JOHN COLLINS SHORT BIOGRAPHY 2005
John Collins came to Ghana in 1952 and has been involved in the West African music scene since 1969. He is a guitarist, harmonica player and percussionist and has worked, recorded and played with numerous Ghanaian and Nigerian bands; the Jaguar Jokers, Francis Kenya, E.T. Mensah, Abladei, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Koo Nimo, Kwaa Mensah, Victor Uwaifo, Bob Pinado, the Bunzus, the Black Berets, T.O.Jazz, S.K. Oppong and Atongo Zimba. In the 1970’s he ran his own Bokoor highlife guitar band which released 20 songs and since 1982 has been running Bokoor Recording Studio 8 miles north of Accra: which released 9 records and 60 commercial cassettes and is currently releasing 3 highlife cd’s: ‘Electric Highlife’ (Naxos label Hong Kong/USA), ‘Vintage Palmwine’ (Otrabanda, Holland), the ‘Guitar and Gun” (Sterns/Earthworks UK).
Collins is also a music journalist and writer with over 100 journalistic and academic publications (including seven books published in the UK, USA and Ghana) on African popular and neo-traditional music. He has given many radio and television broadcasts, including over 40 for the British BBC. In 1978 he wrote And presented the BBC’s first-ever (five-part) series of radio programs on African popular music called ‘In The African Groove’.
Collins has been a film consultant/facilitator: the BBC’s ‘Repercussions’, ‘Brass Unbound’ by IDTV of Amsterdam, ‘The Highlife Story’ for Ghana Broadcasting, ‘Highlife’ for German Huschert Realfilm, ‘African Cross Rhythms’ by the Danish Loki Films (re-released 1996 as ‘Listen to the Silence’ by Films for the Humanities & Sciences, New Jersey, USA), ‘When the Moment Sings’ by the Norwegian Visions company, ‘Ghanaian Art Music’ by Bavarian TV and ‘One Giant Leap/Astronaut’ music-video for Palm Pictures/Island Records.
Collins obtained his first degree (sociology and archaeology) from the University of Ghana in 1972 and his Doctorate in Ethnomusicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has given lectures/workshop in Canada, the USA, the UK, Scandinavia, Holland, Germany, France, the Caribbean, Ghana and the Cote-D’Ivoire. He has been a resident research-fellow at the North-western University African Studies Department at Evanston in the US and Dartmouth Art College in the West of England
Collins was on the Executive of the Ghana Musicians Union (MUSIGA) in the 1970’s and, together with Professor J.H.K. Nketia and the Ghanaian folk-guitarist Koo Nimo, was in 1987 made an honorary life-member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). During the 1990’s Collins was Technical Director of the three-year joint University of Ghana African Studies Department/Mainz African Music Re-documentation Project, and for seven years was with the Ghana National Folklore Board of Trustees/Copyright Administration. In the summer of 2000 Collins teamed up with fellow guitarist Koo Nimo and went on a performance tour of the US eastern sea-board with him.
Currently Collins is running his Bokoor Studio as a mobile one. He is the Acting Chairman of the Bokoor African Popular Music Archives Foundation (BAPMAF). He is PRO for the Old Ghanaian Musicians Welfare Association (GOMAWA), consultant for MUSIGA, patron of the Afrika Obonu music therapy drum group and consultant for a World Bank project to assist the African music industry. He is also a Full Professor at the Music Department of the University of Ghana, Legon from where he runs (with Aaron Bebe Sukura) the Local Dimension palmwine highlife band that toured Europe in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and released a CD in 2003 entitled N’Yong on the French Disques Arion label.
- FULL CURRICULUM VITAE FROM FIRST DEGREE
Education/Degrees:
1969 – 72: University of Ghana BA degree in sociology/archaeology.
1989 – 94: Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology. State University of New York at
Buffalo.
Thesis: The Ghanaian Concert Party: African Popular
Entertainment at the Cross Roads Published by
University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1995
(pub. No. 95-09102)
2000 Associate Professor, University of Ghana, Legon.
2002 Full Profesor. University of Ghana, Legon.
Present Appointment:
Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Performing Arts, UG.
[Since Sept. 1995]. Head of Department 2003-2005
Teaching & Other Relevant Experience:
1969 –72: During university holidays played/ toured with the Jaguar Jokers & F. Kenya’s concert parties popular theatre groups.
1973: Taught chemistry at GATECO secondary school, Koforidua.
1973: Played on four recordings by Koo Nimo’s acoustic highlife guitar band, released by Phillips.
1974 – 79: Taught physics and chemistry at the Ghana International School
(GIS), Accra.
1974 – 75: Worked as musician with the Bunzu sounds band of the Napoleon
Club, Accra. Toured Nigeria, the Benin Republic and Togo with
them in 1974 and recorded 2 songs with them in Lagos –
later released by the Makossa label of New York.
1975: Toured as musician with Victor Uwaifo’s highlife band in Bendel State and Eastern Nigeria. Recorded with him on his ‘Laugh and Cry’ album.
1975 – 79: Performed with and managed the 14 strong Bokoor highlife Band
which was affiliated to the Arts Council and commercially
released two cassettes and two singles.
1976: Received a grant for research into African music from the
Authorship Development Fund of the Curriculum Division of the
Ghana Teaching Service.
1977: Performed in Lagos for the Black President film production of
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
1978: Worked 2 months for BBC External Service and
presented its first ever series on African popular music: five
half-hour programmes for the External Service on the
history of African popular music called In the African
Groove.
