The Case of the Highlife Scrapbook

It occurs to me that it has been at least 2 years since I really devoted any air time to highlife, the influential music emanating from Ghana and Nigeria in the early part of the 20th century. This was one of the first modern popular music genres in Africa to cross international borders. Early forms emulated musics from the Americas, especially calypso and brass band jazz.

Highlife progressed with the times: in the 1960s, with independence coming to Ghana and Nigeria, musicians began trying to represent local musical traditions, and they embraced black power motifs they heard in music from the US. Psychedelic influences came into the music in the early 70s, before it was finally supplanted by Afrobeat in the mid 70s, then funk and disco.

I recently saw a Viceland video series (Noisey) profiling the current musical scene in Lagos, Nigeria. Hip hop is the dominant style now, with a full embrace for the materialistic bling culture on display in some US hip hop acts. What a contrast to the music of the highlife period, which seemed to consistently focus on themes of peace, spirituality, and harmonious living. 

We will hear a fairly broad selection of highlife sounds today spanning from the early 60s through the 70s and early 80s. I am staying away from some of the honkier brass band material today; more of a focus on the rootsy sounding calypso beat of early highlife hits, then a deep dive into the psychedelic side.