Ghanaians are music-loving people. The ordinary Ghanaian cannot go a day without enjoying or nodding his or her head to music. Every Ghanaian, male or female, Christian or Muslim, traditionalist or agnostic, draw a certain level of inspiration from music one way or the other, but the multi-million question is, where and when did Ghanaian music emanate?
Ghana has a very musical history that mirrors the radiant, diversified culture and tradition of its people. The route of Ghana’s music can be traced back to many centuries when different African music sounds and styles got fused, but highlife was Ghana’s maiden specified genre of music.
Since the emergence of authentic highlife music in the early 1930s, music has not been the same in the West African subregion. With your permission, let me drive you through the major musical genres in Ghana and the personalities who have worked themselves out to make the genres prominent in contemporary Ghana.
HIGHLIFE MUSIC
Highlife music is arguably the oldest indigenous African music genre. Highlife music is believed to have originated from Ghana. The musical genre spread like wildfire to Western Nigeria and Sierra Leon in the middle of the 19th Century. By 1950, highlife had gained ground, power and prominence not only in Ghana but in Liberia and Gambia as well.
The infantile or earliest form of Ghanaian highlife was primarily performed by brass bands along the Ghanaian coastal enclave. Singing groups and customary bands sprang up in principal towns and cities like Kumasi, Elmina, Accra, Takoradi, Winneba and Cape Coast.
By the 20th Century, these bands had gained massive eminence and had incorporated a broader array of instruments, primarily of European origin, a vocal musical component and stylistic elements fused with both local music and jazz. In no time, highlife emerged as a unique synthesis of American, African-American and European musical aesthetics.
Highlife was associated with the local African aristocracy during the colonial period and was played by myriads of musical bands, enveloping the Jazz Kings, Cape Coast Sugar Babies and the Accra Orchestra. The upper-class audience who relished the music in select clubs gave the music its name.
The term ‘highlife’ appeared in the early 1920s as a catch-phrase or jargon for the orchestrated indigenous and local songs played at exclusive clubs by the early dance bands such as the Jazz Kings, the Cape Coast Sugar Babies, the Sekondi Nanshamang and later the Accra Orchestra.
The people outside called it highlife as they did not reach the class of the couples going inside who not only paid a colossal entrance fee of about 7 shillings but also had to wear evening apparel, including top-hats.
In the late part of 1949, highlife as a musical genre diverged into two distinctive parts: Dance Band Highlife and Guitar Band Highlife. Guitar Band Highlife heavily featured smaller bands and was initially highly common in rural areas.
As a result of stringed instruments like the seprewa in the West African subregion, musicians were happy to incorporate the guitar. They also used the Dagomba style, a style borrowed from the Kru sailors from Liberia, to create highlife’s two-finger picking style.
Guitar band highlife also featured singing, drums and claves. E.K. Nyame played a fulcrum role in the popularisation of highlife with the help of his Akan trio band and would later speed on to release over 400 records during his enviable musical career.
Dance Band Highlife, by contrast, was deeply rooted in urban settings. The post-war period saw larger dance orchestras being replaced by smaller professional dance bands, typified by the success of the legend E.T. Mensah and the Tempos.
As foreign troops departed, the primary and secondary audiences became increasingly Ghanaian, and the music evolved to accommodate their taste. Mensah’s fame soared after he performed with Louis Armstrong in Accra in May 1956, thereby earning him the nickname the “Highlife King”.
Unequivocally writing, the highlife genre would not have been firmly rooted and widely accepted in our Ghanaian setting without some Musical geniuses. At this juncture, allow me to take cognisance of the men who have immensely contributed to the growth of highlife music in Ghana.
AMAKYE DEDE
Popularly known as ‘Serious’, Daniel Amakye Dede is a Ghanaian highlife legend, singer and songwriter. Born on January 5, 1958, the native of Asante Akim Agogo began his musical journey in 1973 and has never looked back.
