Appreciating Ghanaian Choral Music: George Mensah Essilfieas YEdze Wo KEseyE Mawa (We Ascribe To Your Greatness) In Perspective

Ghana grew out of formal music education introduced into Ghana s educational system during the colonial period Western music and its stylistic features of compositional techniques were then espoused and put to use Conversely this comprehensive espousal of foreign traditions impeded the very existence of indigenous Ghanaian cultural practices especially music The early twentieth century saw the nation s musical icons like Ephraim Amu Nketia among others initiating a crusade to resuscitate Ghanaian indigenous musical traditions Through a critical analysis of a representative work Y dzeWok sey maW We ascribe to your greatness the authors introduce one contemporary Ghanaian composer George Essilfie Mensah whose pieces demonstrate bimusicality a syncretism of traditional Ghanaian and western musical styles which presents his works appreciating to Ghanaian Choral music performers The paper seeks to serve as model for the study of a blend of traditional and western elements in choral musi