Subsequently. have done thirty or so other BBC
broadcasts. Have also done radio programmes for the
VOA and American Public Broadcasting, Radio Gabon,
France Internationale, Radio Deutchevelle, Radio
Netherlands and Radio stations in Ghana, Togo, Liberia,
The Cote d’Ivoire, Canada, Denmark and Italy.
1979: Became an Executive Member of MUSIGA (Musicians Union
of Ghana) and became their representative in early negotiation
between them and international copyright organisations.
1979 – 80: Taught African Music and Black Studies to West Indian youth at
the Wolverhampton Council for Community Relations in Britain.
1982 – 88: Worked with the Ghana Arts Council/ Nat. Comm. On
culture on variousprojects (involved with their
children’s cultural competitions and Roots of Highlife
film; documentation of journalistic and archival work
with the Arts Council, National Orchestra/ Dinah
Reindorf, NAFTI, DuBois Centre, Ghana Film
orporation and Ghana Dance Ensemble)
1983 – present: Manager of Bokoor Recording Studio, Accra.
1983: Gave a course of six lectures on African popular music and drama
to NAFTI (film Institute) students, Accra.
1983: Consultant for Third Eye/ BBC film on black music
‘Repercussions’
1984: Worked in Liberia documenting popular musicians – at the
invitation of Studio 99 in Monrovia.
1987: On the local Organising Committee for the 4th International
Conference of the International Association for the Study of
Popular Music (IASPM). Together with Prof. Nketia and
Koo Nimo was made an Honorary Life Member of IASPM.
1988: Consultant for Danish Loki Film production ‘African Cross
Rhythms’ (released 1994)
1989: Whilst working on my Ph D. At SUNY Buffalo taught an
undergraduate course at its Dept. of American Studies on
‘African and African-American Music’
1990: Together with Koo Nimo, E.T. Mensah, Kwaa Mensah ‘Opia’,
King Bruce and other popular performers, established the Bokoor
African Popular Music Archives Foundation (BAPMAF)
1991: Given a Certificate of Honour by the National Commission on
Culture for providing documented information for the
First Ghanaian Brass Band Festival of 1991.
1991: Invited by the Ghana National Commission (i.e.Ministry)
of Culture to become a Trustee of the newly established Ghana Folkore (until 1997) ,
1992: Consultant for the Dutch ID TV film on Ghanaian brass bands
‘Brass Unbound’
1994: Became a Resident Fellow of Northwestern University’s Institute
for the Advanced Study and Research into the African Humanities
1993/4 program ‘The Enscription of the Material World’ with
Dr. Karin Barber as Preceptor.
1994: Consultant for Ghana Television film ‘The Story of Highlife’
1994: Consultant for German Huschert Realfilm production ‘Highlife in
Ghana.’
1994 – 96: Technical Director of the Univ. of Mainz/ Univ. of Ghana project
to re-copy and re-document the Institute of African Studies music
archives.
1995: Consultant for German Bavarian TV film ‘Art Music in Ghana’
1995: Consultant for Norwegian Vision TV film ‘When the Moment
Sings’
1995: Began work as Facilitator/Assessor/occasional lecturer for the
Danish/Ghanaian AGORO non-formal education through music
Project bases in Cape Coast.
1995: October. Took up appointment as lecturer in the Music
Department of the School of Performing Arts, Univ. of Ghana.
1996: Co-organiser of the joint Goethe Institute/BAPMAF ‘Highlife
Month’ in February that involved a photo exhibition, seminars,
films and performances.
1996: Establishment of the BAPMAF Highlife Museum at my residence
Bokoor House, Ofankor.
1997 For one year provided a once weekly series of talks on the history of
highlife for Radio Gold.
1997 Worked on a project of using local popular songs to educate
children on the dangers of water-borne diseases – for the Univrsity of Ghana Lower Volta Basin Research Project.
1998 Became PRO for the Ghana Music Pioneers Association. Later
became involved with its sister organisation the Ghana Old
Musicians and Artists Welfare Association (GOMAWA)
1998 Given the Ghana National ACRAG Arts Award for thirty years
pioneering research into highlife music and sixteen years of
running the low-budget Bokoor recording studio.
1998 Facilitator for Palm Pictures/Island Records ‘Astronaut’ / One
giant Leap music-video DVD film.
1998 Performance/lecture tour with acoustic highlife guitarist Koo
Nimo of New England Universities (Yale , Harvard., Wesley,
Boston, Trinity, etc)
2000 Awarded Associate Professorship by the University of Ghana.
2000 June. Presented a paper in Washington DC on
the Music Industry in Six African Countries for the
World Bank and the Yale based Policy Science Center. Became member of World
Bank working committee on above project headed by
Michael Finger, lead economist of the World Bank’s
Poverty Reduction and Economic Network (PREN)
Department.
2001 Joint organiser of the French
Embassy/BAPMAF/Harmathan
Management ‘Highlife Story’ celebration (photo
exhibition, lectures, films, discussion panels and
concerts) held at the Alliance Francais premises,
Accra from 23rd May to June 6th.
2002 Organiser of joint US Public Affairs Section/ BAPMAF Jazz
Returns to Africa lecture/concert series held at the National
Theatre, Accra 8th February to March 22nd 2002
2002 Awarded a Full Professorship from the University of Ghana
2003 One month residency 23 February-23rd March 2003 at
Dartington College of Arts, UK
2003 15-May to 20th on a short-term contract with the World Bank to
prepare a working document (in consultation with the University
of Ghana Music Dept and four Ghanaian performance unions) on
the needs of the Ghanaian a music industry.
