Sowah Mensah is an ethnomusicologist, composer, and "Master Drummer" from Ghana in West Africa. He is a music professor at Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, where he also directs each African Music Ensemble. Sowah has taught music in both Ghana and Nigeria and played with the Ghana National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Director of Sankofa, a Ghanaian Folklore and Dance Ensemble in the Twin Cities.

Sowah also enjoys an active performance career. In May 2000 he made his Carnegie Hall, New York debut as a soloist in David Fanshaw's African Sanctus. He has performed extensively in the United States, Africa, and the Latin Americas. In the United States, he has performed with notables such as Max Roach, Don Chery, Roscoe Mitchel, and Julius Hemphil. He has also performed with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Chanticleer, Minnesota Center Chorale, St. Paul Civic Symphony, Minnesota Sinfonia, Duluth Superior Symphony, Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra, Abendmusik: the Lincoln Chorus of Nebraska, and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, Florida. In addition, Sowah presents clinics, lectures, workshops, and residencies at many colleges, elementary and secondary schools, churches, and music organizations all over the United States.

Sowah is also a very active composer. Sowah is currently working on his second solo album, and on a composition for full orchestra and Speaking in Tongues. This work will be premiered in May 2003 in St. Paul, MN by Speaking in Tongues and the St. Paul Civic Orchestra. Click here to see a list of some of Sowah's Albums and compositions

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