SWAN: FRENCH-NIGERIAN SOPRANO SWEEPS OPERA CONTEST

Monday, 10 February 2014

FRENCH-NIGERIAN SOPRANO SWEEPS OPERA CONTEST

The French-Nigerian soprano Omo Bello was a triple winner in the prestigious Paris Opera Competition held recently in the French capital.

Omo Bello

Bello won the first prize and, in the women’s category, the French Opera of the 19th Century award and the Public Prize at the contest, which was launched to “discover new talents” and “to support and guide” the careers of young singers, according to the organizers.

These are just some of the latest honours for the Lagos-born singer. Bello, 29 years old and based in Paris, first caused opera audiences to take notice when she won the top prize in the 2010 Luciano Pavarotti Giovani competition in Vercelli, Italy.

She followed up that success with first place in the Anselmo Colzani international singing competition in Budrio, Italy, in 2011, and in France received the Cziffra Foundation grand prize for exceptionally talented young musicians.

Earlier this month, she also travelled to Aix-en-Provence for the finals of the French annual “Victoires de la musique classique” competition in which she had been nominated in the "Révélation lyrique de l'année" (revelation of the year) category. She didn’t win in this event, but ended up giving a striking performance.

“These past weeks have undoubtedly been the most eventful period of my career,” she told SWAN. “I was home for a few days after making a debut in the role of Donna Anna (from Mozart’s Don Giovanni) in mid-November, when I got a call from my agent telling me I was nominated for the 2014 Victoires de la Musique.”

Bello receiving one of her three prizes.

It was in late January, a few days before the "Victoires" awards ceremony, that she took part in the Paris Opera Competition, performing in front of top representatives in the field and an audience of music lovers.

“In general, I’m not a fan of singing competitions, but I was very interested in this one when I realized that the jury was made up of well-known opera directors from Glyndebourne, Geneva, Zurich, Brussels, Lyon, Bordeaux, Berlin etc.,” she said.

“I decided to go for it, as this was a unique occasion to have so many of the opera-hiring professionals all at once. It was extremely gratifying to walk away with not one, but the three top prizes.”

Bello added that the French opera prize was her “pride and joy” because of her Nigerian origins. “This proves that I’m able to master the French lyric repertoire and its subtleties,” she said.

That mastery has been due to years of hard work, as her long-time teacher Jorge Chaminé attests. “She is talented, totally dedicated to her craft and pushes herself to achieve the maximum. I believe she will be one of the great singers of her generation,” said Chaminé, a renowned Spanish-Portuguese baritone who lives in France.

Johan Choi

The Paris Opera Competition, created in 2010 by financier and opera lover Paul Vernes and based on a concept by artistic director Xavier le Maréchal, also highlighted other talents this year. American baritone Jamez McCorkle won the “Young Hope” prize; South Korean singer Johan Choi gained the public’s prize and the 19th-century French Opera prize in the male category; and Russian mezzo soprano Maria Kataeva took home the CFPL prize - from the French centre for the promotion of opera.

For an earlier SWAN profile of Omo Bello, see:

http://southernworldartsnews.blogspot.fr/2011/11/nigerian-soprano-soars-in-europe.html

Other winners: Maria Kataeva (top) and Jamez McCorkle.
Photos by E. Mercier, courtesy of the Paris Opera Competition.

NEW TRANSLATION (SPAIN)

De perros (madame) | Gone to the Dogs (Madame) Edición bilingüe | Introducción y traducción de Emilia María Durán Almarza. Arte de JDC. «De perros, (madame)» es un relato en primera persona de las vivencias de Tshana, una trabajadora del hogar en un barrio acomodado del centro de Bruselas. A pesar de la posición de precariedad que ocupa en la capital europea como migrante indocumentada, Tshana es capaz de llevar una vida digna, consciente de que la escasez de mano de obra en el sector del servicio doméstico en la urbe belga la convierte una trabajadora imprescindible, lo que permite algunas licencias. El relato se articula en torno a la figura de Mister Dog, la mascota de la casa donde trabaja Tshana y la expresión «gone to the dogs», que significa literalmente «echarse a perder». Si, por un lado, Mister Dog —y por extensión las mascotas— son humanizadas en el relato hasta el punto de disfrutar de todas las comodidades de una vida privilegiada, Tshana y las migrantes indocumentadas sufren el proceso contrario, siendo deshumanizadas al verse desprovistas de sus derechos humanos fundamentales.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

Every year, May 3 is a date to celebrate the “fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession”, says UNESCO. Meanwhile, media organizations are calling for urgent action to save the industry, as jobs are being axed, “titles closed, newsrooms reduced to skeletal staffs and journalists left unpaid and unprotected” - all this in addition to increased harassment and threats. (International Federation of Journalists). Please click on the image for more information about #WorldPressFreedomDay.