The “Sokoo na mmaa p3” hitmaker is arguably one of the best musical talents Ghana has ever seen. His unique personality, coupled with his scintillating voice and humility, has won him the admiration and support of a chunk of music-loving Ghanaians. In 1973, Nana Abrantie Amakye Dede joined the Kumapem Royals as a composer and vocalist.
This band, led by Akwesi Ampofo Agyei, had hits such as “Abebi bewu a eso”, “ Wanware me a” and “ Odo m’ani agyina”. Later, Amakye Dede moved to Nigeria, where he composed his hit song ‘Jealousy go shame’. Amakye, after breaking away from the Kumapem Royals, formed his own band, the Apollo High Kings, in 1980.
He dominated the highlife scene in the 1980s and in the 1990s, and has continued to release hit songs in modern times. He has also headlined many mega concerts in Ghana and abroad. He remains the mentor of Kwame Eugene, the two-time VGMA highlife artiste of the year.
C.K.MANN
Born Charles Kofi Amankwah Mann, C. K. Mann was a Ghanaian highlife icon and producer born in 1936 at Cape Coast. The multiple award-winning musician’s music career spanned over four decades.
The man who succinctly worked as a seaman joined Moses Kweku Oppong’s Kakaiku band. After familiarising himself with the Ghanaian Music scene, he joined Ocean Strings and led the band until 1965. When the band was disbanded, he joined a newly formed band in Takoradi called the Carousel 7.
He came to prominence in 1969 when he released his single “Edina Benya”. It was C.K. Mann who impressed on the owner of his band to sign Paapa Yankson. In 2006, Mann was awarded the Grand Medal of Ghana for his exceptional contribution to the growth of Ghana’s music. Mann died on March 20, 2018, after a short illness.
PAAPA YANKSON
The history of Ghanaian music will be woefully incomplete without the mention of Paapa Yankson. Born Benjamin Yankson on June 22, 1944, at Winneba, Paapa Yankson is conceded by many music-loving fans as the greatest highlife composer to ever live.
The Ghanaian highlife maestro, until he died in 2017, recorded dozens of hit tracks. Popular among them are “show your love”, “wo yere anaa wo maame”, “tena menkyen” and “wiase mu nsem”. These and many other songs encapsulated the illustrious career of Paapa Yankson.
Like C . K . Mann, Paapa Yankson was a recipient of the Grand Medal Award for his exceptional contribution to the growth of Ghanaian highlife music. The veteran highlifer died in his sleep on July 21, 2017.
KWADWO ANTWI
“Goovey”, “Afrafra”, “Densu” and “Don’t stop the Music” were albums released in 1994,1998 and 2002, respectively, by Kwadwo Antwi, a legend in the Ghanaian musical circle. Born Julius Kojo Antwi, Mr. Music Man, as he is affectionately called, was born into a family with 13 siblings.
The highlife maestro grew up in Darkuman, a suburb of Accra. With a career that has spanned close to 30 years, he has not disappointed. He can boast of 22 albums, with “Tom and Jerry” being one of his successful singles. Over the years, Kwadwo Antwi has established himself as a consummate, prolific songwriter, producer and an enigmatic performer.
Daasebre Dwamena, Daddy Lumba, Nana Kwame Ampadu, Dr. Paa Bobo, Akosua Agyapong, Paulina Oduro, Ewurama Badu, Gyedu-Blay Ambulley, Kwame Eugene, Bisa K’dei, Kidi, Kofi Kinata, King Promise and Akwaboah are some honourable mentions. These people have all contributed credibly to the growth of the highlife genre in Ghana and Africa at large.
HIPLIFE MUSIC
Hiplife star, Barima Sidney, is not the type to shy away from controversy, often producing hit songs with political undertones. He and many other musicians have opined in diverse ways pertaining to the originality of the hiplife genre.
Sydney, the “Obia ny3 Obia” hitmaker, together with Gyedu-Blay Ambulley, has debunked assertions that Reggie Rockstone is the originator of hiplife in Ghana. Relax, take a seat back and allow me to cruise you through the history of hiplife music in Ghana.
