TEACH OUR MUSIC AT BASIC LEVEL -Late Prof. Nketia’s protégé
“Hmmm…He saw a star in me, took me from a village in 1995 and, by God’s grace, fathered, mentored and exposed me to the world through my performances with the seperewa. He taught me what and how to say it on stage. He would have turned 98 in June and just as we were contemplating how to celebrate him, we’ve been hit by his demise. To me, it’s like having lost a rising youth, ” Osei Korankye breaks down.
Osei Kwame Korankye (affectionately called Osei Korankye), a foremost harp-flute (seperewa) player in Africa and a lecturer of traditional music/instruments at the University of Ghana, Legon, was under a 24-year (1995-2019) tutelage of the global music great, Emeritus Professor Kwabena Nketia, who, at 97, passed on on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Legon Hospital in Accra after a short illness.
Eulogising his mentor, Osei Korankye bemoaned our crave for foreign or Western music and instruments at the expense of our rich heritage that offers us invaluable socio-economic gains that we have not taken advantage of.
And that the foreigners who come down to learn go back to make huge economic gains out of that.
Teary Osei Korankye further condemned the mocking of the few youth interested in the learning and performing indigenous music and instruments and called for the re-introduction of the teaching and learning of our music and instruments at the basic school level.
He called on the state to give the stage to our indigenous performers to encourage the promotion of our rich heritage for our generation and posterity.
On the media and tractional music event sponsors contributions to this quest, he didn’t hesitate to say that there is more room for improvement.
Adding that he struggles to get his songs and events promoted by his own (the Ghanaian media) who, unfortunately, often promote other country’s indigenous music.
He further called for unity among his colleague performers of the Ghanaian music and instruments because with selfishness and bickering there’s no future for the field.
Osei Korankye has his mentor, the late Emeritus Professor Kwabena Nketia, eulogised in some of his compositions performed on international platforms.
Story: Osei Kuffour
