Volume 53, Number 3 Summer 2019 On His Way Home With Dondology*: A Tribute to Professor Emeritus J.H. Kwabena Nketia Kwasi Ampene, University of Michigan It was in 2016 that I wrote the Honorary Citation for Pro- so while his death occurred in the early hours of Wednes- fessor Emeritus J.H. Kwabena Nketia for the SEM web- day morning in Accra, it was still late Tuesday night site. It is now May 2019, and I have been asked to write here—the person delivering the unfortunate message a tribute for the SEM Newsletter. Yes, a tribute in memory about Professor Nketia’s passing was dealing with “two of the preeminent scholar of African mornings” across the ocean. Three music, for as we say in Ghana, the months shy of his 98th birthday, the winds that blew on that fateful day, unthinkable had happened—Prof 13 March 2019, did not bring good had joined his forebears! news. For those of my African compatri- Around 6:30 Wednesday morning, I ots living and working in the U.S. received a phone call from Ghana. or elsewhere, this is one of those In a typical Ghanaian expression, phone calls we pray we do not infused with all the kinds of manner- receive; but the way things are, I am isms related to indirect speech that sure they might have experienced, one can imagine in the Twi lan- at least, one of such phone calls guage, and punctuated with sobs, from the motherland about parents, the voice on the other end just said, siblings, or a member of the extend- “Look at what Prof has done to us.” ed family passing on. I have had After a brief pause, she continued, my fair share of the much-dreaded “It happened early this morning but I phone calls. In 2009 I received was waiting to call you in the morn- such a call about my dear mother’s ing.” “Look at what Prof has done sudden death. In 2015 I received to us” and the two mornings in the another call, this time in Kingston, message do not make sense unless Jamaica, from my wife in Ann Arbor, you figure out that, although we asking me to call my younger broth- have several professors in the field er in Accra immediately. It turned of African musicology, the unsubstan- Photo Credit: Justin Schell out to be the sudden passing of my tiated truth is, we all agree there is J.H. Kwabena Nketia Archives, University of Ghana dad. So for a third time I froze and only one “Prof,” and that is Professor Emeritus J.H. Kwa- remained motionless after hanging up the phone. Every- bena Nketia. What about the two “mornings” in the mes- thing seemed to be at a standstill. Indeed, a mighty tree sage? Ghana is five hours ahead of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had fallen. [continued on p.4]. *Dondology is a derogatory term that some university students and professors used to label Prof’s program in African music and dance at the University of Ghana, reacting to Prof’s introduction of Ghanaian drumming and dance to a relatively serene university campus. Dondology covered Prof’s field research in oral traditions in addition to the programs he created at the Institute of African Studies, including music and dance, indigenous languages, visual and performing arts, traditional religion, and oral literature. Since Prof recruited master performers from all corners of Ghana, the educated elite found themselves rubbing shoulders with people with- out university degrees, and even without classroom learning. Interestingly, Prof embraced dondology and established what is now recognized as a legacy in African music and the interdisciplinary studies of Africa and the African Diaspora. Features Reports News Our Back Pages J.H.K. Nketia Tribute Crossroads Section Member News Advertisements President’s Column Liaisons Institutional News SEM Publications Public Ethnomusicology Conference Calendar Internet Resources The Society for Ethnomusicology, SEM Newsletter James Cowdery, Editor, SEM Newsletter SEM Membership RILM, CUNY Graduate Center The object of the Society for Ethnomusicology is the ad- 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 vancement of research and study in the field of ethnomu- [email protected] sicology, for which purpose all interested persons, regard- less of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, SEM Newsletter is a vehicle for the exchange of ideas, or physical ability are encouraged to become members. news, and information among the Society’s members. Its aims include serving the membership and Society at Readers’ contributions are welcome and should be sent to large through the dissemination of knowledge concerning the editor. the music of the world’s peoples. 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Gregory Barz, SEM President Every now and then you find yourself sitting at a table sur- applied, and activist endeavors seriously, what are the rounded by really bright people, and you think, “I am in the curricular initiatives, priorities, and values that need to be middle of something truly important!” In May 2019 a group cultivated? What are the skills needed to succeed in the of ethnomusicologists and folklorists met at the Ameri- applied, public, and activist ethnomusicology fields, and can Folklife Center in the Library of Congress’s Thomas how can graduate programs provide these skills? What Jefferson Building for a two-day National deliverables best demonstrate mastery Planning Conference on Careers in Public of the skills necessary to succeed in the and Applied Ethnomusicology organized public, applied, and activist fields? How by the Society for Ethnomusicology and can graduate ethnomusicology programs funded in part by the National Endowment reimagine their curricula to provide op- for the Arts. And, yes, this initial meeting portunities for students to generate these was an important “Step One” in SEM’s com- deliverables? mitment to rethinking and reconceptualizing its approach to and position on public and Internships Beyond the Academy— applied ethnomusicology. What role should internships play in the standard training of ethnomusicologists? Conveners David McDonald, Nancy Groce, Where might SEM members pursue and Steve Stuempfle announced that the internships both within and beyond the goal of the meeting was to develop and academy? implement an action plan for “strengthen- ing career preparation in public and applied Community-Based Initiatives—What work.” Participants ranged from professors knowledge and