William Chapman Nyaho - Kete - Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora (2020)

This album consists of music from the first two volumes of Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, which I compiled and edited for Oxford University Press in 2007. Since the publication of the anthology, there has been great demand by piano teachers for recordings of this virtually unknown music. It is my hope that this album of intermediate pieces will be useful to teachers interested in introducing this wonderful piano music by composers of African descent to their students. I invite listeners to go on a musical journey of this delightful music, rich and diverse, from Africa and its diaspora.

I chose the word “Kete” as the title of the album because it has two meanings in the two different cultures from which my parents originate. First, “Kete” is one of the most complex, intricate and highly symbolic dances from the royal courts of the Akan people. “Kete” is also the name of a particularly beautiful fabric of the Ewe people, woven in strips on a loom and then sewn together to create beautiful patterns. This album reflects the weaving together of music by people of African descent, spread across the entire globe.

Gye Nyame! Mawu koe!
William H. Chapman Nyaho [February 2020]