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Highlife is a music genre that started in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional Akan music, Kpanlogo Music of the Ga people, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
There are many styles of traditional and modern music of Ghana, due to Ghana's worldwide geographic position on the African continent.
George Darko is a Ghanaian burger-highlife musician, guitarist, vocalist, composer and songwriter, who has been on the music scene since the late 1960s. Darko was popular in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and his songs are some of the most timeless and enduring highlife tracks in Ghana's music circles. Some of his contemporaries include Ben Brako, C.K. Mann, Daddy Lumba, Ernest Nana Acheampong, Nana Kwame Ampadu, Pat Thomas, among others. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of burger-highlife with his first hit "Ako Te Brofo" which was released in 1983. The song remains popular among Ghanaians both at home and abroad, and is still played at funerals and parties.
Palm-wine music is a West African musical genre. It evolved among the Kru people of Liberia and Sierra Leone, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso to create a "light, easy, lilting style". It would initially work its way inland where it would adopt a more traditional style than what was played in coastal areas.
Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Germany.
Jay Ghartey, also known as Kweku Gyasi Ghartey, is a Ghanaian–American music producer, singer, and songwriter based in New York City, describing his style as African Rhythm and Blues. He released his debut album Shining Gold in 2011. He is most famous for the singles "My Lady" and "Papa". He is also the co-founder and co-owner of "GH Brothers", an independent record label and production company with his brother DJ and music producer Joe Ghartey.
Alex Konadu was a Ghanaian singer-songwriter and guitarist who was known for his contribution to the Highlife tradition. Konadu sang in the Asante language Twi. He was nicknamed "One Man Thousand" for his ability to draw crowds wherever he appeared, and it is rumored that he performed in every single town and village in Ghana. Konadu's song "Asaase Asa," from the 1976 album by the same name, details a tragedy that befalls a man, killing his wife and sister. The song is dedicated to all those that have lost loved ones, and consequently, it is a "must-play at any Ghanaian funeral".
Ebo Taylor is a Ghanaian guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger focusing on highlife and afrobeat music.
Kwame Nsiah-Apau, known by his stage name Okyeame Kwame and nicknamed Rap Doctor, is a Ghanaian musician, songwriter, creative director and entrepreneur.
Teddy Osei is a musician and saxophone player from Ghana. Osei is best known as the leader of the Afro-pop band Osibisa, founded in 1969. Born in Kumasi, Osei was introduced to musical instruments while still a child. He began to play the saxophone while attempting to create a band with his college friends in the coastal city of Sekondi. After graduating from college, he worked as a building inspector for a year before creating a band called "The Comets." The Comets enjoyed brief popularity before Osei traveled to London in 1962. He received a grant from the Ghanaian government to study at a private music and drama school for three years, before being forced to leave by a regime change in Ghana. In 1969, he founded Osibisa along with several other musicians. The band remained popular through the 1970s, before experiencing a decline, although it continues to perform today.
Nana Kwame Ampadu was a Ghanaian musician and composer credited with numerous popular highlife tracks and he is known to have composed over 800 songs. He was also known as Adwomtofo Nyinaa Hene. Ampadu was the lead singer, chief songwriter, and founder of the "African Brothers Band". He is regarded as a pioneer of highlife music and one of the most illustrious Ghanaian musicians of the 20th century.
Bertha Bridget Kankam, better known by her stage name Yaa Yaa, is a Ghanaian singer-songwriter, recording artist and actress. Prior to her current stage name, she performed under her first name, Bertha.
Joseph Egyir-Paintsil (1928-1981) was a Ghanaian Evangelist, an Apostle and the first General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost (COP). He was the eighth son born of Opanyin Kojo Paintsir and Maame Adjoa Kwansima, a native of Abura-Dunkwa in the Central Region (Ghana). He was called into full-time ministry of COP in 1949, ordained as a Pastor in 1952 and, subsequently, appointed General Secretary the same year.
Emmanuel Mallet popularly known as Zapp Mallet is a veteran Ghanaian recording engineer and a record producer. He is recognized as one of the pioneers of the hiplife genre that started in the early 1990s in Ghana. He is also recognized as the only recording engineer to have won the Ghana Music Awards on three consecutive occasions; 1999, 2000, 2001.
Edward Kofi Donkor (1942–1995) was a Ghanaian highlife musician. He was popularly referred to as Senior Eddie Donkor or Eddie Donkor Senior.
Ghanaian highlife emerged in the 1980s as a mixture of West African rhythms from Europe by Black people from south and North America. There were three forms of Ghanaian highlife:
Emmanuel Kofi Nyame, best known as E.K. Nyame, was regarded as one of the "godfathers" of modern Ghanaian highlife music. He was a Ghanaian composer, guitarist, founder of E.K. band and the Akan Trio. He is noted as the pioneer of highlife songs in Akan language on concert stages.
Samuel Kwesi Oppong popularly known in the theatre industry and among fans as "S.K. Oppong" was a Ghanaian ace actor, musician and storyteller. Oppong maintained his trademark sideburns which set him apart from his fellow actors. Aside acting, he was also an accomplished guitarist and band leader and had been in the music business since the 1950s. He composed, sang and recorded several hi-life songs during his time as a professional musician. He founded the SK Oppong Guitar Band which toured the country and played at some of the most famous venues. The group found modest success on Ghana's music scene from around 1959 with hi-life songs like "Obaa Kunadu", "Akwankwaa Hiani", "Kyere Me Ade a Meye", among others.
Ghana–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, historical and trade relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom. Modern state Ghana-UK relations began when Ghana became independent from the UK in 1957.
Kwame Gyasi (1929–2012) was a Ghanaian highlife musician. He originated the Sikyi highlife sub-genre which combined electric organ with the known highlife genres.
References
- ↑ "Ghana's Highlife Music Collection: Jacob Sam". www.fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Highlife music dates as far back as 19th century- Prof. Collins". MyJoyOnline.com. 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Legends of Ghanaian Highlife Music: Kwame Asare (Jacob Sam) (1903-1950s) - African Research Consult". African Research Consult. 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Jacob Sam | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "A Plus, Biography". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
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