• 1947-1957: The Story of Ghana’s Independence

    “I never realized what a prolonged battle I would have with the politicians, chiefs and people of the Gold Coast in order to give them the independence for which they have been clamouring all these years. Now they are going to have it whether they like it or not” – Sir Charles Arden-Clarke (Governor of the Gold Coast, 1949-1957)

    What would have influenced the above statement by the last Governor of the Gold Coast, which reveals the complicated, frustrating and tortuous trajectory of the last decade in the struggle for Ghana’s independence? This book, 1947-1957: The Story of Ghana’s Independence, not only answers this question but critically examines the roots of the nationalist movement and the role plays by several individuals, including Arden-Clarke himself and the various political organizations that led to the independence of the Gold Coast from British rule on March 6, 1957.

  • A Complete Course in Senior High School Oral English (with Audio CD)

    This material shows teachers and students how to recognise and produce the sounds of the English Language with specific attention to sounds that are problematic for speakers of English in West Africa.  The exercises at the end of each level accompanied by some suggested answers helps students to self-evaluate their understanding.

  • Understanding Management in Living

    An in-depth and comprehensive material which covers all aspects of the Senior High School syllabus for the Management in Living programme. This book is recommended for the teaching and learning of Management in Living in Senior High Schools (SHS), Technical/ Vocational Institutes and Colleges of Education by GES.

  • Frooties Get a New Nanny (Hardcover)

    Age: 4 to 6 years

    This story will take you to frootfield where the 9 Froot Children live with their parents; Mr. and Mrs. Tropical Froot. The froot children are known for their topsy turvy behaviour – sometimes good, sometimes bad- and they just needed a new Nanny to set them right.

    Find out how Mrs. Lunga became their Nanny while learning about choices and consequences.

     

  • Ananse and the Pig

    Age Range: 7 – 12 years

    Ananse moves into a new neighbourhood and makes friends with Prako, the Pig. They help each other in many ways until there is a famine and the two friends go hunting early one morning…

  • African Pianism: Twelve Pedagogical Pieces

    “African Pianism refers to a style of piano music which derives its characteristic idiom from the procedures of African percussion music as exemplified in bell patterns, drumming, xylophone and mbira music. It may use simple or extended rhythmic motifs or the lyricism of traditional songs and even those of African popular music as the basis of its rhythmic phrases. It is open ended as far as the use of tonal materials is concerned except that it may draw on the modal and cadential characteristics of traditional music.

    “Its harmonic idiom may be tonal, atonal, consonant or dissonant in whole or in part, depending on the preferences of the composer, the mood or impressions he wishes to create or how he chooses to reinforce, heighten or soften the jaggedness of successive percussive attacks. In this respect the African composer does not have to tie himself down to any particular school of writing if his primary aim is to explore the potential of African rhythmic and tonal usages.”

    Although I have felt the need for this kind of material even in the 1950s, most of the Twelve Pedagogical Pieces in this volume were written when the school of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana was established in the 1960s in order to give the African piano student being nurtured on simplified and original versions of Western piano repertoire something with African rhythmic and tonal flavour that may enrich his experience, shapes his orientation, sense of timing and coordination of rhythmic and tonal events.

    As the titles of the pieces indicate, I have used a variety of traditional and popular sources as the basis of the compositions. Each source establishes a framework of rhythmic and tonal configuration from which a few idiomatic derivatives are made and used in the inner and outer structures of the piece in such a way as to create a perpetual feeling of propulsive motion. Each piece is sustained by a particular quality of motion created in this manner.

    As in traditional African practice each piece can be repeated once or twice except where a definite closure is indicated by a retard. The pianist can also select a number of them and play them as a suite. A few of them such as the Volta Fantasy and Meditation can stand on their own as concert pieces and have been presented in that manner by both African and Western pianist. It is my hope, there- fore, that some of the pedagogical pieces will be of general interest. – J. H. Kwabena Nketia

  • Sharing Knowledge and Experience: A Profile of Kwabena Nketia – Scholar and Music Educator

    Kwabena Nketia was a renowned scholar, linguist, composer, poet, researcher, teacher and musicologist in Ghana. His writings have become standard reference works on African musicology, and his work spanned many countries and interests. Nketia maintained a strong interest in Afro-American concerns, African musical traditions and Africans and blacks in the diaspora; and he worked tirelessly on establishing a theoretical framework of African music; consciousness of African identity in music; and to produce publications representing his own musical culture.

    This biography concentrates on the educational and research aspects of Nketia’s work, assessing the importance of his contribution to African musicology, thought on music education, and practical application of ethnomusicology and composition in teaching method, and exercises in African rhythm.

