A dance style that first appeared on the West African coast in the late 19th century. It has since developed into one of the most popular modern dance styles in the towns and cities that border the Gulf of Guinea. The term comes from the association of the style with ‘high society’ (party-going etc.).
The origins of highlife lie in the introduction in the 19th century of European military band instruments to the coastal forts of Ghana which had been built to protect European trading interests. By 1830 there was an African band at Cape Coast Castle which played English tunes by ear. Local bands modelled on those of the British forces sprang up at Elmina, 13 km from Cape Coast, among them the Lion Soldiers’ Band and the Edu Magicians’ Band. They were predominantly brass bands which played popular pieces of the period in a style that foreshadowed that of highlife. The band instruments were often bought for them by local merchants who acted as their sponsors, but freed slaves, stowaways and stevedores who returned to the area introduced smaller instruments such as concertinas, bandoneons, guitars and fifes. Other early influences included church hymnody, sea shanties of sailors and piano music (Collins, 1985).
By the beginning of World War I, musicians and bands along the west coast were playing local ‘pop’ music. One of the first styles to emerge in the Cape Coast-Elmina area was the Annkadan-mu (‘You can’t stay in your room when you hear the music’). It was generally performed on guitar and soda bottle with a singer, but other similar combinations were also used. While such music was generally available along the west coast, the development of highlife itself, with its blend of African, black American and Western idioms, was made possible by the unique circumstances at Cape Coast and Elmina.
The early spread of highlife was largely the result of its acceptance by prosperous local merchants and senior employees in large trading companies on the west coast. They acquired harmoniums, pianos, banjos and other Western instruments and held frequent parties; highlife was performed at them and its repertory gradually extended. The Excelsior Orchestra, formed in 1914, is an example of such a west coast ballroom orchestra. Musically, highlife has drawn on a variety of sources – dance bands, ‘at home’ groups and soirée clubs, then drama groups or concert parties, guitar bands who presented dramatic sketches, and the five- to 14-piece bands which developed in the late 1930s based on international models. These groups spread the popularity of highlife wherever they performed. In 1934 the Cape Coast Sugar Babies Light Orchestra toured Nigeria and performed highlife arrangements of Yoruba songs which were greeted with enthusiasm – though the enthusiasm may have been in response to the use of Nigerian musical material by musicians from another country. During World War II swing influenced West African dance band music due to the American and British military presence. Early swing bands mostly played clubs that catered for Europeans, but a process of Africanization had already begun by the end of the war. One of the most influential of these bands was the Tempos, led by e.t. Mensah and Guy Warren, who played a repertory comprising swing, highlife and calypso. Mensah later became known as the ‘King of Highlife’ (Collins, 1985). In Ghana, highlife became an integral element in the comic theatre, ‘concert’ parties that developed in the 1950s. This music-theatre genre fused, according to John Collins, ‘Western theater, and in particular, Vaudeville, with African characters and themes’ (1985, p.3). Highlife also spread from the coastal towns to rural areas where according to Collins it was performed on traditional instruments and the acoustic guitar, and referred to as native blues, Palm wine, ashiko, makossa and maringa (1992, p.143).
By the late 1950s, national rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria was reflected in the rivalry of their capitals, Accra and Lagos, for recognition as the main centre of highlife. This produced experiments in instrumental combinations and idioms that resulted in styles as successful as that of Yoruba highlife with its use of traditional idioms and instruments. Highlife has contributed to the ongoing development of several West African popular music genres such as Afro-beat, jújù, makossa, kpanlogo and others. Most highlife dance-bands in Ghana and Nigeria had ceased to function by the mid-1960s, at which time guitar-bands assumed greater popularity.
Dance-band highlife is usually in simple duple time, although examples also occur in 4/4 and, more rarely, in 6/8. There is a slow highlife beat in 6/8 known as the ‘blues’. In all cases the various rhythmic patterns conform to a basic beat, and a strict tempo is maintained throughout.
The rhythm section usually comprises combinations of claves, castanets, maracas and drums with an occasional bass. The rhythmic foundation of the piece is reiterated throughout as a rhythmic pattern on castanets and claves, with or without maracas; in some early highlifes a soda bottle was used to strike the rhythmic pattern. Characteristic rhythm patterns found in highlife are shown in ex.1.
