Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia
| Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 June 1921 Mankessim, Mfantsiman District, Central Region, Ghana |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Other names | J. H. Kwabena Nketia |
| Occupation | Ethnomusicologist and composer |
Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (born 22 June 1921) is a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer. Considered Africa's premier musicologist, he has been called a "living legend" and "easily the most published and best known authority on African music and aesthetics in the world", with more than 200 publications and 80 musical compositions to his credit.
Born in 1921 in Mankessim, Mfantsiman District, Central Region, Ghana, J. H. Kwabena Nketia was his parents' only child. On a government scholarship he went to Britain at the age of 23 to attend 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 gp to the United States, where he attended Columbia University (studying with Henry Cowell), the Juilliard School, and Northwestern University, studying musicology and composition.
He was a professor of music at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh, and has lectured in many prestigious universities worldwide, including Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, City University London, the University of Brisbane in Australia, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and the China Conservatory of Music, Beijing. He is an emeritus professor of music at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, where he began teaching in 1952. He currently directs the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD).
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