Kofi Agawu was born in Ghana, West Africa where he received his initial education before studying in the UK and the US. He has taught and lectured at numerous universities in Africa, Europe and the United States. Agawu is a wide-ranging scholar and author of numerous articles and books on musical semiotics, the analysis of music, and West African music, which include Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classical Music (Princeton University Press, 1991), African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective, Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions (Routledge, 2003) and Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music (Oxford University Press, 2008). Dr. Agawu is currently a professor of music at Princeton University.