Baba Issahak, popularly known as Baba Kutu, was born in the community of Gburima-Tibɔɣu in the Tolon district of the Northern Region. He moved to Tamale at age 4, when he was sent to school to study the Holy Qu’ran and Arabic. He transferred to the Anbariya Islamic Institute at level primary 6, completing his secondary education there in 1991. He taught at the Anbariya Institute until 1998, when he was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in Libya. He graduated in 2011 and returned to Tamale to continue teaching Arabic. 

Saeed Alhassan Dawuni was born in the community of Liŋbuŋ Gurugu Yapalsi in the Northern Region. He holds a certificate from the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) and has studied at Tamale Workers College. Saeed’s study of Arabic began at Madirasati Hamdania in Liŋbuŋ Gurugu Yapalsi and continues at Tamale’s Fathul-Mubeen Islamic School.
Saeed has worked as a senior field officer for Innovations for Poverty Action and as a field agent for World Cover Insurance Company, Ltd. He has worked as a research assistant for several ethnographic research projects since 2006, including Dr. Katharine Stuffelbeam and Dr. Karl J. Haas.

Fatawu was born in Tamale to a family of chiefs and drummers from Western Dagbon. He studied traditional drumming and history as a child and later received a certificate in electrical repair. Fatawu has worn many professional hats, including: farming; animal husbandry, including livestock, guinea fowl, snails, and bees; and solar panel sales, installation, and service in rural areas of Northern Ghana. He is a founding member of the Tamaha Youth Development Association in Liŋbuŋa, where he currently lives with his wife and children. He has also worked as a research assistant with Dr. Karl J. Haas and Dr. Katharine Stuffelbeam.
Fatawu’s language expertise includes Dagbanli, English, Hausa, Akan-Twi, Mampruli, and Fulani.

John Issah Alhassan is a native of Katariga in the Tamale Metropolis in Ghana’s Northern Region. He holds an M.A. degree in Adult Education from the University of Ghana, Legon. He is currently a lecturer at Tamale Technical University and a Development Advocate, currently serving as board chair of the Tamale Community Cooperative Credit Union. John lives in Tamale with his wife, Lucy Issah, and their four children.

Karl J. Haas is an ethnomusicologist and musician living in Vermont, USA. Since 2006, he has been researching traditional Dagbamba music in Tamale, where he is better known as Achiri. His forthcoming book, The Termites are Eating the Fowls, is based on participant-observation research with the Sapashinima musicians of Kakpaɣili, Tamale and engages issues related to music, youth, masculinity, development, and the resurgence of traditional practices in contemporary Dagbon. Dr. Haas has also produced a digital project for the African Languages Materials Archive featuring the sapashinima musicians he has been working with for several years, including sound clips and transcriptions of sung and drummed texts.
Karl completed his Ph.D. in Musicology from Boston University and has taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Berklee College of Music, and Middlebury College. He is currently Visiting Researcher in the African Studies Center at Boston University.
Karl is the administrator of this site. You can contact him at khaas@bu.edu.