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Adieu Dr.Oyebade Dosunmu, Ph.D Music

Dr. Oyebade
  • 1995 alumni of Federal Government College , Odogbolu, Ogun State
  • First Class honours in Music  (Vocal Performance) , Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife,
  • Moved to University of Pittsburgh,US, to complete his Masters and Doctoral degrees in ethnomusicology; Also earned a graduate certificate in African studies.

Oyebade was an authority in folk and primitive music as it relates to peoples and cultures ….

Directed various vocal ensembles, including Elekoto, formed in 2005 while a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh.

Tenor soloist  performance with choirs in Africa and  US including the Laz Ekwueme Choral (Nigeria)  and  Pittsburgh Baroque Ensemble, in the United States.

  • Was Choral Scholar at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh (2009 to 2012)
  • Performanced  as tenor soloist in  Mozart’s Twelfth Mass (Arch Bishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Lagos) and, Handel’s Messiah (Agip Hall, MUSON Center, Lagos).

Solo voice performances  at Chatham University’s music festival “Sounds of Africa,” in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2009)

  • Directed a demanding repertoire at the Symposium and Festival of the Center for Intercultural Music at Churchill College, Cambridge, England. (2010)
  • Solo performance at the world premiere recording of Ayo Oluranti’s  Ajulo Kiniun, scored for chanter, flute, piano, marimba, iya ilu and percussion (2011).
  • Co-editor of the multidisciplinary, multimedia periodical AfroBeat Journal.
  • Written on Yoruba masquerading, and the development of modern African art music

Visiting Assistant Professor of music at Williams College from 2012-13.
Awards and grants includes the Professor Michael Crowder Prize (Ife, 2001), the UCIS Grant (Pittsburgh, 2005) and the Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship (2007-2008).

  • Founded Fela Sowande Singers in 2012;  held  inaugural concert in April 2012 in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh,
  • Returned to Nigeria in July 2013; began recruiting for Fela Sowande Singers
  • Handled the musical element at the  2013 Ake Festival – the first stage adaptation of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
  • Died  in November 2015

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