The origin of Ghanaian hiplife dates back to the late 1970s with musicians like Gyedu-Blay Ambulley and K.K Kabobo on the music scene. As early as 1973, Ambulley released his first single “simigwado” a partial-rap in fanti-style to a small audience. This saw him perform highlife variations with fast tempo and fast-spoken poetic lyrics. Ambulley would go on to be eulogised as the father of Ghanaian rap among his contemporaries.
Tennyson Quaye was often referred to as the backbone of Ghana music. In recognition of his own variation and introduction of Jama or Kpalogo to fuse with hiplife. The sound engineer has subsequently been commended in the music engineering field.
Reginald Osei, known in showbiz circles as Reggie Rockstone, also began to craft a niche in an art form with producers like Mike Cooke, Rab Bakari and Zapp Mallet. The “Tribe” was one of the first rap groups in Ghana, consisting of Chief G, now known as Jay Ghartey, Abeeku and Kweku T performing rap as early as 1989.
Reggie Rockstone forayed into what is now termed hiplife. In Twi, Reggie would flow over hip-hop beats, a style that had been used in Mahoney P’s debut album ‘Kofi Babone’.
Reggie Rockstone has been described as the “godfather of hiplife” since he spawned a new music genre in this country. After his debut album “Makaa Maka” with the hit single “Choo Boi” the Ghanaian youth geared up for greater musical works. A new era was born in late 1998 when a young producer known as Hammer of “The Last Two” appeared on the Ghanaian musical scene with original beats plus precision rap artistes.
Hammer, Born Edward Nana Poku Osei, managed to fuse hip-hop grooves with local tempo street melodies, which caught the attention of both the young and the old, the elite and the masses as well. Some of the biggest artistes in hiplife today were in Hammer’s lineup. Among them were Kwaw Kesse, Edem, Obrafour, Tinny and Sarkodie. Sarkodie, Obrafour, Medikal, Okyeame Kwame and Yaa Pono are some of the notable hiplife artistes in Ghana.
DANCEHALL
Dancehall is a popular Jamaican genre that rose in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a sparse version of reggae. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with dancehall increasingly characterised by fast tempo rhythms.
In recent times, dancehall music has taken over the Ghanaian airwaves largely because of the emergence and dominance of Stonebwoy, Samini and Shatta Wale on the music scene. Their tracks have dominated the music circles and seen them win numerous awards in and beyond the borders of Ghana. As dominant as Stonebwoy, Samini and Shatta Wale may be in Ghana music today, they did not pioneer dancehall music in Ghana.
Before Shatta Wale, Samini, and his progidy Stonebwoy came into full force, Yoggi Doggi was already doing his “thing”. Yoggi burst onto the scene at a very young age, excelling as a guest on Akyeame’s “ Mesan aba”, a song released in 1999. Sonni Balli cannot be kept out of the very few Ghanaians who upheld the banner of dancehall before it became what it is today.
Sonni Balli started as a rapper with the G-Life hiplife group. Balli ultimately decided to quit rap music after the G-Life group broke down. Ghanaian music lovers will find it difficult to forget Terry Bonchaka. The man who served as the role model of Shatta Wale was so gifted that he could literally do everything with a microphone.
Essentially, the “Poulele” hitmaker was a dancehall artiste. In his short stint as a mainstream artiste, he dominated the music industry with his scintillating performance coupled with his startling voice and personality. At just 21, he had attained Achilles status and had subsequently conquered the Ghanaian music industry. Some of his records include “Poulele” and “zoozey”. Terry Bonchaka died in a tragic accident. A death that shook the foundation of the Ghana music industry.
GOSPEL MUSIC
For gospel lovers, this is for you. In Ghana, so much of Christian expression of spirituality at the popular level has been the result of charismatic movements. Gospel music has become one of the most important expressions of popular Christianity. Evidently, no other dimension of popular Christianity embodies the aspirations, fears, self-understanding, the faith and hope of the ordinary Ghanaian Christian as the various strands of popular religious music, which have together been referred to as “Gospel Music”.
