In the past few years, Nigeria has become globally renowned for the Afrobeats genre, and one debate that rages online is the idea that Nigeria copies music from everyone and then proceeds to make the sound its own.
Countries like Ghana, South Africa, and Cameroon are the loudest with this claim, which led me to investigate the idea of making music and how every genre we hear today is a copy or an imitation of an even older genre of music.
One of the most indigenous sounds in Ghana is the High-Life genre.
In this article, I will show clearly that even a homogeneous sound like highlife, which is blended with local tribal history and storytelling, has its roots in other countries.
The sun sets over Accra, as loud guitar strums resonate through its busy streets.
Ghana’s distinctive music, highlife, sets feet pounding and hearts soaring, uniting generations through its lyrical storytelling.
While Ghana is frequently cited as the home of Highlife, few are aware that this genre has ancestors in other countries.
Let us look back at Highlife’s forefathers and enjoy its pan-African character.
Highlife’s Origins
To comprehend Highlife, we must first return to indigenous Akan rhythms and melodies. However, before Highlife became popular in Ghana, some of its core ingredients were heard in other parts of West Africa.
Sierra Leone: While not Highlife in its full form, the sounds of Sierra Leone in the early twentieth century bore a resemblance to the genre.
Traditional palm-wine music was popular here, and its usage of the guitar-influenced Ghana’s own palm-wine set style.
Ebenezer Calendar and His Maringer Band is a notable band with songs like “Fire Fire Fire and Cost of Living nar Freetown“
Liberia: In the early 1900s, Liberia’s music scene was a mash-up of indigenous sounds and songs brought over by Americo-Liberians. These tunes, similar to Sierra Leone’s palm-wine rhythms, are thought to have paved the way for Ghana’s Highlife.
Nimba Burr with traditional Liberian folk music is a notable artist.
Nigeria: Although Nigeria embraced and developed Highlife more synchronously with Ghana, traces of this genre could be found in Nigerian coastal cities even before it became a sensation in Ghana.
The Igbo and Yoruba regions of Nigeria were particularly receptive to these sounds, leading to the evolution of distinct Highlife sub-genres in Nigeria.
Ghana’s Abundant Highlife Era
Ghana had adopted and changed these early rhythms into what we now call Highlife by the mid-twentieth century. The use of Western instruments, particularly brass, provided the genre with its characteristic tone.
Legendary figures: E.T. Mensah, known for songs like “All For You.”
- Amakye Dede and his chart-topping single “Iron Boy.”
Migratory Notes in Highlife
While Ghana can claim the fully developed genre of Highlife as its own, the pan-African ethos that gave birth to it must be acknowledged.
Ghana was affected by its neighbors, and it was impacted by them in turn, establishing a lovely circle of musical interchange.
For example, Nigeria adopted Highlife and spun it into many sub-genres and styles.
Notable Nigerian musician: Oliver De Coque, known for songs such as “People’s Club of Nigeria.”
As a last note
Highlife is a tribute to Africa’s common musical legacy, with its lively beats and rich history. While Ghana refined and popularized the genre, its neighbors laid the groundwork.
It’s a narrative about friendship, exchange, and the enduring power of music.
One thing that is evident in music is that every rhythm comes from somewhere else, while many Ghanaians ignorantly speak on the topic of musical appropriation, we must remember that Ghana took highlife and made it their own, enhancing it to the form of highlife we have all come to know and love today.
If Nigeria has done it today with a couple of genres, this shouldn’t be a bone of contention rather it should be a signal that the time is right to learn from each other and create unique sounds that can become the next big thing globally.
Finally, there is no such thing as cultural appropriation, when people interact with each other, it is natural that we learn from each other, this is where diversity comes from.