REGGAE AMID THE VINEYARDS

Sun Ska (formerly Reggae Sun Ska) has become one of the biggest reggae festivals in France and Europe over the past years. The event showcases reggae in all its forms, from roots to ska, with dancehall, new roots and dub thrown in. Taking place in the wine region of Bordeaux, the festival attracts performers and fans from around the world. The full 2020 and 2021 editions had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the festival launched a limited concert series in July 2021 and returned in 2022 and 2023 with line-ups that included Tiken Jah Fakoly, Gaël Faye and Burning Spear. Musician Damian Marley (pictured) has been a regular Sun Ska performer.

REMEMBERING THE GREATS

“What beautiful women we are losing. Toni’s passing was a harsh blow. I thought her spiritual energy would carry her on forever, or almost ever. And now Paule. She made such an impression here (at the university in Sardinia). What a fine, elegant artist. What a special woman. She taught a whole generation of students and colleagues important lessons on life, art and discrimination, with self-irony. She always showed a special talent for communicating great truths with simplicity and a joyous touch. Unforgettable.” - Italian Professor Paola Boi, on the passing of acclaimed writers Toni Morrison and Paule Marshall in August 2019. The above photo of Marshall in Sardinia was taken by Daniela Zedda.

NEW INT'L EDITION OF JAMAICAN NOVEL PUBLISHED

“A Million Aunties”, the latest novel by Jamaican writer Alecia McKenzie, continues its journey with a new paperback edition. This comes via cutting-edge publisher Dialogue Books, an imprint of the Hachette group. The novel was first published in the Caribbean and North America by pioneering independent companies Blouse & Skirt Books (Kingston) and Akashic Books (New York). In reviews so far, Shelf Awareness noted this is “an exquisite novel about beauty and pain, and what binds us together”, while Publishers Weekly said: “This bighearted narrative of love, loss, and family is handled with grace and beauty.” For more information, please click on the image.

MPT'S CARIBBEAN FOCUS

The spring 2018 issue of Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) focused on Caribbean poetry, under the title “Profound Pyromania”. The issue included new translations from James Noel, Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, Monchoachi, Frankétienne, Pierre Lauffer and Lalbihari Sharma. In addition, it carried poems in English creoles from Raymond Antrobus and Fawzia Muradali Kane, and a conversation between Shivanee Ramlochan and Rajiv Mohabir about ‘polyglottal inheritance’, divinity and the diaspora.

EVERYBODY LOVES STUART H.

BALDWIN INSPIRES AN ARTIST

The artwork above was produced by Detroit-based American artist Sabrina Nelson during a session of the James Baldwin Conference held at the American University of Paris. She told SWAN: “My time in Paris was magical. The James Baldwin Conference allowed me a window into the past of this great writer’s life. This conference was filled with beautiful energy from writers to musicians to dancers and other visual artists from around the globe. The energy became my Muse and it inspired me to want to draw and create what I was feeling from each presentation, as if JB was in the room with us and coming from the bottom of my pen just to say hello and thank us for celebrating his life's work.”

RESEARCHING COMMUNITIES IN CARIBBEAN SHORT STORIES

LURA SINGS HER HERITAGE

Lura’s album “Herança” (Heritage) sees the Cape Verdean singer pulling inspiration from her background and giving traditional rhythms a whole new life. Vibrant and tremendously danceable, the album focuses on the archipelago’s energizing up-tempo funana beat with songs that will linger in one’s head - songs such as “Sabi di Más”, “Maria di Lida” and “Ness Tempo di Nha Bidjissa”. Herança is a fresh opportunity to explore the culture of Cape Verde through the music of one of the country’s most charismatic singers, and through collaborations with other icons of the new generation, including Elida Almeida. (Label: Lusafrica)

POETRY PICK: HONG KONG

Tammy Ho Lai-Ming's first collection of poetry, "hula hooping", is a star addition to the growing output of Hong Kong poetry in English. It features the cross-cultural and the personal, and paints a broad canvas from "love to language, family to politics", according to reviewers. The author creates poems that leave a lasting impression with their originality and insight, and the same goes for her work featured in “Eight Hong Kong Poets”, an anthology published in November 2015. Readers should also check out some of the other remarkable poets based in the region, such as Collier Nogues (“The Ground I Stand On Is Not My Ground”), Kate Rogers (“Foreign Skin”), Eddie Tay and David McKirdy.

