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Highlife
Ghana's century-old dance band sound
Highlife is a West African dance music that took shape in Ghana in the early twentieth century, joining Akan melodic and rhythmic traditions to Western dance-band instruments. It became one of the foundational popular musics of the region and shaped much of what followed.
Origin & history
Highlife developed in coastal Ghana in the early 1900s, as brass-band and dance-band instrumentation met local Akan musical traditions.
It spread to Nigeria and across West Africa through the mid-century, and its guitar styles and horn arrangements run underneath a great deal of later West African popular music, Afrobeats included.
Notable artists
E.T. Mensah
Ghanaian bandleader often called the king of highlife, central to its dance-band era.
Where it lives
Questions & Answers
What is highlife?+
Highlife is a West African dance music that began in Ghana in the early twentieth century, combining Akan musical traditions with Western dance-band instruments.
Where did highlife originate?+
In coastal Ghana, spreading from there to Nigeria and across West Africa.
How old is highlife?+
It dates to the early 1900s, which makes it one of the oldest continuously played popular music genres in West Africa.
