A TRIBUTE TO EMERITUS PROF. J.H.K NKETIA
A life well lived is better than a life lived without touching the lives of people. As a young man, I have read books and articles and sang songs composed by prof. Nketia. These hand works of Prof have made me appreciate Ghanaian traditional music. As a graduate student at the University of Ghana, he has inspired me with his contributions to the Arts in Ghana. I also recall the few discussions concerning African music at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. Prof's humility was one thing that has inspired me. Emeritus Professor Nketia was a true legend.
May your gentle soul rest in Perfect Peace.
Damirifa due!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met Papa Nketia,years back when he came to University of Lagos,Nigeria with Prof .Agyemfra to deliver lecture on African art music.l was able to sip from his musical fountain of knowledge and had better understanding of the composition of African art music through his lectures and recordings.We lost a rare scholar and the father of African musicology. Adieu Pa Nketia.My condolences to the family ,musicians and musicologists in Ghana,Africa and all over the world.

The year was 1995, the venue was Drama Studio, the Event was Matemasie and my academic qualification was Ordinary Level Certificate. That was the beginning point of my academic journey in the field of Performing Arts and the late Professor Emeritus J.H Nketia made that difference in navigating my field by advising me to focus on Music as my specialty. I appreciate this good course which has propelled me in advancing to a PhD status. Rest in Peace Prof. Nketia. (From University of Limerick Ireland)

Prof i am saddened by your passing. However, i am glad that i met you. I am truly grateful for all the discussions. You really added a lot of value to my academic journey and endeavors.
Wofa, me da wo ase
Esie ne kegya nni aseda
Wofa, da yie

In 1977 The Music of Africa -found by chance on the shelves of Senate House Library- along with the lectures of Kenneth A. Gourlay (1919-95) opened my eyes to help me understand what ‘afro-american music’ meant. Much later -in October 2011- my late friend and colleague Coriun Aharonian (1940-2017) ask me to write a tribute to Prof. J. H. Kwabena Nketia (1921-2019) for the decoration ceremony held in Montevideo (Uruguay) for the opening of the International Conference La música entre Africa y América/Music between Africa and the Americas convened in his honor on the occasion of his 90th birthday. There I had the pleasure of meeting him and yet again on my first and very belated visit to Africa (Legon, Ghana) in August 2018 for the memorable ICTM Symposium African Music Scholarship in the Twenty-first Century: Challenges and directions. On the 2011 Encomium I wrote about the pending task for us in Latin America to “read, study, assimilate, analyze and debate Nketia’s ideas and those of his predecessors and continuators as part of the tradition of scholarly approach to African and African related musics. It is the best homage we can offer today to Kwabena Nketia and the undisputable excellence of his career and legacy”.
Egberto Bermúdez
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
Vice-President International Musicological Society (IMS)

Emeritus Professor Nketia had been a father to us all in the business of the cultural studies and appreciation of Africa. His field experience in ethnographic research was phenomenal. With my wife, I and our children visited him at home on two of our holiday trips to Accra. As he saw us off to our vehicle on our second and last visit, our sons remarked that ‘this humble old man always reminded us of our grandpa’. May his soul find a perfect balance in the higher realms. Medaase Papaa. Dele.

It was through my former doctoral (Ph.D.) student -- Dr Nana Abena Amoah-Ramey of Indiana, USA -- that I met Emeritus Professor J.H. Kwabena Nketia at his Accra residence. When co-supervising Nana Abena's Ph.D. dissertation in Ethno-musicology and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University, I came across several of Dr. Nketia's works. Therefore, when asked to write an entirely new foreword to Nana Abena's first published 2018 book, "Female Highlife Performers in Ghana: Expression, Resistance, and Advocacy", I agreed with the author that it would be great to meet, in person, Emeritus Professor Nketia. It was arranged for me to meet him by Nana Abena (who was still back in the USA) and, now deceased, Mrs. Bridget Kyerematen-Darko of Accra; Sister Bridget (as my spouse and I called her), drove me one day to meet the two great scholars: University of Ghana Emeritus Professors Kwame Arhin, and Nketia. The meetings were educative exercises in themselves; I previously knew Dr. Arhin (a.k.a. Nana Arhin Brempong), but it was a first meeting with Dr. Nketia. I thank God and my stars that I met both of them at the time. May the souls of both astute Ghanaian scholars rest in perfect peace until we meet again in Heaven.
  Indiana University Emeritus Professor A.B. Assensoh, LL.M., Ph.D. &
  also University of Oregon Courtesy Emeritus Professor, Oregon, USA.
   (Saturday, March 16, 2019)