While many performers of commercial churches, bands, choirs and styles have circulated publicly, reintegrating them into the liturgical context of their worship has become difficult. Gospel music is conceded to be the fastest growing genre of music in the country; even today, it cannot be contended. Gospel musicians are the most critiqued yet the least recognised. Gospel music is a whole industry; the genre has maintained the music industry all this while.
There is a school of thought that spirit-filled gospel songs of these days are rare. The school believes that messages in the songs are not as edifying as they used to be. Call it a lie, but there is a kind of fulfilment in “old gospel songs”. Could it be the production? I vehemently doubt that there is technological advancement and better equipment to record these days, or I may agree because the “ better” technologies used these days even make music production less cumbersome. At this writing barrier, let me sail you through some of the personalities who have worked ardently to project the image of Ghana.
PROFESSOR KOFI ABRAHAM
Born Abraham Kofi Boakye, Professor Kofi Abraham is a prolific writer and songwriter. Kofi Abraham, who won an honorary award at the 20th VGMA’s was born on August 5, 1954, to strict Methodist parents at Sekyedumase in the Ashanti Region. He started as a terrazzo contractor but later went into music.
The voiceferous and enigmatic gospel icon once described some of the contemporary gospel songs as mere noise-making. Professor Kofi Abraham, described as the doyen of Ghanaian gospel music, had the title “Professor” conferred on him by a prominent member of the Late Hilla Limann’s administration.
With an illustrious career that has gone beyond 40 years, Kofi Abraham is mostly remembered for his hit songs, notable among them are “Yesu mo” and “Wahye me ”. There is no shred of doubt that Professor Kofi Abraham is a legend.
ESTHER SMITH
Born at Suame in Kumasi in the early 1970s to Christian parents, Esther joined the Tesano Methodist Church Choir at a tender age of 14, and that was when she grew more into music. According to Esther Smith, she started writing her songs after joining the Voices of Faith Choir in the early 1990s.
Notwithstanding the difficulties she went through in her quest to release her maiden album “Gye no di”, Esther made a breakthrough when she had support from Ankobea Music Production. She affirmed her superiority in the gospel music by clinching the Best Gospel Album of the Year, Best Song of the Year and the Best Album of the Year at the 2004 Ghana Music Awards.
The likes of Amy Newman, Kwaku Gyasi, Mama Esther, the late Reverend Bonsu, Elder Mireku, Joe Mettle, the late Koda, OJ and a host of others have kept the gospel torch high and bright.
GHANAIAN DRILL MUSIC
Ghanaian drill music is a variant of hip hop. This exciting sound surfaced in Ghana as early as 2011 but gained national appeal and global recognition in 2020.
Influenced by American and UK drill, Ghanaian artistes imbued Ghanaian rhythms to create a distinctive sound that has since resonated with local and international audiences.
Ghanaian drill music is heavily youth-driven. Just like busking and pop music, Ghanaian drill swoops deep, creating an evocative picture of street life and activities.
Although a myriad of Ghanaians refer to the music as “Asakaa”, the genre must not be misconstrued for the pioneering Asakaa Boys musical group.
“Asakaa”, comes from the “Saka”, a pronunciation of “Kasa”, the Twi word for “talk/ speak”. Influenced by the American and UK musical culture, Asakaa Boys Americanised their home city, Kumasi, with a nickname: Kumerica.
It became a strong movement for Ashanti or Kumasi-based drill music artistes and influenced other famous Ghanaian artists like Black Sherif, Kwaku Darlington, Kwaku Flick and Yaw Tog.
The Grammy Awards’ recent inclusion of drill music in the African Music genre category is a testament to the growing impact of Ghanaian drill music on the international music scene.
Asakaa Boys’ “Akatafo)”, Yaw Tog’s ‘sore remix’, Jay Bhad’s ‘condemn’, Black Sherif’s ‘first sermon’ are classical examples of Ghanaian drill music. The aforementioned ‘drillers’ are breaking boundaries with their music and consequently influencing a new cadre of musicians with their sound.
To reckon, Ghanaian music is on the rise. We came from far, and I believe we will surely make advances.
The writer is an ardent music lover and critic, a political communications specialist and a netizen.
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