(The Bernard Woma Ensemble)
Programme introduced the most unusual soloists heard here
for a long time. (Review by Michael Green)
The sounds of Africa came to the Durban City Hall in the
first concert of the winter season of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.
The programme was designed partly to mark Africa Day, the
anniversary of the founding of the African Union, and it introduced the most
unusual soloists heard here for a long time.
The Bernard Woma ensemble is a small group of musicians from
Ghana. Playing traditional instruments they have attained notable recognition in
the United States and Europe. Here in Durban they played two concertos, music
by Bernard Woma, arranged by David Rogers to be played with a full orchestra.
David Rogers is an American who lived in Ghana for many years.
The instruments involved were indigenous xylophones mounted
on a framework of gourds plus hand drums and gourds that are shaken. Bernard
Woma is a virtuoso with this equipment, xylophone hammers flying at high speed
while he simultaneously sings and shouts. He was supported by Mark Stone, who
added finger-clicking to the performance.
The orchestra gave discreet accompaniment to all this, and
the total effect was exciting and novel. The melodies were rudimentary and
repetitive, but the rhythms were compelling, to put it mildly. The audience were highly responsive and showed
it with whistling and shouts of approval at the end of each concerto.
The conductor of the evening was Bernhard Gueller, the distinguished
German musician who has performed in many parts of the world. He and the
orchestra showed their power and authority in the opening and closing items of
the programme, four of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances and Leonard Bernstein’s
Symphonic Dances based on West Side Story.
In the Dvorak music in particular the big orchestra, about
75 players, produced a really big sound, impressive and thrilling. - Michael
Green
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