highlife
Sign in to saveHighlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasses multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acq
Key facts
- Music genre.name
- Highlife
- Music genre.caption
- The King of highlife E.T. Mensah
- Music genre.cultural_origins
- 1870s, Gold Coast, British West Africa
- Music genre.fusiongenres
- Raglife
- Music genre.regional_scenes
- Igbo Highlife, Ijaw Highlife, Edo Highlife
- Intangible heritage.Name
- Highlife music and dance
- Intangible heritage.Country
- Ghana
- Intangible heritage.ID
- 02141
- Intangible heritage.Region
- AFR
- Intangible heritage.Year
- 2025
- Intangible heritage.Session
- 20th
- Intangible heritage.List
- Representative
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 2 more facts
- inception
- 1965-01-01
- Commons category
- Highlife
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Article
13 sectionsContents
- History
- Palm wine music
- Brass-band highlife
- Dance and guitar band highlife
- The Ghanaian diaspora
- Burger highlife
- Gospel highlife
- Jazz in Ghana
- 1950s
- Musical examples
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasses multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and 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.
Highlife gained popularity and the genre spread throughout West African regions. Pioneers like Cardinal Rex Lawson, E.T. Mensah, Victor Uwaifo, all perfected this sound by infusing traditional Africa drums and western "Native Blues". After the Second World War, its popularity came within the Igbo people of Nigeria, as they got influenced to form Igbo highlife which became their country's most popular music genre in the 1960s.