Drumming Destination: Musician leads cultural study trip to Ghana
For the last five years, Theo Martey has been leading cultural immersion trips to Ghana.
Martey, New Hampshire’s Artist Laureate from 2022-24, now lives in Manchester, but he was born and raised in Accra, Ghana. He is a drummer, dancer, songwriter and founder of the Akwaaba Ensemble.
“I do this once a year,” he says. “It’s just connecting back with the culture. It feels really great giving back to my community back in Ghana, and connecting with people that I left back home.”
In January, he took his most recent cohort for two weeks of drumming and dance lessons, trips to cultural institutions, entertainment and culinary exploration, and shopping in local markets.
“We do a tour around the city, visit museums of Ghana and see the sites of the past and present presidents,” Martey says. “And we visit other places like Elmina Castle, where the slaves were kept before being transported to the United States.”
Martey coordinates classes with local musicians to teach the workshops. Some of them he’s known for some 15 years.
Students come not only from New Hampshire but across the world, from as far away as Australia and England, or as near as Maine.
“Some of them are teachers that want to learn more about the world music,” Martey says. “Some are people that want to go on tour to Ghana, and learn about the culture. So it’s a mix of people.”
Regardless of if they are musicians, teachers or just people looking to travel, Martey says that participants will discover that Ghana is a safe place to immerse themselves in a new culture.
“It’s important for me to spread the music and everything that I do with everybody around me,” Martey says.
This article was featured in 603 Diversity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.
