Review of Younge's book Ghanian Music and Dance

Review of Younge's book Ghanian Music and Dance
Submitted by Doris Green - May 10, 2012

 

Published in The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.5, no.1, March 2012. 

The direct link to the review is: 

http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol5no1/5.1DGreenReview.pdf

It is lengthy, but such a review cannot be limited to one or two pages and do justice to such a vital subject. 

As you know Ghana is the leader in African music and dance in education being the first country to have traditional music and dance as part of the curriculum, first as certificate and diploma courses, and later as courses leading to degrees both on the undergraduate and graduate levels. The University of Ghana was the first to teach Labanotation. This is the first book published on Ghanaian music since the writing of A.M. Jones in the fifties. As Younge is a Ghanaian himself, it is written from the African perspective.