Emeritus Prof. Nketia at 94: AUCC names Centre for Africana Studies in his honour

Prof. Asare Opoku Features Jun - 22 - 2015 , 03:36

This is a memorable occasion, a day set aside to uniquely honour and appropriately celebrate Emeritus Professor Kwabena Nketia, for who he is and what he has meritoriously accomplished in his venerable four score and fourteen years.

To wish him a happy birthday, I want to say something special to him in the language of our ancestors, which he himself has faithfully recorded for posterity in his book, Drumming in Akan Communities of Ghana (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1963 p. 185).

Afe ano ahyia (The year has come round)

Merebéma wo adwo, (I have come to greet you),

Mehyira wo koséɛkosé. (To shower blessings on you).

Tweneboa Kodua se (Tweneboa Kodua says)

Ohyira wo koséɛkosé. (He showers his blessings on you).

Nyini, nyini, nyini (Live long! Live long! Live long!)

Nyini béyéɔ akora. (Live to a good old age).

ckyeréɛma a cyan atumpan se, (The drummer of the talking drum says),

Ohyira wo koséɛkosé. (He showers his blessings on you).

Birth and education

Born on Tuesday, June 22, 1921 at Mampong, Asante, Kwabena (Ogyam), for that is the appellation of a Tuesday-born, Nketia (Saben), the appellation of the name Nketia, was educated at the Presbyterian Elementary and Middle Schools at Mampong, Asante from 1928-1936, and thereafter at the Presbyterian Training College and Theological Seminary, Akropong-Akuapem, from 1937-1941.

Later, for two years, 1944-1946, he studied African Linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he was awarded a Certificate in Phonetics. Thereafter, he studied at the Trinity College of Music in London, 1946-1949, and also obtained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Birbeck College, University of London in 1949. Professor Nketia further studied Organology and Advanced Composition at Columbia University in New York (1958); Composition at the Julliard School of Music, in New York (1958); and Ethnomusicology and Composition at Northwestern University (1959).

Career

The highlights of his distinguished working career are many and varied. He has been a teacher and Acting Principal of the Presbyterian Training College, Akropong, Akuapem; Research Fellow in African Studies, University of Ghana; the first African Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon; Professor of Music, University of Ghana; Professor of Music at UCLA; Horatio Appleton Lamb, Visiting Professor of Music at Harvard University; Visiting Professor, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Andrew Mellon Professor of Music, University of Pittsburgh; Visiting Professor, China Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China; Langston Hughes Professor, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas; Director, International Centre for African Music and Dance, University of Ghana; Distinguished Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Currently, he is the Chancellor, Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Akropong-Akuapem; Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Honorary Member of the International Music Council; Member of UNESCO’s International Commission for a Scientific and Cultural History of Humanity; Member of the International Jury for the Proclamation by UNESCO of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and Board Member of the National Commission on Culture.

Awards

If we were to put Professor Nketia’s awards into a preposterously large basket and place it on the back of an elephant to carry, I assure you, solemnly, that the ponderously huge creature will not be able to move its legs! Let me, therefore, lighten the poor elephant’s load by mentioning just a few of Professor Nketia’s awards: The Cowell Award of the African Music Society (1958); Grand Medal of Ghana (1968); Ghana Arts Award (1972); International Music Council-UNESCO Music Prize for Distinguished Service to Music (1981); ECRAG Special Honour Award (1987); ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his book, The Music of Africa; Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana, Grand medal of the Government of Ghana (Civil Division); Prince Claus Award (1997); Distinguished Africanist Award, African Studies Association, USA (1999); Ghana Gospel Music Special Award (2003); and DLitt (Honoris Causa), University of Ghana.

Musicologist, composer

Professor Nketia is a brilliant and versatile composer, erudite and eminent ethnomusicologist, and an imaginative and prolific writer. Our ancestors said: obcmcfoɔ ne nea ne nam gu apa so, na ɛnnyéɛ nea ne nam gu wuram – The (real) hunter is the one whose meat lies on the hot grill and not the one whose meat is in the forest.

The evidence of Professor Nketia’s magnificent and lustrous brilliance is, so to speak, on the hunter’s hot grill, for all to see, to his lasting and unquestioned credit, and to our incalculable benefit.

As an acclaimed musicologist and composer, Professor Nketia has over 80 compositions, including choral pieces, solo songs with piano accompaniment, as well as instrumental works; and as a scholar-writer, he has over 200 publications, not only in the English language but also in his own language, Twi, in which he has written more than 20 books!

African identity

The distinctive quality that characterises all of Professor Nketia’s works and which has brought great honour and respect to our ancestors, on whose shoulders we stand today, is a refreshing originality, which is unmistakably African.

Our ancestors said: “The progeny of a chameleon will never lose the ridge down its back” and even though Professor Nketia spent time studying in the UK and America, his chameleon’s ridge, his Africanity, was never blown away. In his gracious refusal to be blown off his feet and in his unfeigned respect for his inherited traditions as a source of profound knowledge, inspiration and guidance, lies the origin of Professor Nketia’s amazing creativity.

We honour you, Professor Nketia, for your sterling and memorable achievements that have brought honour and respect to us and have shown us that there is wisdom, guidance and inspiration in our culture that we can use in our various chosen fields of academic endeavour.

We wish you a long, healthy life.

The writer is the President of AUCC

Emeritus Prof. Nketia at 94: AUCC names Centre for Africana Studies in his honour