first Tosca) and Angela Gheorghiu.

Nigeria has been named “the heart of African music” because of its role in the development of the Western African popular music. Nigerian classical music known as Nigerian Art Music has achieved international acclaim through composers such as Fela Sowande - considered the father of Nigerian classical music, Akin Euba – pianist and composer, founder and editor of Nigerian Music Review and established a series called Ife Music Editions to publish music composed by Africans, Fred Onovewerosuke - multi award winner and founder of the African and African American Music Festival in St Louis, USA among others.