1904-1976

Philip Gbeho was born in Vodza a fishing village in Keta, Volta Region on the 14th of January 1904.    Gbeho is considered one of the most important contributors to contemporary Ghanaian music.  Gbeho went to the Keta Roman Catholic Boys School.  It is here that he learnt how to play the organ in record time and was a pupil organist for the period he spent in the school.

Both of his parents are reputed to have musical gifts, his father Doe Gbeho was a fisherman and his mother Ametowofa, a trader, led the women singers in the village dance group.

He was admitted into Achimota Teacher Training College.  It had just been opened and whilst there, he benefited greatly from the facilities the college provided in the music department.

Gbeho was able to play all the drums in the Ewe Agbaza Orchestra as well as sing the traditional songs.  His teaching and performance of indigenous music at Achimota helped him to keep up with his talent.

He later studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York coming back to Ghana in the 1930s.  He started to teach music at Achimota College and then moved to the University of Ghana.

Further studies at the Trinity College of Music in the United Kingdom was as a result of a one year scholarship Gbeho was offered by the British Council.  He studied for the Licentiate Diploma.

Gbeho made a big impact on the cultural community in London through lectures and sessions to demonstrate African and particularly Gold Coast music.  He formed a dance group comprising of mostly students from West Africa and they performed in halls, parks and even on British Television.  He became a regular broadcaster on the then very popular ‘Calling West Africa’ programme.  This was a BBC overseas radio programme that had really caught on.

Gbeho is well known for his contributions to the field of choral music.  His compositions of hymns and anthems are a strong part of the choral repertoire of Ghana.  He composed Ghana’s national anthem in 1957 when the Gold Coast secured its independence from the United Kingdom.

Gheho, a versatile music creative not only composed music but was a musicologist and a teacher.  His research work delved into not only Ghanaian traditional music but also that of other African countries.  His life was dedicated to the promotion, study, and performance of music from the African continent all over the world.

He was awarded the Order of the Volta in 1965, with the music centre at the University of Ghana named after him.  He indeed was an outstanding musical creative. Gheho passed away on the 24th of September 1976.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gbeho