2003 Six week residency (May 26th to July 6th) at the German University
of Hannover Music and Theatre Department, in connection with a
three year project to study the Volkswagen-Stiftung financed Music
of Migrant Ghanaians in Germany Project.
2005 Feb 2005 As Chair of BAPMAF was co-Director, with the US Embassy
Public Affairs, ‘African American Heritage/Black History Month’. The
Theme of this nineteen event program was ‘Uniting Africa’s Past, Present
and Future through Celebrating its Performing, Visual and Literary Arts’.
2005 One month residency (June 6 to July 7th) at the German University of
Hannover Music and Theatre Department, in connection with a three year
project to study the Volkswagen-Stiftung financed Music of Migrant
Ghanaians in Germany Project. Also helped arrange student exchange
program between the Music Depts. of Univs of Hannover and Ghana
2005 Given a Millenium Excellence Award (Arts Award) in July
2006/7 September 4th : became Consultant for the Ghana@Fifty Secretariat
organising the Ghana 50th Independence Celebrations in 2007
3) DETAILS OF RESEARCH OR MAJOR PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN
a) Ongoing research from 1969 on West African popular music and drama. Includes documenting the social history/collection of individual biographies/relation to the traditional performing arts/the role of women/the music industry and copyright/the growth of neotraditional performance styles/the links between African and black diasporic performance/as a ‘history of the inarticulate’/Ghanaian popular music and urbanisation and migration patterns
b) Ongoing collection since 1969 of photographs, recorded materials, documents, books, posters and memorabilia associated with African popular performance. Since 1990 these have become part of the BAPMAF collection and its Highlife Museum.
c) Currently running the Local Dimension band (formed 1997) composed of students and instructors of the School of Performing Arts. It combines modern with traditional instruments and plays its own compositions based on African popular and folk idioms.
d) From 2000 began researching into the Ghanaian/African music industry for the World Bank and as a consultant for various Ghanaian music/performance unions. Work on music. copyright and the tourist industry.
4) DETAILS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL
From 1981, occasional lectures and workshops at the following universities and other institutions of higher learning.
Britain: School for Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London Anthropology Dept, Centre for West African Studies Birmingham, the Africa Centre, London, Dartington College of Arts, Cambridge University Music Department, Exeter University, Anglia Polytechnic and University.
Holland: the University of Amsterdam’s sociology and anthropology departments, Neimegan University’s Mass Communication Dept, the Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.
Denmark: the Uninversity of Copenhagen Anthropology Dept. the Aarhus University Music Therapy Dept. the Aarhus Music Conservatory, the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, the Silkeborg Centre for Rhythmic Music and Dance.
Germany: the Iwela Hausa African Studies Dept in Bayreuth, the University of Mainz Ethnology and African Studies Dept, the Berlin Museum fur Volkerhunde, the University of Witten/Herdecke, University of Hannover.
France: The L’Ecole de Mines, the African Studies Centre in Paris.
Sweden: the Music Depts of the University of Lundt and of Goteborg.
Canada: The Royal Toronto Museum, the University of Guelph Music Dept, the University of York African Studies Dept, the University of Carleton Arts and Culture Dept.
U.S.A: Columbia University, New York, Ethnomusicology Dept, Tufts University Ethnomusicolgy Dept, SUNY Brockport African Studies Dept, Yale University IASPM conference, University of Washington Seattle Ethnomusicology Dept, Columbia College Chicago Black Studies Dept., Harvard University, Wesleyan.
Switzerland The History and Ethnomusicology Departments of Zurich University, the Ethnmusicology and History Departments of Basel University, the Swizz Ethnomusicological Society at the Basel Mission.
a) SUNY Buffalo 1989/90 Teaching Assistant for its American Studies Dept. Teaching an undergraduate course on ‘African and African-American Studies.
b) 1994 Northwestern University. As a 3 month Resident Fellow for the Institute for the Advanced Study and Research into the African Humanities, gave a series of lectures to undergraduates in the Dept. of Music and Dept. of African-American Studies.
c) 1995. Began teaching undergraduate and M.A./M.Phil courses for the Music Dept. of the School of Performing Arts, Legon.
d) 2003. Feb-March, one month residency at Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, UK
5. CONFERENCES, SPECIAL SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS AT WHICH
PAPERS WERE READ, WITH REFERENCES WHERE APPROPRIATE.
1. First International Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) held in Amsterdam in 1981. Joint paper with Dr. Paul Richards of SOAS entitled ‘West African Popular Music: Suggestions for an Interpretive Framework’ First published in Popular Music Perspectives by IASPM Exeter/Goteborg, (eds) Phillip Tagg and David Horne, 1982, pp. 111-141. Reprinted under the title ‘Popuar Music in west Africa’ in 1989 in World Music, Politics and Social Change (ed) Simon Frith, Manchester University Press, pp 12-67.
2. The Second Nordic/African Audio Visual Archives Conference (AVA-90) held in Fayum Sweden in 1990 July. Paper entitled ‘Running a Band, a Music Studio and Music Archives in Ghana’. Published in the Proceedings of AVA 90 by the Dalarna Research Council, Sweden, (ed) Tellef. Kvifte and Gunner Ternhag, 1990, pp. 9-19.
3. National Workshop on Copyright held by the Ghana Copyright Administration, the Ghana National Commission on Culture and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, WIPO, at theAcadamy of African Music and Arts, AAMA, at Kokrobite, Accra October 9-11th 1990. Presented a paper entitled ‘Folklore : Some Problems of Oral Copyright’.
