- Date:
- 2020-09-28
- Main contributors:
- Sowah Mensah
- Summary:
- Sowah Mensah (St. Paul, Minnesota) Sowah Mensah is an ethnomusicologist, composer and master drummer from Ghana. Sowah taught music in both Ghana and Nigeria before becoming a music professor at both Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he also directs each school’s African Music Ensemble. Mensah also directs the African Music Ensemble at the University of Minnesota and is the director of Sankofa, a Ghanaian Folklore and Dance Ensemble in the Twin Cities. He has performed extensively in the U.S., Latin America, and Africa, where he performed with the Ghana National Symphony Orchestra. In the U.S., he has performed with stars like Max Roach, Don Cherry, Roscoe Mitchell, and Julius Hemphill. He has also performed with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, as well as many festivals around the U.S. and abroad. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/28/2020.