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: * Adaha * Fanti Osibisaaba *

palm-wine music Palm-wine music (known as maringa in Sierra Leone) 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 Trinidadi ...

Early years

The regimental bands of 6000 West Indian Soldiers stationed at the

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle () is one of about forty slave fort, "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast (region), Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or Factory ( ...

and

Elmina Castle Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (''St. George of the Mine Castle''), also known as ''Castelo da Mina'' or simply ''Mina'' (or '' Feitoria da Mina''), in present-day Elmina, Ghana, formerly t ...

by the British colonial administration left a legacy. The legacy was the Adaha brass band that played in the Fanti Coast. The first form Adaha music was spreading throughout southern Ghana and other parts. The Konkoma also called Konkomba, was a drum and voice that developed and spread in 1930 as Adaha evolved. This version spread because in the small towns and villages, expensive brass instruments could not be afforded by the people. The Fanti Osibisaaba music used together local percussion instruments together with guitars and the accordions of sailors of the

Kru KRU are a Malaysian pop boy band formed in 1992. The group comprises three Abdul Halim brothers, namely Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, Datuk Yusry Abdul Halim and Edry Abdul Halim'. Apart from revolutionising the Malaysian music scene with their b ...

sailors of Liberia. The Fanti Osibisaaba pioneered Africanised cross-fingering guitar techniques which developed to be Ghanaian Highlife, Maringa of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, the

Juju music ''Juju Music'' is the 1982 major label debut of Nigerian jùjú band King Sunny Adé and His African Beats. It was produced by keyboard player Martin Meissonnier, who introduced synthesizers and Linn drums into Adé's established juju sound. ...

of western Nigeria and "dry" music of Central Africa. Later in 1930, in rural Ghana,there was a fusion with traditional Akan "seprewa" or harp-lute. This resulted in the "odonson", Akan "blues" or "palm-wine music"; roots style highlife.

Guitar 1920-1940

* Jacob Sam (Kwame Asare) * Mireku * Appiah Adjekum

Western record companies

Zonophone Zonophone (early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone) was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey, by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company but was applied to records and machines sold by Seaman's Universal Talk ...

, Columbia, Odeon and

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

, based in Ghana.

Highlife

The combination of high-class music with local tunes of the street introduced a different type of music -the highlife as known today. Excelsoir Orchestra and Jazz Kings of Accra was formed in 1914. Early on, the less affluent claimed to this music was played for the affluent of society by large ballroom and ragtime dance orchestras. In the 1950s, theater groups travelled around the country with the "concert party' shows that used highlife guitar bands as part of their act. EK Nyame was one of the people whose records became popular in eastern Nigeria. Cape Coast Sugar Babies were of the first highlife orchestras who in 1937 was remembered for their tour in Nigeria. The Tempos band, led by the Ga trumpeter ET Mensah, incorporated Afro-Cuban percussion played by the drummer Guy Warren, known as Kofi Ghanaba. Highlife has evolved into "gospel highlife", "techno" like "burgher highlife" forms and "hip-life", a vernacular rap, hip hop and highlife combination.

References

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