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Clarence Cameron White's opera, Ouanga!, is "characterized by
jolting rhythms, athletic movement, and extreme dynamics " according to
Carl G. Harris, Jr., currently a Professor of Music History at Hampton
University, in an article he wrote on black choral composers and arrangers
in 1974. Ouanga! was premiered in Chicago in 1932 where it won the
David Bispham medal. Through the patronage of Julius Rosenwald, White
began work on the opera while he was living in France, but finished the
final draft during his tenure at the Hampton Institute. This plate represents
the cover of the printed 1932 version of the opera. Below is the cover
page of the revised draft which was completed at Hampton Institute in 1934.
wan-ga or ouan-ga \n -s [Haitian Creole ouanga,
of Bantu origin; akin to Kimbundu wanga witchcraft, Tshiluba bwanga
charm, fetish] : voodoo sorcery; also : a voodooistic charm or spell.
Original in the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. |
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Original in the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. |
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