Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia was a renowned Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer. He was widely considered Africa’s leading musicologist and during his lifetime was referred to as a “living legend” and “easily the most published and best known authority on African music and aesthetics in the world.”
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Prof. Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia was born on June 22, 1921 in Asante Mampong to Opanin Akwasi Yeboa and Maame Akua Adoma. He began his education at the Presbyterian Primary School in Asante Mampong in 1928, completed his basic education in 1937 and was admitted to the Presbyterian Training College at Akropong.
While in school, his music teachers were Robert Danso and the renowned cultural activist, teacher and composer, Ephraim Amu. They both reinforced Nketia’s belief in the importance of indigenous musical expressions and encouraged him to study the traditional music of his people in depth. He graduated from the Training College and joined the faculty at the same institution in 1942 to teach music and the Twi language.
In 1944, he was awarded Commonwealth Scholarship. The scholarship allowed him to travel to England to study modern linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He later enrolled at Trinity College of Music and the University of London’s Birkbeck College where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949.
In 1958 a Rockefeller Fellowship enabled him to go to the United States, where he attended Columbia University, the Juilliard School, and Northwestern University, studying musicology and composition.
In 1961, he was appointed as the deputy director of the Institute of African Studies at University College of the Gold Coast, now University of Ghana. He was provided with resources such as audio-visual equipment, technical staff and research assistants to support him in his extensive field research to document music traditions from rural areas.
He later became the first African to serve as the director of the institute and also the founding director of the university’s school of performing arts. This led to the establishment of the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives, which was named in his honor in 2015 and preserves a large number of his recordings and intellectual legacy.
He became a professor of music at University of California Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh, and lectured in many prestigious universities worldwide, including Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, City University London, Cornell University, University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and many more.
He also accepted the esteemed position as the Andrew W Mellon Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh. Nketia was contracted by Norton Publishers in New York to write an introductory text on the music of Africa for educational institutions and the general public. Published in 1974 by Norton, The Music of Africa became the standard textbook at universities and colleges in the United States, Europe and Africa for decades, and was eventually translated into Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese.
He composed 42 musical works and authored more than 200 publications and was actively involved in numerous creative and academic endeavors even on retirement. For a career that spanned seven decades, Nketia was honoured with tons of awards. In Ghana he received the Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana (which is the highest state honour), the Grand Medal of the State of Ghana (Civil Division), the Ghana Book Award, Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana Special Honour Award (1987), Ghana Gospel Music Special Award (2003), and the ACRAG Flagstar Award (1993). He was a Member of Honour of the International Music Council.
In 1991, the University of Ghana conferred on Professor Nketia an honorary degree at a Special Congregation of the University of Ghana. For international awards, he received the African Music Society Cowell Award (1958); the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Music of Africa (1975); the International Music Council UNESCO Prize for Distinguished Service to Music (1981); the 1997 Prince Claus Award for exceptional work in the field of culture and development; and the Distinguished Africanist Award from the African Studies Association in the year 2000.
J. H. Kwabena Nketia passed away on 13 March 2019 at age 97. He was accorded a state funeral at the Forecourt of the State House and buried at the new Military Cemetery at Burma Camp.
Prof. Nketia’s contributions to the study of African music form the bedrock for understanding Africa’s rich musical tradition. His work continues to enhance the field of ethnomusicology.
