Nketia, Joseph Hanson Kwabena (b. 1921)
Kwabena Nketia was born in Mampong, then a little town in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He received his first musical education, and eventually trained as a teacher, at the Presbyterian Training College, Akropong Akwapim, where he later taught and was appointed Acting Principal in 1952.
At 23, a very young age to go abroad in those days, Nketia, through a Ghanaian government scholarship, went to the University of London to study for a certificate of phonetics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1949 he went on to Birkeck College, University of London, and Trinity College of Music, London, to obtain his Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1958 he travelled to the United States, attending Columbia University, Juilliard School of Music, and Northwestern University to take courses in musicology and composition. After a year in the United States, he returned to Ghana where he rapidly rose through the ranks at the University of Ghana, Legon - from Senior Research Fellow (1962) to Associate Professor, and finally a Full Professor in 1963. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the Institute of African Studies.
Nketia is world-renowned as a musicologist and composer. He is to African music what Bartok is to Western music. Of all the interpreters of African music and aesthetics, Nketia sets the pace. His concept and interpretation of time and rhythmic patterns in Ghanaian and other African folk music were revolutionary, and became standard for researchers and scholars around the world. Nketia studied with the Rev. Danso, who was a pupil of Ephraim Amu. It is, therefore, no surprise that Nketia’s earliest choral works were deeply influenced by the pioneering work of Ephraim Amu. Although Nketia has written extensively for Western orchestral instruments (flute, violin, cello, percussion and piano), it is Nketia’s works for traditional African instruments that his genius is acclaimed.
Nketia is founder and former Director of the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD), based at the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana. He travels extensively and serves on the advisory panels of many organizations. He was Professor of Music at UCLA, University of Pittsburgh, and has lectured in many universities in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia, including the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Indiana University, City University of London, and the China Conservatory of Music. For a list of his publications see African Musicology: Current Trends, Vol. 1 (1989).
Tapes: 1003-5, 1025-6, 1029-31 1032, 1075, 1077-9, etc....