The ancient Igbo people number almost 37 million in Nigeria  alone, nearly the entire population of Poland. We do not know  how many centuries into West African history the still-living  musical tradition of Abigbo reaches back, with its characteristically  undulating polyrhythm of wooden and metal gongs, maracas and  talking drums. Much suggests that it was already resounding across  what is now Imo State when the inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo  Cristofori, was born in Padua. Can Abigbo be performed on this  compact vehicle of musical colonialism? Joshua Uzoigwe, one of  the most important modern Nigerian composers and a pioneer of  African pianism, had no doubts. Has the pioneer of new Sudanese  music, Ali Osman, coped equally well with Chopin’s instrument?