Tunde Jegede
London, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE | AFTRA
Music
Press
***** (5/5 Stars) Stephen Pocklington
Like another reviewer, I first hear bits of Lamentation on NPR shortly after its initial release. The few moments I heard on the radio left me in tears... and haunted for what seemed a terribly long time afterwards as I searched fruitlessly for a copy of the CD. When I finally found it on CD Baby I almost hesitated to buy it. Twelve years had passed. I wondered if the music would still speak to me the same way... I even wondered if I wanted it to, there being even more to lament today than in 1995, but I am truly glad i bought it.
This album is beautiful. Simply beautiful. Having only heard portions of a few cuts on the radio, I remembered the music as being evocative of sadness... what you would expect from a lament... but it is not sad, nor does it evoke sadness; rather, it is alive and celebratory, touching the heart and inviting the listener to feel whatever s/he feels already... to feel it, to let it out, to let it go... and then as i listened more I was welcomed into the richness of being fully alive, given a chance to breath deeply, and enjoy being human more than I have in a long time.
Of course, the album ends as it begins, with lamentation, and having celebrated Life with Tunde Jegede through this album, our shared lamentation seemed even deeper and sadder than I remembered... but now I feel it simply as warp of Life, which, if I allow it, makes the joys of living even sweeter. - CD Baby
***** (5/5 Stars) Stephen Pocklington
Like another reviewer, I first hear bits of Lamentation on NPR shortly after its initial release. The few moments I heard on the radio left me in tears... and haunted for what seemed a terribly long time afterwards as I searched fruitlessly for a copy of the CD. When I finally found it on CD Baby I almost hesitated to buy it. Twelve years had passed. I wondered if the music would still speak to me the same way... I even wondered if I wanted it to, there being even more to lament today than in 1995, but I am truly glad i bought it.
This album is beautiful. Simply beautiful. Having only heard portions of a few cuts on the radio, I remembered the music as being evocative of sadness... what you would expect from a lament... but it is not sad, nor does it evoke sadness; rather, it is alive and celebratory, touching the heart and inviting the listener to feel whatever s/he feels already... to feel it, to let it out, to let it go... and then as i listened more I was welcomed into the richness of being fully alive, given a chance to breath deeply, and enjoy being human more than I have in a long time.
Of course, the album ends as it begins, with lamentation, and having celebrated Life with Tunde Jegede through this album, our shared lamentation seemed even deeper and sadder than I remembered... but now I feel it simply as warp of Life, which, if I allow it, makes the joys of living even sweeter. - CD Baby
***** (5/5 Stars) Theresa M. Larson
I first heard Tunde Jegede and his music on NPR several years ago. I searched for years for the album at every music store I walked into. Then, I checked Amazon. Still nothing. I thought I had just been lucky enough to have heard the music and heard of him and gave up my search, still holding onto the piece of paper that had the word Lamentations and Tunde Jegede on it.
Then I found CD baby while looking for another album and, on a whim, checked for this Jegede album.
I'm happy to say that CD baby made my day! Not only did i find a new source for "low-flying" music and find the album I had been searching for, but I found the wait was most certainly worth it. - Cd Baby
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Tunde Jegede is a kora player, cellist and contemporary classical composer. He is a global renaissance man whose music transcends genres and he is steeped in the worlds of African and European classical music. Out of his cultural heritage he has created a refined musical language that is distinctly his own.
From an early age, Tunde was uniquely schooled in both Western and African Classical Music. He attended the Purcell School of Music in UK and also studied the music of the Kora (African Harp-Lute) in Gambia under the Master of the Kora, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh. From this unusual parallel education, Tunde gained a deep understanding and appreciation of both forms of music and their distinct legacies, and all these strands and influences have since informed his music and work as a composer and performer. He also became part of the burgeoning Jazz scene at the time, collaborating with artists such as Courtney Pine, Nana Vasconcelos, Trilok Gurtu, Orphy Robinson, Talvin Singh and Bheki Mseleku. Through these type of collaborations, and his love for the art of improvisation, he began to develop his impulses as a creative musician and this ultimately became an integral part of his voice as an artist and composer.
In 1995 BBC2 television did a documentary on his work featuring his seminal piece for Kora and symphony orchestra, Cycle of Reckoning, performed with the London Sinfonietta, and Lamentation, which was subsequently released on his debut album. He has since gone on to work with many of the worlds leading conductors, soloists, orchestras and ensembles including Markus Stenz, Dirk Brosse, Evelyn Glennie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Brodsky Quartet, National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium, Britten Sinfonia, the Smith Quartet, London Mozart Players and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He was appointed Innovations Composer for Orchestras Live in 1999 and subsequently much of his work as a contemporary orchestral composer brings together his diverse musical worlds of Africa and Europe.
He is also a pioneer of African Classical Music and has a deep knowledge of traditional music and culture. As the founder of the African Classical Music Ensemble, Tunde has gone on to perform and record with some of Africa's finest artists including Oumou Sangare, Toumani Diabate, Juldeh Camara and the Pan African Orchestra. In 2009 he created and performed Fleuve Niger at the Basilique in Paris which brought together Toumani Diabate, Oumou Sangare and Kasse Mady Diabate with the Brodsky Quartet for the first time.
His music has been performed internationally and has taken him all over the world, and he has written three full-scale operas, twenty symphonic works and worked with over a hundred orchestras and chamber groups. His music has also been recorded by both the Smith Quartet, Dancing in the Spirit and the Brodsky Quartet, String Quartet No.2. Tunde has recorded several albums as a solo artist including; Lamentation, Still Moment, a meditative album of solo Kora, and he has just released Heritage, a new solo kora album, and his solo cello album Testimony, to critical acclaim.
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