This article profiles Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia, an outstanding musicologist, music educator, composer, and linguist. His countrymen, Ghanaians, know him best as a composer, and associate his name with his song "Yaanom Montie" and his choral compositions for unaccompanied SATB choirs--"Monkamfo No", "Nkyirimma Nye Bi" and "Monna N'ase". In international circles he is regarded as "The most prominent scholar in the field of African music", and "unquestionably the doyen of African musical scholars and educators". Nketia excels in four areas, namely musical composition, research in African music and culture, music education, and Akan (Twi) literature. This article focuses on Nketia's contributions in two of these areas (the second and the third), after a brief discussion of his educational background.