Willie Anku

William Oscar Anku, known as Willie Anku, was a Ghanaian music theorist, ethnomusicologist, composer and performer. He combined Western set theory, computer analysis and years of work with West African drummers into a comprehensive theory of African rhythm, and was unusual among Africa-based theorists in giving plenary lectures to the US Society for Music Theory.

Early life and education

He was born on 25 July 1949 and came from Gbadzeme in the Avatime area of the Volta Region. He earned a Master of Music Education from the University of Montana in 1976, and an MA (1986) and PhD (1988) in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Theory of African rhythm

He rejected simple ideas of polymeter as a way to understand West African music. Instead he developed a circular notation that shows how a rhythmic pattern relates to the regulating time-line at different metric positions, an approach the scholar Kofi Agawu called "structural set analysis". Bode Omojola counted him among the five contemporary scholars with most influence on ideas of African rhythm, and his work fed into Godfried Toussaint's geometric theory of musical timelines and into studies of the composer György Ligeti.

University of Ghana

He headed the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana, Legon, until shortly before his death.

Death

He was injured in a road accident on 20 January 2010 and died two weeks later, on 1 February, at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. He was survived by his wife, Eva Ebeli, and three children.