Biography and analysis of selected works of Kojo Antwi (Mr Music Man)

Abstract

The paucity of literature on the allegories of Ghanaian popular musicians and the unavailability of musical scores have caught attention of scholars in the field of Music Education, creative ethnomusicology as well as other cognate disciplines. The study, therefore, sought to unearth the biography and works of Kojo Antwi, a popular musician in Ghana. Using case study design as well as theories of humanistic personality and sight over sound, one hundred and forty six works from seventeen albums of Kojo Antwi were collected and five of his popular works which were hits were selected and transcribed into sheet music for archival purposes. Interview and document analysis were used to detail his biography which encompassed his formative years, education and musical career. Formal and textual analyses were used to determine his style in terms of melody, time signature, harmony, form, texture, and the sources of his texts. It was seen that Kojo Antwi is an allegory of popular music studies, an icon of Ghanaian highlife and a beacon of prolific compositions of popular music. It is envisaged that the life and works of Kojo Antwi are used as academic material for music literature and biographical studies.