LIFE AND MUSIC OF ELDER S.K. AMPIAH: AN UNKNOWN NONAGENARIAN COMPOSER

ABSTRACT: Elder S.K. Ampiah, a nonagenarian Ghanaian composer has been composing over the past fourdecades. Surprisingly, his songs have been popular among the Ghanaian Christian fraternity over the years.However, it appears that some of his songs are presently being credited to others, while some are also beingtreated as traditional Pentecostalpopular-gospel songs with an anonymous composer.This paper attempts todocument the life and musicof Elder S.K. Ampiah for posterity and also as a contribution to gospel music inGhana. Data for this paper was collected through interview and documentary research. The paper consequentlyreveals that Elder S.K. Ampiah regarded his musicality as a ministry, which he willingly and freely composedfor people. Also, because he was uninformed about copyright issues, some musicians, unfortunately, tookadvantage of his songs and recorded them without acknowledging him.Thus, making him unpopular andunknown among the Ghanaian Christian fraternity and the public in general. The paper recommends that thelife and music of composers similar to Elder S.K. Ampiah should be documented for posterity.Keywords: Christians, Church,Composer, Gospel music, Songtext