The highlife scale is usually diatonic and major, and its melodies are catchy and easily repeatable. While its harmonies are similar to those of earlier American blues without chromaticism, its chord sequences and part organization deviate from the blues and Western musical types. This is partly explained by the improvisation that occurs in the learning of new numbers.
The distinctive qualities of highlife lie, beyond description in terms of scale, melody, harmony, timbre and improvisation, in the basic propulsive drive marked by its verve and precision; in its sonorities, from those of regimental brass bands and Latin American bands; in its emphasis on firm rhythmic outlines and bold tonal palettes; in its atmosphere of unbounded joy; and most of all in its combination of rhythmic ostinato phrases with characteristic melodic motifs and strong cadential patterns.
Highlife is normally sung and the languages used contribute to its character. Some highlife musicians state that Fante serves best, but Twi, Ga, Ewe, Nzema, Yoruba, Igbo and other West African languages as well as English are also popular. The themes of highlife songs cover a wide range of human activity, from national affairs to domestic, from social and political topics to personal relationships. Highlife audiences, whether in night clubs, dance halls or popular theatres, are as attentive to its words as they are eager to move to its rhythms.
A. Darkwa: The New Musical Traditions in Ghana (diss., Wesleyan U., 1974)
D. Coplan: ‘Go to My Town, Cape Coast! the Social History of Ghanaian Highlife’, Eight Urban Cultures: Tradition and Change, ed. B. Nettl (Urbana, IL, 1978), 96–114
S. van der Geest: ‘The Political Meaning of Highlife Songs in Ghana’, African Studies Review, xxv/1 (1982), 27–36
J. Collins: Musicmakers of West Africa (Washington DC, 1985)
O. Brempong: Akan Highlife in Ghana: Songs of Cultural Transition (diss., Indiana U., 1986)
A. Euba: ‘Juju, Highlife and Afro-Beat: an Introduction to Popular Music in Nigeria’, Essays on Music in Africa, i (Bayreuth, 1988), 119–39
C.A. Waterman: ‘Asiko, Sakara and Palmwine: Popular Music and Social Identity in Inter-War Lagos, Nigeria’, Urban Anthropology, xvii/2–3 (1988), 229–58
J. Collins: The Early History of West African Highlife Music’, Popular Music, viii/3 (1989), 221–30
G. Ewens: Africa O-Ye! a Celebration of African Music (New York, 1991)
J. Collins: West African Pop Roots (Philadelphia, 1992)
P.W. Ademowo: The Highlife Years: History of Highlife Music in Nigeria (Ibadan, Nigeria, 1995)
J. Collins: Highlife Time: the Story of the Ghanaian Concert Party, West African Highlife and Related Popular Music Styles (Accra, Ghana, 1996)
C.K. Sackey: Highlife: Entwicklung und Stilformen ghanaischer Gegenwartsmusik (Münster, 1996)
Stars of Ghana, Decca WAP21 (1962)
African Highlife, Fontana MGF-27519 (1967) [incl. notes by F. Benda]
Soronko, perf. G. Darko, Musicology 09030135 (1989)
All for You, perf. E.T. Mensah, rec. 1950s, RetroAfric Retro 1CD (1990/1950)
Giants of Ghanaian Danceband Highlife, 1950’s–1970’s, rec. 1970, Original Music OMCD011 (1990) [incl. notes by J.S. Roberts]
Heavy on the Highlife!, Original Music OMCD012 (1990) [incl. notes]
Azagas and Archibogs: the Sixties Sound of Lagos Highlife, rec. 1960s, Original Music OMA117C (1991)
Roots of Highlife, perf. G.W. Aingo, Heritage HT CD17 (1992) [incl. notes by P. Vernon]
I've Found My Love: Guitar Bands of Ghana, rec. 1960s, Original Music OMCD019 (1993)
Classic Highlife, Osibisounds 7794 (1995)
Do Better if You Can, perf. Oriental Brothers, Original Music OMCD034 (1995) [incl. notes by J.S. Roberts]
Money no be Sand: Afro-lypso, Pidgin Highlife, Afro-Rock, Afro-Soul, Original Music OMCD031 (1995)
ATTA MENSAH/GREGORY F. BARZ