Song Queen: The World’s First Pidgin Opera
When we think of operas, we frequently picture elaborate performances, soaring chants, and stories of love, tragedy, and bravery. But what if we told you that the opera world is experiencing a fresh and ground-breaking change that defies the norms?
In Africa, many artists excel at inventing and owning unique creations, especially in music, fashion, and other art forms. Since 2015, Helen Epega has been doing just that, writing and composing staged operas performed in pidgin, a language spoken in Nigeria and some other West African countries.
The Nigerian-British singer-songwriter, composer, visual artist, and performance artist, Helen Epega, known by her stage name, The Venus Bushfires, has been embarking on her reinventions within classical music.
Epega was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1981 and moved with her family to England when she was 7.
Song Queen, the first pidgin opera, was inspired by her belief that the opera world was too exclusive. She wished to create an opera that would be accessible to all people, regardless of background or social standing. She also intended to highlight West African culture and demonstrate that opera can be performed in languages other than Italian, French, and German.
The Song Queen opera tells the story of a Nigerian woman who wants to be a singer. It is the first opera to be performed entirely in pidgin English, and it also features a primarily Nigerian cast and creative team. The opera has been lauded for its inventive use of language, appreciation of Nigerian culture, and powerful message of female empowerment. It has helped to make opera more accessible to a wider audience, and it has inspired other artists to create operas in other languages and cultural traditions.
In addition to Song Queen, Epega has written and composed numerous operas in pidgin English, including The Village Headmaster and Oloibiri. She is also a founder member of the Pidgin Opera Company, which is dedicated to promoting and presenting opera in pidgin English.
