Lazarus Edward Nnanyelu Ekwueme (born 28 January 1935), popularly known as Laz Ekwueme, is a Nigerian

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, composer, scholar and actor. He is one of the pioneer

lecturers Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. ...

of music in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and also a prolific writer. He is a scholar who has written numerous articles and books on music especially the role of music in the lives of

Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...

and Africans in

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

. He is the traditional ruler of Oko Kingdom.

Biography

Lazarus Ekwueme was born in Oko,

Anambra State Anambra () is a States of Nigeria, state in Nigeria. It is located in the South East (Nigeria), South-eastern region of the country. The state was created on 27 August 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State and Ri ...

. He attended Government College,

Umuahia Umuahia () is the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to its south, and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Ni ...

for secondary education and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, London, where he majored in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

and was under the direction of

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...

. In London, he earned a total of 10 diplomas in music,

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

and Drama and he also obtained a bachelor's degree from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

. In 1962, he obtained the professional teaching diploma, Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music. While studying in Britain, he embraced the theatre and he was an actor in some African films produced by the African Service of the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

. He left Britain in 1964, and returned to Nigeria, where he took up a faculty position at the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal and public research university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, South-east Nigeria. Founded in 1955 by Nnamdi Azikiwe who was Governor-General of Nigeria between 1960 and 1963 ...

, Nsukka. As a lecturer of music composition, theory, history, singing and conducting, he was an important member in the pioneering Nigerian music department at

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively, re ...

, which was the first to award music degrees in the country. He also gave considerable attention to choral music, organising the University of Nigeria Choral Society, a group of foreign and local students who performed regularly in

. In 1966, he went abroad to obtain a post graduate degree in

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He also taught at the college and a few other colleges in America. While at Yale, he founded the

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

International Chorus. In 1974, he returned to Nigeria, this time, he was given a faculty position by Jacob Ade Ajayi in the newly created department of music at the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...

and also appointed as a research fellow in the Center for Cultural Studies. It was while in Lagos, he formed the Laz Ekwueme National Chorale that was a highly respected African choral group. Overtime with experience in musical experimentation, he became one of the few early Nigerian composers to produce successful musical

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...

of African choral works using western forms and techniques with the result generating wide appeal among Africans and little difficulties or distortion in conveying meaning of the words being song. For his effort in music composition and conducting, he was made the coordinator of the Nigerian National

Choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

at the Black Arts Festival,

Festac The World Festival of Black Arts (French: ''Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres''), also known as FESMAN or FMAN, has been a series of month-long culture and arts festivals taking place in various parts of Africa. The festival features participant ...

77. As a music scholar, he explored distinctive indigenous African rhythm and melody in some songs of the New world and American music, a theme that was one of the vocal points of his research efforts. As a researcher, he spent time studying musical patterns of Africans,

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and African Americans. He noticed the similarities in ways in which African Americans in Louisiana and Africans in Dahomey sing songs. Also, the importance and employment of music in cardinal events in the lives of Africans and those in diaspora is a theme prevalent in many of his research efforts.Lazarus E. N. Ekwueme, "African-Music Retentions in the New World", ''The Black Perspective in Music'', Vol. 2, No. 2 Autumn.

Personal life

Ekwueme is a younger brother to the late former Nigerian Vice President

Alex Ekwueme Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (21 October 1932 – 19 November 2017) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first elected vice president of Nigeria from 1979 to 1983 during the Second Nigerian Republic under President Shehu Shagari as ...

Works

Books and articles

* ''Teasers: Poems, proverbs, and puns'', 1993 * ''Choir training and choral conducting for Africans''. 1993 * ''Essays on the Theory of African Music'', 2004

Choral compositions

*"Missa Africana" *"A Night in Bethlehem" (1963) *"Piano Concerts in Re" (1962) *"Rhapsody Nigeriana" *"Hombe" (Kenyan Folk Song) (1968) *"Beware" (Negro Spiritual) *"Zidata Mo Nso nke Gi" *"Nwa n’akwa akwa" (1972) *"Elimeli" (1979) *"Nne n’eku nwa" *"Obi Dimkpa" (1980) *"Ote nkwu"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekwueme, Lazarus 1936 births 20th-century Nigerian male actors 21st-century Nigerian male actors Academic staff of the University of Lagos Academic staff of the University of Nigeria Alumni of Durham University Alumni of the Royal College of Music Government College Umuahia alumni Igbo male actors Igbo musicians Living people Male actors from Anambra State Nigerian academics Nigerian composers Nigerian male musicians Nigerian male television actors Nigerian male writers Nigerian musicologists Nigerian music educators Nigerian scholars Nigerian traditional rulers Recipients of the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award Yale School of Music alumni