Ghanaian Master Drummer Yacub Addy Receives NEA National Heritage Fellowship

Yacub Addy, a Ghanaian drum master from Latham, New York, accepts his NEA National Heritage Fellowship award from National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman at an awards ceremony at the Library of Congress on September 22, 2010. The NEA National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

At the ceremony, Rocco Landesman said, “A master of the traditional Ga music, Yacub Addy is a generous mentor of aspiring drummers as well as a collaborator with jazz and popular musicians, who has created new works that speak to issues of social and cultural relevance today.”

Recordings and videos available: Congo Square, Children of the Ancients

For more information on the 2010 NEA National Heritage Fellows, visit arts.gov.