  • The Canoe’s Story (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 6 – 12 years

    “But I did not have time yet to stare and wonder. The men wrestled me out of the machine and pushed and towed me across the sand to the shade of coconut palms. The moment I touched the ground, I heard a chorus of voices saying, ‘Akwaaba. Welcome to the coast!’ It was from the group of canoes and I was rather surprised that they spoke my language. But needed not be surprised. I had forgotten that they all came from the same forest in the hitherland where I too had come from.”

    Written by Ghanaian author Meshack Asare, The Canoe’s Story is a children’s book about a tree’s journey from the forest to becoming a canoe sailing the ocean. Told from the tree’s perspective, this richly illustrated story, portrays the strong ties between man and nature.

  • The Cross Drums (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 7 – 12 years

    Selected by the International Youth Library, Munich, for the 2009 White Ravens list of outstanding new books for children and young adults

    “The drums called to each other. The drummers hailed each other and the calling and hailing got stronger and stronger. Then it got so strong that the drums and the drummers began to walk to the gates. All the children that had gathered round them got up and followed. They followed the drummers out through the gates and on to the open field.

    “Together they danced on the path, the same path that brought the men who came to throw the flames that burned their homes. They danced happily on the path across the a continued to follow the drummers.

    “They followed them to the baobab tree. And there under the tree, they came face to face with other children. They had come from the other village but they too swayed and skipped and hopped and laughed. They too were happy, just like them.”

    Another exciting story promoting peace and tolerance from the internationally renowned writer and illustrator, Meshack Asare of Ghana.

  • The African Predicament: Collected Essays

    This collection of Kofi Awoonor’s writings comprises essays written over a period of three decades, and includes several previously unpublished pieces. According to the author himself: ‘[they] reflect a life-time of engagement in literature and politics, my two passions…’

    Kofi Awoonor addresses a diverse range of subjects from an African perspective: the slave trade, post-independence history, globalisation, and the fate of the African continent given the twin scourges of poverty and HIV/AIDS. Literary criticism considers the legacy of W.E.B DuBois, and in a contemporary context, Kofi Anyidoho’s poetry. Further essays are reflections composed during the author’s long sojourns in the US: on Negro, Afro-American, black, African-American and African and identities. Further essays cover historical and political topics, such as the overthrow of Nkrumah, and the UN in relation to Africa in the post-Cold War period.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy

    The yearlong celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee provides a fitting context for the republication of the book Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy. In the lead-up to the celebration and over the course of the year, the life and times of Kwame Nkrumah will receive unprecedented public attention, official and unofficial. Kwame Nkrumah’s very wide name-recognition is, paradoxically, accompanied by sketchy, often oversimplified knowledge about the events and processes of his life and times. For most of those born after independence in 1957, such knowledge does not extend much beyond who Kwame Nkrumah was and vague notions about he won us Independence.

    This book presents new material and new analysis, which helps to clarify aspects of the record, while advancing new perspectives. What comes across clearly throughout the book is the significant contribution of Nkrumah’s vision and personality at a critical moment in the history of Africa and the Third World. He, perhaps more than any other, was able to identify, focus and catalyse the major factors and players driving the struggle for political independence in Ghana and liberation in other parts of Africa. In the process, he committed his life and work totally to a wide variety of activities and processes in Ghana, the continent and in the global Non-Aligned Movement.

    “This is an objective study which should be read by all concerned with the history of post-colonial Africa.” – Conor Cruise O’Brien Former Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, Legon

  • Purpose Capsules

    Purpose Capsules strongly implies that Purpose can be found in Jesus Christ and therefore one must know who he is in Christ to discover this purpose, which is not just the reason why you were born but why you are born to be born again in Christ. As a result, Purpose Capsules spends a great deal of time to explain who you are in Christ so that you really grasp why you are here on earth in the light of Christ. By this your mind will not only be challenged but be exposed to living to your truest and fullest potential in Christ so as to be better equipped to discover and fulfill your divine purpose – which is to manifest the Christ in you to the glory of God.

  • Building a 21st Century Church on the 1st Century Model (An Agenda for Generational Transformation)

    As Christian believers, we cannot remain comfortably seated in our church pews while still expecting a turn-around in the affairs of this world. We have been given an assignment to offer effective answers to deal with the challenges of this world. The role of the Church is thus to keep preparing us to be able to fulfil that assignment.

    This book presents the Church as the breeding ground for the ambassadors of Jesus the Christ to be used in reflecting God in every sphere of influence.

    We would realise that the people Jesus recruited and left behind effectively changed the history of their world for good. Unfortunately over time, the influence of Christians rather than increasing appear to have somewhat declined. This book therefore seeks to look at how far Christians have held on to the mandate since the days of the 1st Century Church.

    Eventually, as the Church effectively fulfils its purpose, this world would witness Christians exerting their influence much more forcefully in every sphere of life with principles of the kingdom of God in a way that ultimately glorify God the Father.

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