J. H. Kwabena Nketia
Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (born in Mampong, Sekyere West District, Ashanti Region, Ghana, June 22, 1921) is a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer.
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He studied at the University of London from 1944 to 1949, beginning with two years of study in linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1949 he began three years' study at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Trinity College of Music, London, obtaining a B.A. degree. In 1958 a Rockefeller Fellowship allowed him to come to the United States, where he attended Columbia University (studying with Henry Cowell), the Juilliard School, and Northwestern University, studying musicology and composition. He is an emeritus professor of music at the University of Ghana, where he began teaching in 1952. He currently directs the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD).
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. For example, he introduced the use of the more readable 6/8 time signature in his compositions as an alternative to the use of duple (2/4) time with triplets used earlier by his mentor, Ephraim Amu. Although this practice undermined Amu’s theory of a constant basic rhythm (or pulse) in African music, and generated debate, Nketia pointed out that the constant use of triplets in a duple time signature was misleading. Today, many scholars have found Nketia’s theory very useful in transcribing African music. [1]
He has composed for both Western and African instruments.
[edit] Books
- 1963 - African Music in Ghana Northwestern University Press
- 1974 - The Music of Africa. W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393021777. ISBN 9780393021776.
- 2004 - African Art Music/The Creative Potential of African Art Music in Ghana. Companion booklet to ICAMD CD recordings (ICAMD - DMVI - ICAMD - DMV4). Accra: Afram Publications (Ghana) Ltd.
[edit] Bibliography
- Akrofi, Eric A. (2003). Sharing Knowledge and Experience: A Profile of Kwabena Nketia. Accra: Afram Publications. ISBN 9789964703424.
[edit] References
- ^ J. H. Kwabena Nketia biography on ghanaweb