Dear uncle
I met you in Berlin in 2000 and we talked about the beautiful friendship between you and my father ( the late Prof Tran Van Khe)
You accepted me as your nephew. I gave me your book African Music and I discovered African music with so many wonderful musical
treasures
Now you have left us for ever and I wish you remain in Peace .
with my love and sincere condolences to your family
Tran Quang Hai
France
.

I thank you oo, Prof. I will be forever grateful. You were so real. Thank you for teaching me about God more than all these.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.
Out, out brief candle!
Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is ... "heard no more"...
Was a privilege to have nursed you Prof. ; May your soul rest in perfect peace!

I never had the chance to meet Prof. But heard his songs, beautiful lyrics.
A sign of a musical legend.
And seeing him sing with passion during Ghana our motherland concert by harmonious chorale, it dawned on me how committed he was.
If Today he's no more, then I say he has really left a legacy... A legacy that will never be forgotten. He's indeed a beacon up high on a mountain.
Rest well Professor Emeritus
Till we meet on that glorious morn

May you rest in Perfect Peace Prof. Mission accomplished here on earth, now unto greater things for the Lord. You were an inspiration and continue to this day to many generations of music lovers and students. Your contribution to music and African music in general is unmeasurable, God bless and comfort your family in this difficult time, R.I.P

I had a one on one interview with Prof Emeritus JH Nketia in late last year at the inauguration of the Choral Musicians and Singers Union of Ghana (CHOMSUGHA. He predicted a very bright future for Choral music in the country, but advised industry players to project nationalism and patriotism in the youth especially. It was a great honor spending time with such illustrious son of the land. Fare thee well Prof.

A towering international giant . Fare thee well . Your great works and legacy will live eternally on . May your great soul rest in perfect peace

A cultural icon has departed leaving a big gap, however, his works and legacies live on. Condolences to the bereaved families. My prayers and thoughts are with you.

Ghana has lost a gem. I last saw you at Emmanuel Congregation at Madina and your words was' Whatever you do must be done to appreciate your Maker and to the benefit of Society. PAPA YOU HAVE PAID YOUR DUE. Ghana will forever miss you. Rest in Peace!

Always inspired when i hear or sing any of your composition. I always remember Monkanfo no which we learnt in Labone Secondary School Choir. Ah i just remembered Moda Nase which we also sung at Labone and many more. As a Presbyterian Minister i also cherish your contribution to the worship life of the PCG and the Christian Church in general. Mo Akwao pa nokwafo! Woyebi! Oboade nfa wo nsie!

Prof is a true legend. I recount his telling our MA class in ACI how he refused to be honored unless his mentor (Ephraim Amu) was honored first.
He is a now a noble ancestor who knew and served the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rest well until we meet on that beautiful shore

I met Prof Nketsiah 8th February 2014 and shared a lot of experiences with me. He advised me on how to make my music career very good anytime we met. As a hero in life, all I can say is we bless God for such a man he blessed us with and we pray that may he enjoy good life in eternity

Your entire life was expressed in songs
That emphasize cultural, social, material and other dimensions
You touched many lives including mine
We will forever remember you through your works
R I P

I'm from Colombia, South America. "I am not African because I wasn't born in Africa, but I am African because Africa was born in me." And it was born in me, because I met the Master Kwavena Nketia for a book that my music teacher lent me. Master Kwavena Nketia wove an invisible bridge that led me to look for others, like the Master Willie Anku who developed my interest in the rhythmic aesthetics of my drums initiation. Beyond rhythm there is a spirit. That spirit is what I have to build each day from the seed that African sages have left inside my soul, I love the drums, the great Atumpan who have always spoken to me and linked me to the African continent, thanks to which I want to design the Center for Intercultural Studies today, with a big underline in Africa, in the Atumpan and in the ritualization of life, Master Kwavena Nketia will always live in drums and music.

