Bright Essel (2025)

This paper presents the Anthora (Anthology of Songs) conceptual framework, a model designed to guide kindergarten teachers in the systematic selection, categorisation, and application of indigenous songs for holistic child development. Developed in response to the 2019 Ghanaian Kindergarten Curriculum’s emphasis on an integrated approach to the 4Rs (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and cReative arts), the framework addresses a critical gap in teachers’ pedagogical resources and skills. A qualitative case study in the Gomoa Central District, incorporating observations and interviews with 40 teachers, culminated in the collection and thematic categorisation of 78 indigenous Akan songs. The Anthora framework demonstrates how these songs can be strategically used to foster cognitive (numeracy, literacy), psychomotor (movement, coordination), and affective (moral values, cultural identity) development. This paper outlines the framework’s structure, provides exemplar songs and teaching activities, and argues for its potential to make learning more meaningful, contextually relevant, and aligned with the goals of the national curriculum.

Kayode Morohunfola (2025)

In the last over one and a half centuries of the growth and development of African Art Music Compositions, composers have depended on a number of preexisting materials as thematic materials in their syncretic compositions. Some of these materials are African folk music, traditional songs, rhythm and melodies that recalls traditional scenes, African hymnodies and common liturgical choruses. Most of the liturgical choruses used by these composers have been passed down through the ages by rote method, which is largely due to the inability of the composers to notate their ideas. Some of these art music composers who have depended on common liturgical choruses in their compositions, apart from producing artistic works that their audience can easily comprehend with, breaking barriers of musical cultures, they also succeeded in documenting and archiving these choruses unknowingly through using one of the best means of documentation, which is the staff notation (scoreography). This research is premised on the framework of Archival science theory. The work will be focused on some Choral Art music compositions of Sunday Olawuwo, Kayode Oguntade and Gbenga Obagbemi. The primary materials used in the three compositions are some common Yoruba liturgical choruses. In other to achieve the goal of this qualitative research, I depended largely on the staff notation of those music under focus, I also depended on direct interviews, interview through social media devices such as WhatsApp and Facebook as primary sources of eliciting information. My secondary sources of eliciting materials are bibliographical materials such as textbooks, journals, magazines and some internet sources. The work looked into some of the compositional tools used in achieving African authenticity of the intercultural liturgical choral composition. This research recommends a furtherance of African compositional musicology through artistic rebranding, archiving and documentation of preexisting liturgical choruses.

Tayo Simeon Arinde (2025)

This paper explores “Kwame-nis!”, Kwame Nkrumah’s leadership dynamics, exemplified in Femi Osofisan’s Nkrumah-ni!…Africa-ni! The approach is seen a facsimile of the conventional method of Play Directing, theatrically accentuated in the play. When “Kwame-nis!” is juxtaposed with play making methodology, it is a replica of the conventional play directing approach, which this paper advocates as a leadership loom for Nigerian leaders. A qualitative research design approach, complimented with the tool of descriptive and textual analysis were the methodology through which the primary data of this work were drawn. Transformational Leadership Theory of James MacGregor Burns (1978) is employed to analyse the visionary disposition of Kwame Nkrumah leadership dynamics, juxtaposed with the conventional directing style in the dramaturgical analysis of Osofisan in Nkrumah-ni…Africa-ni! The paper finds that in play directing are deeply seated leadership model the replica of what Nkrumah’s “Kwame-nis!” leadership style typifies for leaders’ world over. The paper therefore, concluded that play directing is a lens through which the concept of leadership is exponentially made visible to the world. It, therefore, recommended that more professional registers should be explored as a medium of communication and pathways to demonstrating ethics in governance for leaders in Africa.

Johnson Kwaku Edu (2025)

In contemporary academic institutions, the integration of indigenous cultural symbolism into formal ceremonies serves as a critical mechanism for preserving heritage and fostering community inclusion. Situated within this context, the distinct cultural heritage of the Effutu municipality and the academic ceremonies at the University of Education, Winneba, offer a unique framework for examining this synergy. This paper explores the artistic design, construction, and theatrical integration of the Aboakyer Deer, a sacred symbol of the Effutu people, in the Chancellor’s Investiture ceremony at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). Adopting a studio-based research paradigm and an aesthetic-action research design, the project documents the technical and creative processes involved in translating a cultural icon into a functional theatrical property (prop). The creation process was theoretically grounded in Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow theory, highlighting the psychological immersive state required for artistic production. The paper details the construction techniques, utilising foam, synthetic fur, and structural engineering, to achieve a realistic representation suitable for ceremonial display. Findings indicate that the visual presence of the constructed Deer enhanced the aesthetic spectacle of the investiture and successfully bridged the gap between academic traditions and the host community’s customs. The paper concludes that fusing traditional iconography with academic rites cultivates a sense of identity and cultural pride, validating prop construction as a vital form of scholarly and cultural practice within institutional storytelling.