Associate Professor, Afroamerican and African Studies/Music
About
Kwasi Ampene received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999 and has been a member of faculty in the College of Music since the fall of 2000. As an African music specialist, Ampene specializes in the rich musical traditions of the Akan of Ghana. His publications include, Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana: The Creative Process in Nnwonkoro (Ashgate UK, 2005), “Mensah, E.T.” in the New Encyclopedia of Africa (Charles Scribner’s Sons/The Gale Group, 2007) and a review of Ruth Stone’s Music of West Africa in the flagship journal, Ethnomusicology (2007), and Jacqueline C. Djedje’s Fiddling in West Africa in American Ethnologist (2009). He has given numerous presentations on various aspects of African music and cultures at major universities, national, and international conferences including the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the 2nd International Symposium on the Music of Africa at Princeton University, a colloquium at the University of Ghana, and the 2009 54th Annual Meeting of the SEM in Mexico City.
Award(s)
- Martin Luther King, Jr., César Chavez, Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship, University of Michigan, 2010
- CACMA Certificate of Appreciation (award shared with two others) for the Ethnomusicology Program in the University of Colorado College of Music, 2003
- Community Builder Brick Appreciation Award, by the University of Colorado Building Community Campaign Committee, 2002
