Discourse Analysis of the Twenty-first Century Compositional Techniques in Reconciliation Symphony by Prof. Onyee. N. Nwankpa

The Reconciliation Symphony by Onyee Nnnanna Nwankpa (1994) is a symphonic composition that infused twenty-first-century Western compositional techniques in African musical idioms. This paper aims to bring to the fore the understanding of the compositional elegance in the symphony as well as its connection to twenty-first-century techniques so that African composers who do not use them can start to apply them in their compositions. The study shall solve the problem of the fear of applying Western compositional (twenty-first century) techniques in African Music. A qualitative research method is used in this study to gather data through the review of relative literature and analysis which includes the content analysis approach of critical study and examination of music score; quantifying, and analyzing the compositional tools and their relationships, and dissecting various sections of the composition for a clearer perception to foreground phenomenon. The findings show that some of the twenty-first-century techniques were used in the composition which include changing meters, polytonal, aleatory, indeterminacy/aleatory, tone clusters, and advanced chromaticism. It was further revealed that the exploration of Western techniques in the compositions gave rise to the enhancement of African musical characteristics in a manner that the essentials of the indigenous folk elements and African musical identity were intact, and unaltered thus African musical idioms remained a distinct part of the entire composition. It is therefore recommended that cross-cultural musical elements should be integrated into African symphony and any form of composition in other to enhance and advance African music art.