4. National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) held in Kumasi in August 1992. Paper ‘The Concert Party, Popular entertainment and the Ghanaian School Syllabus’. Published by the Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO), the Hague, 1992, No.176, pp. 171-177.
5. The First PANAFEST held in Cape Coast in December 1992. Led discussion and gave paper ‘Gome Music and the Roots of Highlife’ incorporated into Chapter ‘Goombay, Gome and Asiko’ of Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra 1994 and (second edition) 1996.
6. Seminar on Ghanaian Folklore in Retrospect held in Koforidua in March 1993 and organised by the Copyright Administration/National Folklore Board of Trustee/Eastern Region Centre for National Culture. Paper entitled ‘The Yaa Amponsah Story’ published as chapter 2 of Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1994 and 1996.
7. Seminar on Tradition and Innovations organised by the American united States Information Service, Accra, in August 1993. Paper on Ghanaian Popular Music.
8. The African Composers Forum organised by the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD) at Legon in August 1994. Paper ‘The Musical Ghost in the Machine’ incorporated into Chapter 51 ‘Highlife, Computers and the Highlife Imagination’ of Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1996, pp. 281-295.
9. Copyright Administration/National Folklore Board of Trustees/NCC Seminar on Folklore held in Tamale in August 1994. Paper read entitled ‘Folklore and Popular Music: The Case of Dagomba Simpa Music. “Portion of this paper incorporated into the Chapter ‘The Simpa Music of Dagbon’ in Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1994 and 1996.
10. Conference on The Wider World of Music and Dance organised by the ICAMD, Legon in December 1994. Paper read entitled ‘Some Major Trends in Highlife.
11. Goethe Institute/BAPMAF Highlife Month panel discussion on 28th February on ‘The Future of Highlife’ (with Profs. Agovi, Anyidoho and Kwesi Yankah, Dr. Komla Amoako, Koo Nimo and King Bruce) Paper presented titled ‘The Highlife Imagination’ incorporated into a Chapter of Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1996.
12. The University of Ghana/Ohio University/National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute held in Accra in August 1996. Paper read entitled ‘The West African Popular Music Tradition’.
13. The Conference on Research and Education in African Music and Dance organized by the ICAMD at Legon in December, 1996. Paper read entitled ‘Popular Music, The Ghanaian School Syllabus and the Infinite Art of Improvisation.’
14. Conference on Music and Healing in Africa and the Black Diaspora organised by the ICAMD at Legon 3-5 September 1997. Paper entitled ‘Gospel Highlife: Ghana’s New Answer to Urban Anxiety’.
15. ‘Goombay: The Impact of Freed Slaves on African Popular and Neo- Traditional Music’. Paper read at the Afromusique/Africania Colloquium,Grand Bassam, Cote d’Ivoire, 2-5 December, 1998.
16 ‘Ghana’s Folk Tax: A Cultural Conundrum’. Paper presented at the Regional, Seminar on the Application of the UNESCO 1989 Recommendations on Safeguarding Traditional Culture in African Countries, held at the University of Ghana, Legon, 26-26 January, 1999.
17. Presented three seminars on the ‘De-colonisation of Ghanaian Popular
Entertainment ‘ for the CODESRIA African Humanities Institute Program
at the Graduate Studies Centre, Legon, February 2000.
18. Paper entitled ‘The Reasons for the Recent Local Gospel Music Boom in
Ghana’ read at the Consultation on Religion and Media in Africa, held at
GIMPA, Accra, 22-24th May 2000.
19. June 2000 presented a paper in Washington DC on the Music Industry
in Six African Countries for the World Bank and the Yale based Policy
Science Center.
20. Plenary paper entitled ‘The Generational Factor in Ghanaian Music: Past, Present and Future; at the Playing with Identities in African Music Conference of the Nordic African Institute at Turku/Abo, Finland, 19-22th October 2000.
21. The Copyright Consequences of Paul Simon Meeting West Africa’s Highlife Muse:Yaa Amponsah. Paper read on 9th November at the Millercom Lecture Series of the University of Illinois.
22. Paper called ‘Transnational Culture and Ghanaian Music: Copyright Conundrums in a Developing Nation’ read at a colloquium of the Centre of African Studies, University of Illinois entitled ‘Transnational Cultural Industries in Africa and Local Sites of Production’, 10th November 2000.
23. Making Ghanaian Music Exportable. Paper read at the Ghana Music Awards 2001 Workshop held at the National Theatre, Accra, 6th April 2001.
24. The Pan-African Goombay Drum-Dance: Its Ramifications and Development in Ghana. Paper read at the 12th Triennial Symposium on African Arts of the Arts Council of the US African Studies Association held in the US Virgin Islands, 25-29th April 2001
25. The Problems of Applying Copyright to Ghanaian Folklore. Lecture held at the Inter-faculty Lecture of theUniversity of Ghana on the 6th dec 2001: chaired by Professor Kwese Yankah
26. Seven lectures on the theme Jazz Returns to Africa for the US Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy Black History Month, National Theatre, 8th Feb. to 22nd March 2002
27. Ghanaian Christianity and Popular Entertainment: Full circle. Paper read at thre Symposium on Performing Arts organized by the Insitute of African Studies, University of Amsterdam June 13-14 2002 as part of the 300 years Ghana/Holland Celebration
28. World Music and Eco-Toursim. Paper read at Eco-Fest Symposium. La Palm Hotel, 14-15th October 2002
29. Sabbatical lecture tour (Nov/Dec 2002) Lectures on Ghanaian popular music and theatre/Caribbean influence/traditional retentions and progressive indigenisation/the impact of war/church influences/music workshops. GERMANY: the university of Witten/Herdecke and the Mainz Universiity African Studies Dept. SWITZERLAND: the History and Ethnomusicology Depts. Of Zurich University, The Ethnmusicology and History Depts. Of Basel University. A meeting of the Swizz Ethnomusicological Society. FRANCE: The African Studies Centre in Paris.
