The Introduction of Popular Music Studies to Ghanaian Universities <br>http://dx.doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2011)v2i1-2.4en

Authors

  • John Collins Achimota College - University of Ghana; BAPMAF

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5429/563

Keywords:

University of Ghana, African popular music, music courses, job opportunities, world music, highlife music

Abstract

Although the teaching if of African traditional and art music in Ghanaian universities began from independence in 1957, the introduction of local popular music has taken much longer, partly a consequence of imported high-art notion that treated popular music as trivial, ephemeral and low-brow. Although Nkrumah utilised local popular, traditional and arts music in nation building after his overthrow in 1966 his vision was never fully transmitted into the universities where students were only expected to be bi-musical, i.e. familiar with traditional music and art music. The first evidence of a growing Ghanaian academic interest in popular performance studies was the pioneering work of the university lecturers Efua Sutherland, K.N. Bame and Attana Mensah during the 1960s/70s. But this area was not included in the university curriculum until the 1990s, when the University of Ghana changed its position due to several factors. One was the burgeoning local popular music industry (after the music industry decline during the 70s/80s military regimes) and the consequent job opportunities for students. Another was the rise of pop influenced local gospel music from the 1980s that sanctified the guitar and dance-band music. Thirdly there was an interest in Afropop by foreign world music students coming in large numbers after Ghana’s economic liberalisation of the late 1980’s.

Author Biography

John Collins, Achimota College - University of Ghana; BAPMAF

John Collins, a founding member of IASPM, has been a pioneer scholar in the world of African Popular Music studies.

References

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Barber, Karin. 1987. “Popular Art in Africa”. African Studies Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, September, pp. 1-78.

Collins, John. 1976. “Comic Opera in Ghana” in African Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles. Vol. 9, No. 2, January, pp. 50-57.

Collins, John.1992. “Some Anti-Hegemonic Aspects of African Popular Music”. In Rockin’ The Boat, ed. Reebee Garafalo, Southern Press, Boston, pp. 185-194.

Collins, John. 2002. “The Generational Factor in Ghanaian Music” in Playing With Identities in the Contemporary Music of Africa, eds. M. Palmberg and A. Kirkegaard, Nordic African Institute/Sibelius Museum Apo, Finland, pp. 60-74.

Collins, John. 2004. “Ghanaian Popular Performance and the Urbanisation Process: 1900-1980”. Transactions: Journal of the Historical Society of Ghana, New Series, No. 8, pp. 203-226.

Collins, John. 2007a. “The Pan-African Goombay Drum-Dance: Its Ramifications and Development in Ghana”. Legon Journal of the Humanities, Vol. XVIII, pp. 179-200, eds. Gordon Adika and Kofi Ackah, Faculty of Arts, University of Ghana Legon.

Collins, John. 2007b. “The Entrance of Women into Ghanaian Popular Entertainment” In The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan African Cultural Activism, eds. Anne V. Adams and Efua Sutherland-Addy, Ayebia Clark Publishing, United Kingdom, pp. 47-54.

Collins, John. 2009/2010. “Highlife and Nkrumah’s Independence Ethos”. Journal of Performing Arts, eds. John Collins and John Djisenu, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 93-104.

Gilroy, Paul. 1993. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

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Ranger T. O. 1975. Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890-1970, Heinemanns, London.

Sprigge, Robert. 1961. “The Ghanaian Highlife: Notation and Sources” in Music in Ghana, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, pp. 7-94.

Sutherland, Efua. 1970. The Original Bob: The Story of Bob Johnson Ghana’s Ace Comedian, Anowuo Educational Publications, Accra, Ghana.

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Published

19-01-2012

Issue

Section

Articles – Special Issue