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In a historic move for African music heritage, ethnomusicologist and musician Professor John Collins has joined the Dikan Centre to lead its newly established Bokoor Department, dedicated to African music, theatre, and oral history.
The renowned scholar has entrusted Dikan with his extensive personal archives, amounting to an extraordinary six million culturally significant items, marking a monumental milestone for cultural preservation.
Prof Collins, globally recognised for over five decades of pioneering research into African music, particularly Ghana’s highlife genre, described the partnership as a critical step toward safeguarding Africa’s rich musical traditions.
“Joining Dikan Centre offers a tremendous opportunity to protect these invaluable cultural treasures and share them widely. This partnership ensures future generations can appreciate the profound diversity and history of African music, Prof Collins said.
The vast archive encompasses rare music recordings, original research papers, unpublished manuscripts, historical photographs, musical instruments, academic writings, and oral histories gathered meticulously over decades.
Many of these precious items had faced deterioration and flood damage but are now undergoing careful digitisation and cataloguing by Dikan’s specialists, creating an accessible digital repository for researchers and the public alike.
Prof Collins’s illustrious career includes seminal works such as Highlife Time, West African Pop Roots, and African Musical Symbolism, and biographies of iconic African musicians like E.T. Mensah, King Bruce, Fela Kuti, Victor Uwaifo, Kwaa Mensah, and Ghanaba.
His establishment of the Bokoor Band in the 1970s and the influential Bokoor Recording Studio in Accra during the 1980s and 1990s significantly impacted global perceptions of African popular music.
Under Prof Collins’s direction, the Bokoor Department at Dikan is set to become Africa’s foremost centre for research and education in traditional, neo-traditional, and popular music genres.
A key initiative will be the upcoming “100 Years of Highlife” exhibition in 2025, celebrating a century since the genre’s inception.
The department will also spearhead international efforts with UNESCO to elevate highlife music to the status of a global intangible cultural heritage.
Dikan has further established the Bokoor Fellowship to support scholars, musicians, and cultural curators in research and creative endeavours around African music and traditions.
This fellowship aims to nurture new insights and strengthen global discourse on Africa’s vibrant cultural legacy.
Paul Ninson, Director of Dikan Centre, expressed his enthusiasm for Collins’s involvement: “Having Professor Collins join us significantly strengthens our capacity to preserve and promote African cultural heritage on a global scale. His expertise and archives are not just invaluable to Ghana but a treasure to the global community.”
This unparalleled archive, now housed at Dikan, promises to be a beacon of cultural scholarship, inspiring a deeper understanding and appreciation of African music across generations.
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