30. Sabbatical performance tour (Nov/Dec 2002) of Germany, Switzerland and France with the acoustic palmwine highlife group of Kwabena Nyama and the Local Dimension Band
31. Sabbatical one month residency 23 February-23rd March 2003 at Dartington College UK and lectures/workshops at Cambridge University Music Department, Anglia Polytehnic University, School of Oriental and African studies and Exeter Univerity
32. ‘One Hundred years of West African Highlife: African “Guitarism”’paper at the 1-4th August 2003 ‘Second International Symposium and Festival on Composition in Africa and the Diaspora’ held at Churchill College, Cambridge University, organised by Professor Akin Euba.
33. Showcasing Archives in Africa: The BAPMAF Highlife Centre. Paper read at the ‘Audiovisual Archives: Memory and Society’ Conference of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), held at the Univeristy of Pretoria, South Africa, 21-15 September 2003.
34. Member of nine person panel of UNESCO on safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage:Traditional Music and Dance, at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris 15-16 December 2003. Visit to UNESCO Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity Section.
35. World Music: A Stimulus to Ghanaian Tourism, Education and ‘Cross-over’ Musical Collaborations. Paper read at Faculty of Arts Colloquium, on Globalisation and the Humanities, University of Ghana, Legon, 5-6th May 2004
36. The Impact of African American Performance in Africa from 1800. Paper read at 19th International Biennial Conference of the African Studies Association of Germany (VAD) on African in Context: Historical and Contemporary Interactions with the World, Held at the University of Hannover, Germany 2-5th June 2004
37. Urbanisation and Popular Music in Ghana. Paper read at 2004 Annual Conference of the Historical Society of Ghana, University of Ghana, Legon, 14-16th July 2004
38. Denmark 20th-24th September 2004: lectures on African rhythms and drum/guitar workshops at the Rhythmic Music Department of the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen
39. Keynote Speech for ‘Symposium Celebrating Ghanaian Highlife Music: Its Impact and Relevance’, National Theatre, 26-27 November 2004, organised by Heritage Development and New York University in Ghana.
40. The Entrance of Women into Ghanaian Popular Entertainment Over the Last Fifty Years. Paper read at Faculty of Arts Colloquium on Gender and the Humanities, University of Ghana, April 2005.
41. The Ghanaian Response to the ‘World Music’ Boom. Paper read at the World Music and Small Players in the Global Music Industry Seminar, Copenhagen, 19-22th August 2005, organized by the Danish Institute for International Studies
42. A Social History of Ghanaian Popular Entertainment since Independence. Paper read at the Annual Conference of the Ghana Historical Society, August 2005, City Campus, Accra.
43. A Century of Changing Locations of Ghanaian Commercial Popular Entertainment Venues. Paper read at the International Conference ‘Les Lieux de Sociabilite Urbaine dans la Longue Duree en Afrique’ organised by SEDET (Universite Paris 7 Denis Diderot) & CEAN (Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux), Paris, 22-24 June 2006. Also read at the Annual conference of the Ghana Historical Society, August 2006, National Conference Centre, Accra’. And again presented at a University of Ghana Interfaculty Lecure on 9th November 2006.
44. ‘Ghanaian Music: Past, Present and Future’. Presentations by John Collins and K.B Asante at ‘A Nite of Our Heritage’ event to celebrate Ghana at 50, organised by the Mensah Sarbah Hall JCR held at the Mensah Sarbah Hall 5th. March 2007
45. Music and Tourism paper for Seminar on Culture and Toursim organized by the Geography Department, KNUST 26th March 2007
46. ′From Highlife to Burger Highlife′, public lecture at Goethe Institute 4th April 2007 for its ‘Made In Germany’ celebration of Ghanaian-German musical connections, linked to the Ghana@50 program
47. Lecture ‘100 years of Ghanaian Popular Music and Entertainment’, for the Yale University Weekend Institute conference on ‘The Literature of the Middle Passage’. Held at the J.H. Nketia Conference Room, Insitute of African Studies, University of Ghanaat Legon November 17&18th, 2007
6. PUBLICATION WITH DETAILS OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES, STATING
EXACT REFERENCES OF ARTICLES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Since the early seventies I have had about one hundred publications. For the sake of convenience here I have divided them into three categories; namely a) Journalistic works b) Books c) Academic/Educational articles.
a) Journalistic Work
On the topic of West African (particularly Ghanaian) popular entertainment/music industry and unions/cultural and mass communications institutions. Since 1973 I have supplied individual article, or series of them as regular correspondent, for the following magazines, journals and newspapers.
