Music / Styles A–Z / Africa, Europe and Asia · 27 of 35
Highlife
Highlife began in the coastal cities of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, in the 19th century: the melody and rhythm of traditional African music on Western instruments, led by horns and guitars.
- Where and when
- Coastal Gold Coast (Ghana), from the 19th century
- Tempo
- Not stated in our sources
- Played on
- Horns and guitars leading, Western instruments over African rhythm
What it is
Highlife is a Ghanaian style that began in the coastal cities in the 19th century, when Ghana was the British colony of the Gold Coast. It keeps the melodic and rhythmic structures of traditional African music but is usually played on Western instruments, and it spread through West Africa; in Nigeria, Igbo highlife became the country's most popular music in the 1960s.
For the producer. Jazzy horns and guitars lead the band, and the guitar uses the two-finger plucking style typical of African music. Some highlife guitar parts are modelled on the Afro-Cuban guajeo.
The records that made it
From the lesson Africa, Europe and Asia, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- Ghana FreedomE. T. Mensah · Tied to Ghana's independence.
Highlife in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged highlife on MusicBrainz · updated with every build
No new record in the press we read is tagged highlife this month. The list fills as records come out.