Use western experience to improve our traditions - Prof. J.H Nketia

Ghanaians must take more pride in the traditions and see how to improve on them using experience from outside rather than competing with them, African legendary ethnomusicologist Emeritus Professor Joseph Hanson Nketia has urged.

Speaking at a festival held in his honour at the State Banquet House in Accra to celebrate his exemplary achievements, the revered musicologist noted with regret that he was not able to impart much in his home country because there were no ready facilities available at the time.

Professor J.H Nketia commended the rate of improvements by educationists in the country and encouraged well-travelled individuals in the society to improve on the Ghanaian traditions with things adopted from the western countries and not replace the indigenous traditions with the borrowed acts.

“We should take more pride in our tradition and see how we can improve on them and use the experience we get from outside to improve on our own instead of worrying about choral group abroad in Europe and so on because we have a lot of beautiful things, things that people appreciate abroad” he advised

“I hope I can inspire you to take a look at the things our elders have given us because there are many things that we can create with those materials right now” he hoped

He also urged the youth to patronise more of our local songs and not rely on foreign songs some of which were thought in the colonial era adding that it is important for the younger generation to pick up from where he left off and further improve on the work he has done.

“I wanted to do what I haven’t done and how you can continue so you can arrive at the kind of thing that you can be famous for, not just singing songs from Europe but singing songs that we have composed, not thinking about the colonial period where we have to learn things from elsewhere" he add

“I have raised the standard from a certain level to another level because of the experience I had. I was in great demand I was going to many places because they found that they had something that they wanted to share” the renowned musicologist stated