Pleasure Magazine (Accra), Music Express (Lagos x 2), Black Echoes (London x 7), Africa Now (Lagos/London x 
, Afrique Magazine (London x 2), African Magazine (London x 3), Africa Now (London x 5), New African (London x 5), Oor(Holland x 4) , West Africa Magazine (London x 21), Guardian Third World Supplement (London), Reggae and African Beat (USA x 2), African Letter (Toronto x 2), Latina (Japan), Hit Parade (Accra x 2), Uhuru Magazine (Accra), Around Ghana (Accra x 2)
b) Books
1. My Life: Victor Uwaifo the Black Knight of Music Fame, Black Bell Publishing, Accra, 1976.
2. African Pop Roots, Foulshams, London, 1985.
3. Music Makers of West Africa, Three Continents Press, Wash. DC/ Passeggiata Press, Colorado 1985, (ISBN No. 0-89410-076-9).
4. E.T. Mensah the King of Highlife, Off The Record Press, London, 1986, Reprinted by Anansesem Press, Accra in 1996.
5. West African Pop Roots, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992. (ISBN No. 0-87722-916-3)
6. Highlife Time, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1994. New expanded version published 1996. (ISBN No. 9988-522-03-3)
7. West African Popular Theatre (with Karin Barber and Alain Ricard) Indiana Univ. Press/James Currey, 1997.(ISBN No. 0-85255-244-0)
8. African Musical Symbolism in Contemporary Perspective:Roots Rhythms and Relativity (ISBN No. 3-938262-15-X) Published in 2004 by Pro-Business Book on Demand, Berlin, Germany.
9. King Bruce: The King of Blackbeat (with King Bruce and also Flemming Harrev as contributing editor). Forthcoming Anansesem Press, Accra.
10. Fela : Kalakuta Notes. Forthcoming Off The Record Press, London.
c) Academic/Educational articles and book chapters
1. Comic Opera in Ghana In African Arts, U.C.L.A., California, Vol.9, No. 2, January 1976, pp. 50-57.
2. Ghanaian Highlife. In African Arts, U.C.L.A., California, Vol.9 10,No. 1, October 1976, pp. 62-8 and 100.
3. Post-war Popular Bands in West Africa, In African Arts, U.C.L.A., California vol. 10, No.3, April 1977, pp. 53-60.
4. West African music: An Audio-visual Teaching Aid (with R. Graham), Pub. By Afro-asian Resources Centre, Newmann College Birmingham in 1980.
5. West African Music: Suggestions for an Interpretive Framework (with Dr. Paul Richards). First published in Popular music Perspectives, Exeter and Goteborg (eds) ). Tagg and D. Horne, 1982, pp. 111-141. Reprinted under the title ‘Popular Music in West Africa’ in World music, Politics and Social Change, (ed) Simon Frith, Manchester University Press, 1989, pp. 12-67.
6. Crisis in the Ghanaian Music Industry. In Velernen Was Mich Stumm Mach, (ed) Al Imfeld, Uionsverlag, Zurich, 1980, pp. 226-228.
7. The Concert Party in Ghana. In Musical Traditions, Exeter (ed) Keith Summers, No. 4, 1985, pp. 37-39.
8. Jazz Feedback to Africa. In American Music, (ed) John Graziano, published by the Sonneck Society/University of Illinois Press, Vol.5, No. 2, Summer 1987, pp. 176-193.
9. Comic Opera in Ghana. In Ghanaian Literatures: Critical Perspectives, (ed) Richard Priebe, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1988, pp. 61-72.
10. African Music Strengthens Cultural Autonomy. In group media Journal, (ed) Sheila O’Connell, published by SONOLUX, Munich, Vol. VIII, No. 4, 1989, pp. 17-21.
11. The Early History of West African Highlife Music. In Popular Music, (ed) Ian Fairley and Stan Rijven, University of Cambridge Press, 1989, Vol. 8, No.3 pp. 221-230.
12. Article on West African Popular Music (translated into Japanese) for Japanese Noise: Music Magazine, (ed. Toyo Nakamuru), Tokyo, Number 1, Spring 1989.
13. Running a Band, a Music Studio and Music Archives in Ghana. In Proceedings of the AVA-90 Conference, Fayum, Sweden, (eds) Tellef Kvifte and Gunnar Ternhag, published by the Dalarna Research Council of Sweden/University of Oslo, 1990, pp. 9-19.
14. African Music in the Space Age: The Agbadza Drums. In Music Letter journal edited and published by Charles Keil of SUNY Buffalo, 1990, pp. 57-68. Reprinted in edited form as ‘Traditional Hot and Cool Rhythms’ in west African Pop Roots, by John Collins, Temple University Press, 1992, pp. 1-16. Reprinted in full form as ‘The Traditional Musical Background’; in Highlife Time by John Collins, Anansesem Press, Accra, 1996, pp. 113-122.
15. Die Populare Music in Westafrika Nach Dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. In Populare Musik if Africa (ed) Veit Erlmann, published by the Museum Fur Volkekunde, Berlin, 1991, pp. 15-31.
16. Folklore – Some Problems of Copyright. In Ghana Copyright News, issue 3, Jan 1991-Dec.1992, pp. 17-19. Based on a paper presented at the National Workshop on Copyright held by the Ghana Copyright Administration, the Ghana National Commission on Culture and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, WIPO, at the Academy of African Music and Arts, AAMA, at Kokrobite, Accra October 9-11th 1990.
17. Some Anti-Hegemonic Aspects of African Popular Music. In Rockin’ The Boat (ed) Reebee Garafalo, Southern Press, Boston, 1992, pp. 185-194.
18. The Concert Party: Popular Entertainment and the Ghanaian School Syllabus (NAFAC 92 PAPER). In The Empowerment of culture (eds) Ad Boeren and Kees A. Epskamp, published by the Centre fo the Study of Education in Developing countries (CESO), The Hague, CESO Paperback No. 17, 1992, pp. 171-177.
