Sowah Mensah
Sowah Mensah is an ethnomusicologist, composer, and a "Master Drummer" from Ghana, West Africa. He is the Director of African Music at Macalester College, as well as the director of the African Music Ensembles at both the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota. Sowah is also an accomplished composer. Through different commissions, he has written works for orchestras, bands, choirs, and African ensembles. Sowah has released three solo albums, Naa-Niami, Ntoa, and Sii Sii Sii, and he has recently published a series of books and instructional DVDs on learning, teaching, and performing African music. The Turtle Lake African Music Ensemble is featured in some of Sowah's publications on the instructional DVD's.
Sowah is currently in his thirteenth consecutive year as Artist-in-Residence at Turtle Lake Elementary.