The new database of works aims to bring the music of composers from the African diaspora to concert halls around the world.
(Photo credit: Bucklesweet)
Released in September 2019 by Dr Louise Toppinthe African Diaspora Music Project (ADMP) currently houses nearly 4,000 songs and 1,200 orchestral works by composers from the African Diaspora, defined as those composers from around the world who are descended from people in West and Central Africa).
a teacher in the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and DanceToppin established the database as a way to make the works of Black composers more accessible to individual artists and orchestras.
ADMP is a free resource created as a hub for music, providing access to sheet music and encouraging research, exploration, and performance of new works. The database is designed with artistic directors and managers in mind; Users can search by ensemble size and length of work, allowing them to find a wide selection of pieces for their programming needs, and with PDF files of sheet music and recordings readily available.
“As artists increasingly look to diversify their programming, they are faced with unexpected challenges,” Toppin explained. “While living composers often update their websites, many pieces by older generations of African Diaspora composers go unpublished, and it takes hours of research to find editorial information for others. This is compounded by a lack of track record. of performance of many pieces, which have historically underperformed, been neglected for decades, or were never premiered.”
While working as a research assistant, Toppin learned the difficulty of locating and assembling such a repertoire, and thus began her collection for the database. While traveling to the National Association of Black Musicians, the nation’s oldest association of professional black musicians, he had the opportunity to meet and perform with black composers who shared his work with her. Over time, she amassed one of the largest personal collections of Afro-descendant composers.
“The African Diaspora Music Project Database is an invaluable tool for finding works by Black composers, not only for our seasonal programming, but also for our upcoming Anti-Racism Learning Project,” said Susie Park, chair of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Artistic Advisory Committee. . “As the database grows as a repository, I can only imagine how it will serve to become even more indispensable to musicians and administrators seeking music by Black composers, and effectively expand the canon and face of classical music as it we know it.”