19. The Problems of Oral Copyright. In Music and Copyright (ed) Simon Frith, Edinburgh University Press, 1994, pp. 194, pp. 146-158.
20. Interview with John Collins on the Cultural Policy, Folklore and Recording Industry of Ghana, by Cynthia Schmidt.In The Guitar in /Africa:The 1950’s – 90’s (ed. Cynthia Schmidt) In The World of Music published by the International Institute for Traditional Music, Germany, volume 36, number 2, 1994, pp. 138-147.
21. The Ghanaian Concert Party. In Glendora Review, African Quarterly on the Arts (ed) Dapo Adeniyi, Lagos, vol. 1, No. 4. 1996, pp. 85-88.
22. Music Feedback: African-American’s Music in Africa. In Issue, A Journal of Opinion (eds) B. Hawk and L. Brock, published by the African Studies Association of the USA, Vol. XXIV. No. 2, 1996, pp. 26-27.
23. Fela and the Black President Film. In Glendora African Quarterly of the Arts, (ed) Dapo Adeniyi, Lagos, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1997, pp.57-73
24. The Evolution of West African Popular Entertainment. . The Encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan Africa (ed) John Middleton, Charles Scribner and Sons Reference Books, U.S.A. 1999.’
25. Ghana Entry (with Ronnie Graham) for the Rough Guide to World Music,Volume 1, (eds. S. Broughton, M. Ellingham and R. Trillo). Published by Rough Guide/Penguin, London, 1999, pp.488-498
26. Hitechnology, Individual Copyright and Ghanaian Music, in the book Ghana: Changing Values/Changing Technologies, (ed) Helen Lauer, published by the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, U.S.A, 2000.
27. Paper on the African Music Industry. For the June 20th 2000 Workshop of the World Bank on Developing the Music Industry in Africa.. Available from the Policy Science Center, 127 Wall St. Room 314, BOX 208215, New Haven, CT. 06529-8215.
28. La Musique Populaire de L’Ouest Africain Anglophone, in Notre Librarie: Literatures du Nigeria et du Ghana:2 (ed. Jean-Louis Joubert) published by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Number 141, July-September 2000, pp. 114-118.]
29. The Generational Factor in Ghanaian Music: Concert Parties, Highlife, Simpa, Kpanlogo and Gospel, Article in Playing With Identities in the Contemporary Music of Africa, (eds. M. Palmberg and A. Kirkegaard), Published by the Nordic African Institute/Sibelius Museum Apo, Finland. 2002. pp 60-74.
30. Three articles on the Ghanaian Music Industry (A Quarter Century of Problems:The Way Forwards: The Gospel Boom) In West Africa Magazine , London, 19-25th August 2002 (issue 4339) pp 8-13.
31. Eight entries (on the Ghanaian and Liberian popular music and recording industry) for the Continuum Encyclopaedia of Popular Music of the World Vols. I and II (eds. John Shepherd, David Horn, Dave Laing, Paul Oliver and Peter Wicke) published by Cassell, London, March and May 2003.
32. The ‘Folkloric Copyright Tax’ Problem in Ghana. Media Development, the Journal of the World Association for Christian Communication, London. No. 1, 2003, pp 10-14.
33. Fela and the Black President Film: A Diary. Chapter in the book Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway, (ed) Trevor Schoonmaker, Palgrave/Macmillan Press, June 2003. 2003, pp. 55-77.
34. Ghanaian Women Enter into Popular Entertainment. Humanities Review Journal, (ed) Dr. Foluke M. Ogunleye, Vol. 3, No.1, (ISBN 1596-0749), Published by the Humanities Research Forum, University of Idadan and Obefemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, June 2003, pp.1-10.
35. Music and Mathematics. In: History of Philosophy and Science for African Undergraduates, (ed) Helen Lauer, Hope Publications, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2003, pp. 688-678. (ISBN No 978-37018-0-0)
36. Urban Anxiety and its Sonic Response. Glendora Review, Lagos, Nigeria, (ed.) Olakunle Tejuoso, Vol. 3, No, 2 & 4, 2004, pp 23-8.
37. Entry on Music: West African “Highlife”. For African Folklore: An Encyclopedia, (eds) Phillip Peek and Kwesi Yankah. Routledge, New York and London 2004, pp. 275-276.
38. The African American Impact on Anglophone West Africa. VAD June 2004 Conference Paper. Published on the VAD website,
www.vad-ev.de, (ed) Verena Uka, University of Hannover, Department of History, Germany, 2004.
39. Ghanaian Christianity and Popular Entertainment: Full Circle. History in Africa, (ed. David Henige, Wisconsin University) Number 31, 2004, pp. 389-391.
40. The Decolonisation of Ghanaian Popular Entertainment. In Urbanization and African Cultures, (eds). Toyin Falola and Steven Salm. Carolina Academic Press, North Carolina, USA, 2005, pp.119-137.
41. Ghanaian Popular Performance and the Urbanisation Process: 1900-1980. Transactions: Journal of the Historical Society of Ghana, New Series, No, 8, 2004, pp. 203-226.
42. A Social History of Ghanaian Popular Entertainment since Independence.Published in Transactions: Journal of the Ghana Historical Society (eds: Irene Odotey & Per Hernaes) New Series 9, University of Ghana, 2005, pp 17-40.
43. One Hundred years of Censorhip in Ghanaian Popular Music Performance. In Popular Music Censorship in Africa, Ashgate Publishing Company, UK and USA, (eds) Michael Drewett and Martin Cloonan, 2006, pp.171-186.
