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The music of Liberia [1] uses many tribal beats and often one of the native dialects, or vernacular. Liberian music includes traditional Gbema music, [2] as well as the popular genre Hipco. [3]
Liberian music makes particular use of vocal harmony, repetition and call-and-response song structure as well as such typical West African elements as ululation and the polyrhythm typical of rhythm in Sub-Saharan Africa. Christian music was introduced to Liberia by American missionaries and Christian songs are now sung in a style that mixes American harmonies with West African language, rhythm and the call-and-response format. Traditional music is performed at weddings, naming ceremonies, royal events and other special occasions, as well as ordinary children's songs, work songs and lullabies.
Highlife, and Hiplife music are very popular in Liberia, as elsewhere in West Africa. Both Highlife and Hiplife music evolved out of Africa's original sound called Palmwine Music or Gbema music genre. All African music legends since 1920s were greatly inspired by the Palmwine music which orginated out of Liberia in 1918-1920 by indigenous kru tribe of the Grain Coast of Africa. Late in the 1950s, a combination of North American, West African and Latin American styles, emerged in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, especially among the Liberian Kru people, who were sailors that learned to played Funk, Jazz, and Fuji from Americo Liberians who settled on the African continent from Louisiana, USA during the abolition of Slavery between 1822-1846. The Kru people played Spanish guitar, banjo, pennywhistle, harmonica, accordion, mandolin and concertina and their sounds inspired the rest of African music since then. The Palm wine music also known as Gbema music genre also inspired the evolution of HipCo music in Liberia. [4]
Past and present musicians include Fatu Gayflor and Miatta Fahnbulleh.
The country's most renowned radio station is ELBC, or the Liberian Broadcasting System. Rap and pop music are also performed in indigenous languages across the country.
In 1963, President Tubman set up the new Cape-Palmas Military Band (CPMB). Israeli bandmaster Aharon Shefi formed and conducted a 56-piece concert and marching band that performed Liberian, American and universal folk and church music. The CPMB has performed on January 1, 1964, at President Tubman's inauguration in Monrovia. Among the pieces played were Highlife, original marches by the late Liberian composer Victor Bowya, the National Anthem and "The Lone Star Forever". The CPMB had also performed in churches, schools, holidays and military parades and official events.
Liberia has a unique Liberian rap and singing genre called Hipco, or "Co". [5] The "co" in the genre is short for the Liberian dialect Kolokwa. [6] Hipco is usually performed in Liberian English or the local vernacular. Kolokwa rap in Gbema music evolved in the 1980s but was not branded as HipCo music genre until 2002-2003 when HipCo was founded or established by the Liberian Legendary Detrench, the late DJ SummerTime and MC Switch. HipCo has always had a social and political bent. In the 1990s it continued to develop through the civil wars. [7] [8] Hipco music was becoming popular in 2004 and still is the most popular music genre of Liberia, "serving as the medium through which rappers and singers speak against societal ills, including injustice and corruption and also with an infusion of enticing lyrics for pleasure." [9] UNICEF has worked with Hipco artists to release Hipco songs on Ebola prevention, with several of the songs becoming popular on radio in the country in 2014. [10] Among high-profile Hipco artists are Takun J, DenG, and MC Caro. [11] [12]
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.
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the nation's primate city, Monrovia is the country's economic, financial and cultural center; its economy is primarily centered on its harbor and its role as the seat of Liberian government.
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.
The Antoinette Tubman Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Monrovia, Liberia. It is used mostly for football matches although it has also been used for music concerts, major church events, political rallies and Ebola treatment. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators and is the oldest stadium in Liberia.
The Liberian Entertainment Awards is an annual awards show, recognizing Liberians at home and in the diaspora for their outstanding contributions to the Liberian entertainment industry. The annual ceremony, held in the United States, features performances by established and promising artists. The LEA was founded in 2009 by Tarkus Zonen. The inaugural ceremony was held on January 31, 2009, at the Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Michael Davies, popularly known by his stage name Sundaygar Dearboy, is a Liberian singer, songwriter and record producer from Grand Bassa County. He sings primarily in Bassa and Liberian English and has released several studio albums, including See Boyee, Don't Live with Woman (2007) and Rebirth (2012). He was named the Liberian Musician of the Year in 2005-2006, and has produced 13 albums to date.
Jonathan Koffa, known professionally as Takun J, is a Liberian rapper, songwriter and activist. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of hipco, a politically-charged music genre. The Liberian Gender Ministry designated him as one of its anti-rape ambassadors. Takun J's music addresses socio-political issues in Liberia. He is best known for his singles "Who Make You Cry", "Police Man", "Gbagba is Corruption", and "Song for Hawa". Takun J released his debut studio album The Time in 2007. His second studio album, titled My Way, was released in December 2012. Takun J is the recipient of several accolades, including Male Artist of the Year and Hipco Artist of the Year at the 2014 Liberia Music Awards.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease occurred in Liberia from 2014 to 2015, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The first cases of virus were reported by late March 2014. The Ebola virus, a biosafety level four pathogen, is an RNA virus discovered in 1976.
The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has had a large effect on the culture of most of the West African countries. In most instances, the effect is a rather negative one as it has disrupted many Africans’ traditional norms and practices. For instance, many West African communities rely on traditional healers and witch doctors, who use herbal remedies, massage, chant and witchcraft to cure just about any ailment. Therefore, it is difficult for West Africans to adapt to foreign medical practices. Specifically, West African resistance to Western medicine is prominent in the region, which calls for severe distrust of Western and modern medical personnel and practices.(see Ebola conspiracies below.)
Raglife is a Ghanaian musical genre that is a combination of hiplife, Ghanaian hip hop and highlife, with reggae. The music uses traditional reggae elements like drum beats and melodies along with rap. The genre is thought to have been created by Abrewa Nana, the first popular female rap artist in Ghana.
Maradona Yeboah Adjei, known by his stage names Guru and Gurunkz, is a Ghanaian rapper and fashion designer. Guru NKZ is a successful hiplife artist in Ghana. He is known for his contemporary hiplife rap style that combines English and Ghanaian indigenous languages. Guru's breakthrough was in 2011 when his hit song "Lapaz Toyota" appeared on the Ghanaian music charts. Guru's is considered a contemporary hiplife artist, as his songs venture new ground in the Ghanaian music scene mixing hip-hop, Afrobeats, Highlife, and Dancehall sounds.
Christopher Christoph Nyenga, known professionally as Christoph the Change, is a Liberian rapper and songwriter. After releasing the hip-hop track "Take a Break", he was criticized for sounding "too American". He gained mainstream success in Liberia after releasing the Hipco songs "Papay God", "Heaven and Hell", and "Gbanna Man".
Sidney Kofi Ofori is a Ghanaian hiplife recording artist and entrepreneur known by the stage name Barima Sidney.
Soul Fresh is a Liberian hip hop duo. The Hipco group consists of JB and Shining Man.
Hipco, also referred to as HipCo or co, is a genre of hip hop from Liberia. It has been described by The Guardian as Liberia's "unique musical style" using "vernacular speech and political messages."
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.
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:
