Ghanaian master drummer honoured
After over four decades of imparting the knowledge of drumming to students of Wesleyan University, drummer Abraham K. Adzenyah was honoured when a building was dedicated in his name last Saturday.
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The honour was in appreciation of Abraham’s contribution to the promotion of African music and culture outside the shores of the country.
A recruit from the Ghana Dance Ensemble 46 years ago, Abraham K. Adzenyah, is retiring after training thousands of US music students, many of whom have gone on to teach traditional Ghanaian drumming and dance at other US colleges and universities.
His protégés have taught and run Ghanaian drum and dance ensembles at the various universities such as Berklee College of Music, Brandeis University, The Hartt School of Music, Lehman College, Montclair State University, Mount Holyoke College, Oakland University (Michigan) and Princeton University.
The others are S.U.N.Y. Binghamton, S.U.N.Y. Stonybrook, Toronto University, Tufts University, University of Alabama, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Yale University, and York University (Toronto).
One of the top-rated liberal arts universities in the United States, Wesleyan is known for its commitment to world music and faculty artists. Mr. Adzenyah was on tour with the Ghana National Dance Ensemble in 1968 when he was heard performing at Madison Square Garden in New York City by the late Dr. Robert E. Brown, one of the originators of Wesleyan's World Music Programme.
Dr. Brown then recruited Mr. Adzenyah to teach traditional Ghanaian drumming at Wesleyan, in what became one of the top world music and ethnomusicology programmes in the country.
Following the building dedication, there was an outdoor concert which featured some traditional West African drumming, singing, and dancing.
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The day’s events ended with an all-night highlife dance party in Fayerweather Beckham Hall, located at 55 Wyllys Avenue.