HEART AND SOUL AT IT— Ormodia showcases the diversity of the genre with her new album African PianismAward-winning classical pianist Rebeca Omordia has just released her second album. Titled African Pianism Vol 2, she takes her listeners on a musical journey through the African continent while exploring new regions.

Hailed as an “African classical music pioneer” by the BBC World Service, London-based Omordia is an exciting virtuoso with a wide-ranging career as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and artistic director.

She was born in Romania to a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Omordia studied in the UK at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Trinity College of Music. She holds a doctorate in music from the National University of Music in Bucharest, Romania.

We asked her some questions.

How would you define African pianism?

It is a style of writing for the piano that expresses certain features of African traditional music. It is reflected in the sound the piano produces, sometimes imitating African drums, using melodies inspired by chants, dances on complex rhythms — resulting in a sound world inspired by the music of our ancestors.

Does an Ethiopian composer’s music, for example, sound different from that of a Moroccan composer?

Every region in Africa has a different musical tradition which is reflected in the music the composers write.