I hold Professor Nketia in fond memory, remembering our time together on one of my trips to Ghana. His book, "The Music of Africa" in 1974 was a monumental work that opened the eyes of many to the rich treasures of the African continent. We are all the beneficiaries of his more than 200 publications. Well done, good and faithful servant.
Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director and Founder, VocalEssence, USA

I met Emeritus Professor J.H. Kwabena Nketia in late 2015. His impact on me was immediate and refreshing. He told me that it was about time we moved African/a Studies from the bookshelves to the streets to empower and conscientize the African masses. I am proud to say such outreach programs are now an integral part of my work as a scholar-teacher. Hmm! When I was told that Emeritus Professor Nketia had gone to the precincts of death, I felt numbed. I looked around and the sun of meticulous scholarship with its forensic details had set. But I was reminded that the sun always rises and that Emeritus Professor Nketia, the seer of responsible African Studies with his massive cathedral of scholarship and incandescent epistemology that restored African contributions to global culture and history, shall rise again and again. Emeritus Professor Nketia’s legendary life, visionary signposts, impeccable credentials, and sustained meritorious contributions to documenting and preserving Africana music, cultures, histories, and languages are worth emulating and absolutely deserve veneration and memorialization, especially in the aftermath of his passing. For this reason, all stakeholders in his intellectual estate should ensure that his legacy inexorably lives on. This is because Emeritus Professor Nketia will remain the Sun of our cultures, histories, ontologies, and epistemologies. Indeed, our sense of alternative truths about the Africana world orbits along his luminescent research and publications that debunks Hobbesian notions of African pathology. Emeritus Professor Nketia will remain our enduring archive whose assets of decades of research and publications are boundless and unequaled in Ghana’s home of African Studies. In fact, his works exemplify that stock-taking of culture and history demand documentation before dissemination, and should not be framed in mere public incantations debited to memory and history. He will remain our watershed of limitless African possibilities whose profound achievements shatters the Hegelian glass of African inferiority and notions of cultural orphans. He will remain our eminent professor among veritable professors, the centripetal force of Africana knowledge. And he will remain the foremost Africana ethnomusicologist whose praxes are peerless tendering indubitable preamble to the study of Africana music and dance. Ghana has lost one of her greatest sons, but Emeritus Professor Nketia will rise again and again like the Sun and continue to provide limitless warmth to the nurturing of Africana knowledge. Opanyin Kwabena Nketia nantew yiye [fare thee well] and may the great ancestors serenade you with pomp and pageantry of African music and give you an eternal place of bliss to rest.
Kwabena Akurang-Parry, PhD
(Prof of African History, World Studies & Heritage Studies)

It was an honour to meet you, learn your works and hear you speak. Truly inspiring.

My Libation :
-------
O, My Master and Ancestor Nketia,
Who never knew a Moment of Inertia:
Let your wisdom guide our conscience!
Let your presence be felt in your absence!
Bring your Great African Mind into all our Learning!
Help us, as we strive in Reading! Searching! and Writing!
Help us honour your presence dearly! Even now in absentia!
May we never dare forget your excellence in ungrateful amnesia!
-------
O, Supreme Professor of Professors!
Well done!
SALUTE!

A TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR JOSEPH HANSON KWABENA NKETIA

(June 22, 1921 – MARCH 13, 2019)

By Dele Ajaja
 
I ambled to the Lagoon for an urn of water;
Away to the brook to launder the garments.
Back home, the significant person was missing;
My eyes streamed with disconcerting tears.
The legendary one has gone to repose;
Gone, with music in his trails!

Now, we have to see blue dye,
Before we sight the blue-woodcock.
We must spot camwood resin,
Before we behold the red-woodcock.
We have to glimpse white-chalk,
Before we view the cattle-egret!

The trailblazing Elephant has drowsed,
We could see him ONLY in our dreams.
Sleeping like a stunning mountain,
We could only sight his apparition, henceforward.
Slumbering endlessly, without rousing,
The exceptional one has gone home to roost!

Take respite, the great one,
Repose calmly, the one who catered to all.
Fare thee well, the one with a heart of gold,
Rest soundly, true Father of Many Nations,
Accept our love, man among the men of his time,
Goodnight, the People’s Professor!
-----------------

* DELE AJAJA, US-based Nigerian journalist, who lived in Ghana for two-and-a-half years, nicknamed Professor Nketia ‘Father of Many Nations,’ because of how the late professor and his family welcomed and hosted foreigners without knowing them previously.