Youth Link Ghana a non for profit Christian Organisation with interest in
helping the holistic education of Children to maximise their full potentials,
recently honoured Mr. Walter Komla Blege, a seasoned Art Composer, Author,
Educationist, Historian and Politician.
Presenting a citation to the octogenarian, Mr. Kakra
Opoku Agyakwa, Executive Secretary of Youth Link, extolled the Musician’s
contribution to the growth of music in the country and stressed the need to
celebrate these men while they lived.
The citation lauded Mr Blege “for using music to
convince the world that your identity lies in the expression of indigenous
African music”.
Beside the citation,
Youth Link selected one of his compositions -Enno Ninyo, to wit Let it be good, as the theme song for this
year’s edition of the Voice Battle held at the Ghana Police Church at 37,
Accra.
While
thanking organisers of the programme for the honour, Mr. Blege, in his all
white attired, urged composers to project Ghanaian values and unique identity
of the country in their compositions.
At 86, he still shares the conviction that music is his desire – a desire
that convinces him that the answer to the question of his identity lies in the
expression of indigenous African music.
Mr.
Blege who is deeply influenced by the traditional genre of music, including gabada, gavu, gbolo and borborbor, is the first Ghanaian to have
written a two-hour opera on the advent of Christianity in Africa by Europeans,
using the example of the Bremen Missionary in Peki.
With hundreds of composition to his credit,
the Art Composer is also recognised for his significant role in the indigenisation
of the Ewe Music for Christian liturgy in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
He
is the author of the book entitled: Teaching
for Development, which won the 1988 edition of the Ghana Book Award. Until recently, Mr. Blege was the President
of the Evangelical Presbyterian University College (EPUC), Ho.
His
Excellency Charles B. Josob, Namibian High Commissioner to Ghana, commended
Youth Link for celebrating Mr. Blege, who he urged the young to emulate.
Madam
Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education, eulogised
Mr. Blege, urged stakeholders to harness the power of music in nation building.