TRAORÉ: MALIAN MUSIC ICON

Boubacar Traoré’s acclaimed album “Mbalimaou” is a true delight - and a milestone in the career of this veteran musician from Mali. One of the last great performers who started out in the early days of his country’s independence, Traoré has faced many personal hardships, but he has built upon all the key skills for which he first become known: a raw, stirring voice, inimitable guitar style, and memorable melodies. “Mbalimaou” gets and keeps one’s attention throughout, with its poetry and elegance. It also benefits from the collaborations with kora-player Ballaké Sissoka, French harmonica expert Vincent Bucher (upping the bluesy element) and “strings” discovery Oumar Barou Kouyaté - who plays the infectious and lyrical n’goni, a traditional instrument that probably gave birth to the banjo. (Lusafrica)

EDUARDO GALEANO'S LEGACY

Uruguayan novelist and journalist Eduardo Galeano left us in 2015, at the age of 74, but his work still resounds. Besides being a gifted writer of novels and short stories, he was probably best known as the author of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent". He later distanced himself from the book, but his basic thesis remains true, namely that the richest countries in the world in terms of natural resources often turn out to be the poorest due to (neo)colonial exploitations, a reality from which many countries of the "Global South" still suffer. - Tobias Schlosser

MUSIC 4 TOLERANCE

April 8 is International Roma Day, a day to raise awareness of the human rights problems faced by Roma people who “remain the most deprived ethnic group of Europe”, according to many rights groups. Amnesty International says Roma face intimidation, harassment and violence in various European countries, including France. Meanwhile some artists are working to bring about greater understanding of Roma culture in a bid to end the discrimination. Jorge Chaminé (pictured) is a Paris-based opera singer and teacher who has launched a project called Music4Rom that aims to highlight the Roma’s contribution to European culture through their music and poetry. “Today, with the alarming rise of racism, intolerance, and the search for a scapegoat, a déjà-vu reality is taking place before our eyes,” Chaminé says. “Silence and indifference are not the reactions to have.” Music4Rom has received support from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and the European Union.

AWARDS FOR UWI STUDENT

Jamaican writer and scholar Velma Pollard (left) presents the 2014 Melvena Myrie-McKenzie Award to Khadijah Chin, a student at the University of the West Indies (UWI) who achieved the highest mark in the first year Prose Fiction course for 2013 / 2014. The award was established in 2007 to honour the memory of a dedicated mother and philanthropist who was also known for her wit and storytelling. It is given annually to an outstanding literature student at the university. Chin won four other prizes at the November 2014 ceremony.

THE VOICE FROM JAMAICA

Jamaican singer Tessanne Chin delighted her legions of fans with powerful performances to win season five of the American reality show "The Voice" on Dec. 17, 2013. The Kingston-born singer garnered tremendous support in her homeland throughout the singing competition, and drew rave reviews for her rendition of the Whitney Houston song “I Have Nothing” in the finals. Chin was coached by Maroon 5 lead vocalist Adam Levine, a judge on the show. She and Levine also performed a reggae-tinged version of the Beatles hit “Let It Be” for the finals. Spectators in the Jamaican capital viewed the results episode on a huge screen, and cheered and hugged one another when Chin was announced the winner. "It was like the Olympics all over again," said a journalist.

ART FOR PEACE IN KARACHI

The beleaguered city of Karachi, in southern Pakistan, has become a crucible of killings, kidnappings, extortion and street crime in recent years. And it is anger at inaction over this state of affairs that led some 300 artists to come together and put on a three-day art festival in November 2013. Taking a nostalgic journey of what Karachi was like, they showed the citizens it was up to them to revive its glory days. “We (artists) don’t have weapons to drive the point home; all we have are paintbrushes, colours and ideas with which we can put our message across,” said Noorjehan Bilgrami, who headed the initiative.

a roadmap

The festival, from Nov. 22 to 24, held the Karachiites captive, with colour, dialogue and introspection, through art, music, story-telling, poetry recitals and other genres. The formal inauguration of the festival began with an interactive activity of the "Roadmap for the Future". Two young artists catered to their audience’s wishes of how they would like to see their city, by drawing on a long white board all that was missing - libraries, public toilets, public parks, etc. - and all that the city needed to be cleansed off, like weapons, garbage, and ethnic and religious divides. - Zofeen T. Ebrahim

CAPE VERDE'S NEUZA

Neuza’s debut album “flor di bila” attracts attention from the very first note. The 28-year-old Cape Verdean singer has a clear, smooth voice that enriches the traditional rhythms of the island of Fogo. That's where Neuza was raised by a grandmother from the age of six, after the death of her mother who was also a singer. With its mixture of light-hearted songs and more emotional melodies, “flor di bila” unveils Fogo to the strains of guitars and cavaquinhos. On the track “Trabessado”, Neuza gives new fans the opportunity to discover “curcutican” - a traditional lyrical battle between female and male voices - as she teams up with Michel Montrand for ironic comments on the idea of virility. And on “Deuza”, her voice portrays the poignancy that’s so much a part of Cape Verdean music. (Label: Hamonia / Lusafrica, 2013)

JOURNEYS TO SCHOOL

Expanding on the exhibition of the same name with a collection of moving photographs and narratives, the “Journeys to School” book takes readers into the daily routine of the schoolchildren featured, showing them on the way to school, in class, and at home with family members. “This book is a reminder of our shared responsibility to ensure that every child, no matter where they are from or what their circumstances, can go to school. We must keep this promise, for every girl and boy, for a better future for all,” says the director-general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, in a foreword. The book can be ordered at: http://publishing.unesco.org/journeystoschool