The performing arts and the post-colonial Ghanaian experience: the Ghana National Symphony Orchestra in perspective

Soon after Ghana gained political independence from colonial rule in 1957, cultural development was viewed as a national priority. The authors discuss the development of Ghana’s National Symphony Orchestra, which was established some 50 years ago as one of several institutions to spearhead the African cultural renaissance agenda in Ghana. Of the several institutions established the orchestra was criticized the most, provoked by the apparent paradox of seeking to promote African art music through a Western orchestra, a relic of the colonial cultural hegemony. The authors recount the history of the national orchestra and argue that, like other indigenized colonial institutions, the debate over its cultural relevance or otherwise should focus on the use(s) to which that ensemble is put in the Ghanaian context rather than on its history of origin and instrumentation. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited]