The field once known as comparative musicology, later redefined as ethno­musico­logy, was historically shaped by Euro­centric frame­works that positioned non-European music(s) as sources for recon­structing the prehistory of Western art music. While it is basically productive to work with a comparative approach that is ‘free of centrisms’, post­colonial and decolonial scholar­ship has long challenged such hier­archies, a pressing question remains: what does it mean to pursue comparative music research in the 21st century, particularly from Africa? This works­hop proposes to revisit comparative musicology from the South, grounding it in African episte­mologies, collabo­rative knowledge-making, and the cultural realities of the digital age. Kwabena Nketia’s (1984) call for universal perspec­tives in ethno­musico­logy already antici­pated the need for comparative approaches that situate African traditions within global conver­sations rather than at their margins. Building on that vision, the workshop aims to rethink comparison as a dialogic, co-creative, and multi-sited process that emerges through shared musical practices, rather than as a one-directional act of classification. Ghana offers an ideal context for such rethinking. As the birthplace of highlife and a major node in trans­national musical exchange, Ghanaian sound cultures, including the traditional and popular, exemplify how African musicians have long engaged in comparative processes through adap­tation, trans­lation, and experimen­tation. From early highlife orchestras and church music syncretism to today’s Afrobeats and digital remix cultures, the Ghanaian experience reveals comparison as a lived, creative act. In the 21st century, digiti­zation, AI-driven listening, and trans-local collabo­ration further expand the terrain of compa­rative inquiry. The workshop will therefore explore new frame­works for under­standing how musical ideas travel, transform, and acquire meaning across space, media, and ideology. The workshop aims to articulate models of comparison that are reciprocal, decolonial, and future-oriented by bringing together scholars, artists, and early-career researchers to dialogue.

Keynote
Sylvia Bruinders (Cape Town)
Comparative Musicology after Decoloniality: Rethinking Comparison in the Twenty-First Century

Presentations

Comparative Pathways of Musical Change

Olaolu Emmanuel Adekola (Ibadan)
Comparative process and adaptation in àgídìgbo music among the Yorùbá of Nigeria

Eyram E. K. Fiagbedzi (Legon)
Brass, Borrowing, and Becoming: The Trumpet in Borborbor as a Site of Comparative Musical Adaptation

Maud Enam Ashiabor (Legon)
Continuity and Transformation of Adowa Performance Practice in Asabea Cropper’s Torwia in Asabea

Comparative Studies in Choral, Sacred, and Art Music

Emmanuel Nii Adjei Sowah (Legon)
Between the Sacred and the Secular: The Sacralisation of Ghanaian Choral Highlife

Kingsley Joseph Ennin Kwesi Acheampong (Legon)
Comparative Musicology and Contemporary Ghanaian Choral Composition: Insights from George Mensah Essilfie’s Yɛdze Wo Kɛseyɛ Maw and Everybody Bring Your Calabash

Peter Twum-Barimah (Legon)
Tracing Stylistic Continuity and Innovation in Ghanaian Art Music: A Comparative Musicological Study of First- and Second-Generation Composers

Highlife in Comparative Perspective

Grace Takyi Donkor (Legon)
Gender, modernity and social imagination in Ghanaian Highlife Music,1950s and 1980s

Florian Heesch & Theresa Nink (Siegen)
Comparing Schlager and Highlife with Louis Armstrong

Michael Ohene Okantah Junior (Legon)
From Indigenous to Popular: A Comparative Study of osoode and osoode Highlife among the Fante People of Ghana

Archives, Heritage, and Musical Knowledge Systems

Stephen Nyanteh Ayesu (Winneba)
Enabling Comparative Musicology in the Digital Age: Evaluating the Archival Readiness of Ghanaian Traditional Music Collections

Eric Sunu Doe & Samuel Asare Agyare (Legon)
Palmwine Music Revitalization and Musical Knowledge-Making in Ghana

Amélia Mel Matsinhe (Pretoria)
Wu Munhu as an Indigenous comparative framework for researching the integration of Mozambican music within contemporary music Industry

Decolonial Approaches to Comparative Musicology

Nana Amowee Dawson (Cape Coast)
From Artistic Translation to Comparative Musicology: Asɛmpayɛtsia, Kodzi, and Decolonial Frameworks for Musical Comparison

Helene E. Heuser (Siegen)
Thinking with – towards a comparative popular music ecocriticism

Kei Suzuki (Siegen)
Inventing “Our Music”: The Transcultural Construction of Musical Tradition in Japanese Music Education

Comparative Pedagogies and Musical Transmission

Abena Serwaa Osei Korankye & Adwoa Arhine (Legon)
“This Small Thing Speaks”: Gendered Apprenticeship and Comparative Father–Daughter Pedagogies in Seperewa Performance

Andrew Yinintete Bamongya (Winneba)
Two Classrooms: Translating Gologo Festival Pedagogy into Formal Schooling as a Comparative Act