Prof Emeritus Kwabena Nketia
President Akufo-Addo has stated that the legacy of the late Prof. Emeritus Joseph Hansen Kwabena Nketia underscores the importance of education.
He said Prof. Nketia’s works would help to build a new Ghanaian civilization.
Prof. Nketia was a distinguished ethnomusicologist, composer, linguist, post and author, whose work on African music and culture gained global acclaim.
The President, in his tribute at a state funeral held on Saturday at the forecourt of the State House, said applying Prof. Nketia’s works on Ghanaian arts and culture would help build a new civilization based on equity and self-worth.
“For me I am confident that we are proud of the work of Prof. Nketia in helping to reclaim the past in order to nourish the present and to seize the future. We shall further be emboldened to construct a democratic nation based on equity, respect, self-worth and inclusion.
“We will then build a new Ghanaian civilization and a Ghana beyond aid, which will witness a new flowering of Ghanaian arts and culture.”
“His life experiences point to the crucial importance of education. He advocated for it in Ghana whose holistic culture and identity played a key role in how to navigate the challenges posed by globalization. A lifetime of admirable scholarship earned him the supreme accolade of an Emeritus Professor,” he added.
Professor Nketiah, who is considered as Africa’s premier musicologist, died at age 97 on March 13, 2019.
His funeral was characterised by rich Ghanaian cultural performances by the Winneba Youth Choir and Immanuel Congregation Choir from his church Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Madina, Accra.
Professor J.H. Nketiah was born on 22nd June, 1921 at Asante Mampong.
He had over 200 publications and 80 musical compositions to his credit.
He was the first African Director at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana and received several awards, including the Cowell Award of the African Music Society, Companion of the Order of Star of Ghana, Grand Medal of the Government of Ghana and the Africanist Award of the African Studies Association of the USA for lifelong devotion to African studies.C