Professor and musician John
Collins spoke to the class today on the history of Ghanaian popular music since
the late 1800’s. A resident of Ghana since 1952, he has lived, recorded and
played a part in the history himself. He packed a lot of fascinating material into his two hours
with us. His creative hand drawn timelines and charts (reminiscent of John Cage
scores), listening examples and first-hand anecdotes were so interesting to the
whole group, and accompanied by the guitar when he played some palm wine music for
us. He wove the history and music together in such a way that all of us were
transfixed….he really is a living legend. I met him briefly more than twenty
years ago in Toronto and was so very pleased and honoured when he agreed to
come to present to us.
At dinner later tonight, we had an animated conversation around
the table about the dots that were connected for all of us whether our fields
were Music, Gender Studies, Political Science or African Studies.
See one below….
-Kathy
Today I was able to apply Jazz
lectures with Mark Ferguson from Carleton to the lecture presented to us today
by John Collins at Ghana University. Being able to indulge in further knowledge
of early music of the 20th century was fascinating! There were
several strong comparisons as well as actual personal connections between
Ghanaian musicians and American musicians. It was a new experience to realize
that the friendship between musicians worldwide has been a part of tradition
for many years; John Collins is an incredible scholar and performer. Most
definitely an experience I will never forget.
-Rebecca
