John Collins: lntercultural friendship can be a big challenge

This place is my destiny'; says John Collins reflecting on a lifetime in Ghanaian society, learning and playing music, and coming to terms with inter-cultural relationships.

Music, says John, is a communion between players and audience or a meditation, not a way to get rich quick.

Despite not being religious he sees the separatist churches in Ghana as benign, in contrast to the history of the multinational corporation known as the Catholic Church.

Once upon a time only Palm Wine drunkards played guitar, times changed and now John teaches Ghanaian popular music at the University of Accra. The archive of Highlife music at his house survived a flood and records a lifetime of musical evolution.

Love and other inter-cultural misunderstandings in Ghana. The Prisma keeps talking to Collins.

This interview was published in August 2013 in The Prisma Multicultural Newspaper, on August 21st 2013 and re-published here:

https://theprisma.co.uk/2023/08/21/intercultural-friendship-can-be-a-big-challenge/