44. Entry on Ghana (with Ronnie Graham). For The Rough Guide to World Music: Africa and the Middle East, (eds) Simon Broughton, Mark Ellington and Jon Lusk. Pubished by Rough Guide, London, 2006, pp. 123-135
45. The History of Ghanaian Highlife. In Discovering Ghana (ed. Graham Knight) Astro Prining/Publications, Accra, November 2006, Issue 1, pp.11-12
46. High On Life (on Ghana’s 50th independence anniversary) Songlines, London, (ed Simon Broughton), Issue 44, June 2007 pp. 28-32.
47. The Evolution of West African Popular Entertainment entry for New Encylopedia of Africa (eds. J. Middleton, J. Taylor & K.Wachsberger). ISBN 978-0-684-31454-9. Published by Charles Scribner and Sons Reference Books, U.S.A. 2007.
48. African Guitarism: 100 Years of West African Highlife. Legon Journal of the Humanities, Vol. XVII, 2006, pp. 173-196, (eds. Gordon Adika & Kofi Ackah). Published by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ghana, Legon. ISSN 0855-1502 .
49. The Pan-African Goombay Drum-Dance: Its Ramifications and Development in Ghana. Legon Journal of the Humanities, Vol. XVIII, 2007, pp. 179-200, (eds. Gordon Adika & Kofi Ackah). Published by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ghana Legon. ISSN 0855-1502
7. CD AND MUSIC VIDEO RELEASES
1977 Acted as colonial Education Officer Reynolds in the “Black President” biographical film on ( and co-produced by) Fela Anikulapo-Kuti . Made in Ghana and Nigeria in1977.
1983: Consultant for Third Eye/ BBC film on black music
‘Repercussions’. Episode on Ghanaian popular music
1988: Consultant for Danish Loki Film production ‘African Cross
Rhythms/Listen to the Silence ’ (released 1994/re-released 1996)
1992: Consultant for the Dutch ID TV film on Ghanaian brass bands
‘Brass Unbound’
1994: Consultant for Ghana Television film ‘The Story of Highlife’
1994: Consultant for German Huschert Realfilm production ‘Highlife in
Ghana.’
1995: Consultant for German Bavarian TV film ‘Art Music in Ghana’
1995: Consultant for Norwegian Vision TV film ‘When the Moment
Sings’
1999 Facilitator for Palm Pictures/Island Records ‘A Giant Leap
Forward/Astronaut’ music- video film and CD ROM .
1999 Highlife: From Yaa Amponsah to Telephone Lobi’. 1999 for
Dutch NPS TV. Theo Uittenbogaard Prorductions, Amsterdam
2001 Stage Shakers: Ghana’s Concert party
Theatre, Director Kwame Braun Indiana University Press
2002 NAXOS (US/Hong Kong record company) release ‘Electric
Highlife’.
2003 Otrabanda Records Amsterdam. ‘Vintage Highlife’ (acoustic
guitar music Kwaa Mensah, Koo Nimo and T.O.Jazz
recorded Bokoor Studio.
2003 Earthworks/Sterns African Records. ‘Guitar and Gun’ (recordings
from Bokoor Studio)
2004 Remix version of J.Collins/Bunzus 1970’s Afrobeat ‘Onukpa
Shwarpo’ By Atongo Zimba for Savannah Breeze CD , Hippo
Records Amsterdam
2007 Release of Bokoor Beats compilation highlife/Afro-beat CD released
By otrabanda Records, Holland
8. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES THAT PROFESSOR OF WHICH JOHN COLLINS IS A MEMBER
1) Made an Honourary Life Member (with Prof. J.H.K. Nketia and
Dr. Daniel Ampomah/Koo Nimo) in 1987 of the International
Association for the Study of Popular Musicc (IASPM)
2) Manager of the Bokoor recording studio, Accra since 1982
3) Acting Chairman of the Accra based African Popular Music
Archives Foundation BAPMAF since 1990
4) Music Director since 1997 of the Ghana University based Local
Dimension acoustic highlife band
5) Became patron of the Afika Obonu Drum and Music Therapy
Ensemble in Feb. 2002.
6) Consultant since 2002 (on the World Bank project to assist the African Music Industry) for MUSIGA (the Ghana Musicians Union), GOMAWA (the Ghana Old Musicians and Artists Welfare Assocation, the GCPU (Ghana Concert Parties Union) and the Ghana Actors Guild .
7) On the Board of Directors in 2002 of Love Africa (Ghana music for
schools project) established by Rocky Dawuni and modelled the US
VH 1 Save the Music Project.
8) Dec 2003 Imnited to be on the Editorial Board of the International
Journal of HumanisticStudies of the University of Swaziland, editor
Dr. (Mrs.) Foluke Ogunleye.
9) April 2005 became a patron of the King’s Drama Company, led by
Basil Gbeli Yaabere.
10) September 2006 became member of the Ghana Music Foundation
11) January 2007 became a member of theBoard of the Ghanaian Fund for Development and Exchange of the Royal Danish Embassy in Ghana and the Danish Centre for Culture and Development.
, Afrique Magazine (London x 2), African Magazine (London x 3), Africa Now (London x 5), New African (London x 5), Oor(Holland x 4) , West Africa Magazine (London x 21), Guardian Third World Supplement (London), Reggae and African Beat (USA x 2), African Letter (Toronto x 2), Latina (Japan), Hit Parade (Accra x 2), Uhuru Magazine (Accra), Around Ghana (Accra x 2)
