Studies from the four Igbo Market Days: Solo Piano Anthology
Studies from the Four Igbo Market Days, for solo pianoInnocent Okechukwu
The Igbo week has four days, and each one is named for a market: Eke, Orie, Afọ and Nkwọ. On any morning, somewhere nearby, a market is opening. Its sounds are bells and drums, sellers calling out, the patter of bargaining, children running loose between the stalls, and the dances that begin as the day ends.
These four concert studies take one market day each. Every piece grows from a single small idea, a rhythm, a cry or a running figure, and follows it until it has given up everything it holds. The rhythms come from the twelve-pulse time-lines of Igbo music. At the keyboard they become cross-accents, off-beat chords, interlocking hands and quick exchanges between the registers.
Inside:
I. Eke: a syncopated dance over a pulsing six-eight that passes between the hands, moves through new harmonies and returns at full strength.
II. Orie: a cloth-seller and her buyer haggle, one high on the keyboard and one low, through patter, whispers and blows of clusters, until the deal is struck.
III. Afọ: children chase each other between the emptying stalls, in light staccato chirps tossed from hand to hand, until dusk slows them into a song.
IV. Nkwọ: the bright, energetic dance from which the set grew.
The four studies can be played in order as a set of about ten minutes, or separately in recital. The book also has notes on each piece, an introduction to the Igbo market week, and a QR code that links to a full recording with the score scrolling along with the music.
Written for advanced pianists, teachers, and students looking for concert repertoire rooted in African musical traditions, and for anyone curious about African pianism.
