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Etsé Nyadedzor: Biography
Etsé Nyadedzor, an African native, was born and raised Accra, Ghana, in his hometown of Mafi Kumase. There, he learned drumming, coming from a family of traditional drummers and dancers. At a shrine in the town of Mafi Kumase, there would be many of the town religious gatherings involving an extensive amount of dancing, drumming and chanting. Mr. Nyadedzor started drumming and participating in nearly every performance. At the tender age of 8 his interest in his tradition, culture, and family heritage did not go unnoticed, and he began his apprenticeship learning to play and teach the cultural language of drumming through performance. What he learned from his family and village elders over time lead to work with the Ghanaian National Dance Company. Mr. Nyadedzor performed at countless formal concerts at the national theater in Ghana, which holds 5-7,000 people. Mr. Nyadedzor performed with Okyerema Asante, the famed percussionist from Paul Simon’s band, and is featured on the multi-Grammy Award winning album, Graceland.
Mr. Nyadedzor performed at The Center For National Culture for five years, and performed at countless shows with the Pan African Orchestra and the National Dance Company. Mr. Nyadedzor has welcomed presidential diplomats, and performed at the ever-popular African Cup Soccer Tournament at the National Sports Stadium. Mr. Nyadedzor’s performance credits include the National Theater with the Dance Factory, a performance that also toured to Zimbabwe. Mr. Nyadedzor went on to tour and perform with various bands and traditional groups in Nigeria, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. The Pan African Festival, held both at Accra and the Cape Coast, is an event that brings Africans and Africans of the Diaspora, to celebrate “the homecoming” and the “emancipation” of the black in the Diaspora. People come from all over the world to perform at the Festival. Nyadedzor performed with Okyerema Asante, among other headliners such as Isac Hayes, Freddie Jackson, Public Enemy, The Indigo Girls, and the reggae group, Culture, from Jamaica.
He did return to Ghana for some time to perform and eventually came back to the U.S. He set up teaching lessons and created his own educational programming in drumming and dancing. He quickly made various contacts in the States, and has performed in Detroit, the Museum of Technology, New York City, Moravian College in Pennsylvania, the New York State Fair, the World Beat Festival in Syracuse, Best of Syracuse, Westcott St. Fair, Lemoyne College, S.U., Rochester Institute of Technology.
Etsé is the director of the West African Music and Dance Ensemble at Syracuse University. He is also working out to begin programs at Onondaga Community College, Lemoyne, and Cayuga Community College. He has regular classes going on at the Onondaga Dance Institute, Westcot Community Center, and Seven Rays Bookstore in Syracuse. He also teaches at various after school programs in Syracuse at Franklin Magnet School, Fouler High School, Grant Middle School, Pumy (Power Understanding Motivation Youth), Oswego College, Ithaca College, Cazanovia College, Utica College, Oswego College (as well as countless other schools and colleges across New York State), Michigan Museum of Technology, the Syracuse Everson Museum, the MOST, and venues across Delaware and New Jersey. Etsé also truly enjoys being an esteemed professor at the New York Institute of Dance and Education!
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The culture of Ghana and the drumming traditions of Mafi Kumase ultimately would bring Mr. Nyadedzor to the United States: Syracuse University students visiting Ghana witnessed Nyadedzor in a performance at the Ghana National Conference Center, where Nyadedzor was giving a welcome performance for African Presidents, dignitaries, and heads of state. His performance welcomed them to the Organization of African Unity Conference, initially set up by the first President of Ghana to get Africa to unite and also aide each other in economic, political, educational, and peaceful ways. The S.U. students also took lessons from Nyadedzor during their stay in Ghana. Upon their return to the U.S.A. word spread enough for Syracuse University, the Cultural Resource Council, the Ghana Association of New York, and Kids for the Arts to bring Etsé to the United States to give workshops and perform. They needed a master drummer and master dancer to do workshops at S.U. and other communities around Syracuse in 1998.
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