Nicholas G. Ballanta

As published in the Foundation’s Report for 1926–27:

Ballanta, Nicholas G. J.: Appointed for research into the musical conception of the African peoples and a comparison of that conception with the older systems of music in Europe; tenure, twelve months from April 1, 1927, principally in West Africa.

Born March 14, 1893, at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Education: Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone, B.A., 1914 (Scholar in Arts); Private instruction in music, 1914–17; Institute of Musical Art, New York City, 1922–24 (Certificate of Proficiency in Musical Composition).

Research in to scientific basis of African music, 1925–26, in West Africa and the United States.

Publications: “The St. Helena Island Spirituals,” 1925. Articles on African Music in the Musical Courier and Musical America. Compositions: Prelude for Organ (1917); Cantata, “Belshazzar’s Feast,” for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra (1918—performed in Freetown, June, 1919); “Among the Palm Trees,” Overture for full orchestra (1922); “Africa and the Africans,” Overture for full orchestra (1924).