 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Music of Ghana" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
There are many styles oftraditional and modernmusic of Ghana, due toGhana's worldwide geographic position on theAfrican continent.[1][2]
The best known modern genre originating inGhana isHighlife.[3] For many years, Highlife was the preferred music genre until the introduction ofHiplife and many others.[4][5]
The traditional musicology ofGhana may be divided geographically between the open and vast savanna country of northernGhana inhabited byGhanaians ofGur andMande speaking groups; and the fertile, forested southern coastal areas, inhabited byGhanaians speakingKwa languages such asAkan.[6]
During theGold Coast era, the area was a hotbed of musicalsyncretism. Rhythms especially from gombe andashiko,guitar-styles such as mainline and osibisaba,Europeanbrass bands andsea shanties, were all combined into amelting pot that became high-life.
Ghana became an independent nation in 1957. The music ofGhana often reflects a Caribbean influence, yet it still retains a flavour on its own. While pan-Ghanaian music had been developed for some time, the middle of the 20th century saw the development of distinctlyGhanaian pop music. High-life incorporated elements of swing,jazz,rock, ska and soukous. To a much lesser extent,Ghanaian musicians found success in theUnited States and, briefly, theUnited Kingdom with the surprise success ofOsibisa'sAfro-rock in the 1970s.
In the 1930s, Sam's Trio, led by Jacob Sam (Kwame Asare), was the most influential of the high-life guitar-bands. Their "Yaa Amponsah", three versions of which were recorded in 1928 forZonophone, was a major hit that remains a popular staple of numerous high-life bands. The next major guitar-band leader was E. K. Nyame, who sang inTwi. Nyame also added thedouble bass and more elements of the Western hemisphere, including jazz andCuban music on the recommendation of his producer and manager E. Newman-Adjiri. In the 1960s, dance high-life was more popular than guitar-band high-life; most of the guitar bands began using theelectric guitar until a roots revival in the mid-1970s.
Dance highlife evolved duringWorld War II, when Americanjazz andswing became popular with the arrival of servicemen from theUnited States andUnited Kingdom. After independence in 1957, the socialist government began encouraging folk music, but highlife remained popular and influences fromTrinidadian music.E. T. Mensah was the most influential musician of this period, and his bandThe Tempos frequently accompanied the president. The original bandleader of The Tempos wasGuy Warren, who was responsible for introducingCaribbean music toGhana and, later, was known for a series of innovative fusions of African rhythms and Americanjazz.Ebo Taylor,King Bruce,Jerry Hansen (musician) and Stan Plange also led influential dance bands during the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s, however,pop music from Europe and the US dominated the Ghanaian scene until a mid-1970s roots revival.
By the beginning of the 1970s, traditionally styled highlife had been overtaken by electric guitar bands and pop-dance music. Since 1966 and the fall of PresidentKwame Nkrumah, many Ghanaian musicians moved abroad, settling in the US, and UK. High-life bands arose like Sammy Kofi's (also known as Kofi Sammy). In 1971, theSoul to Soulmusic festival was held inAccra. Several legendary American musicians played, includingWilson Pickett,Ike andTina Turner andCarlos Santana. With the exception ofMexican-American Santana, these American superstars were all black, and their presence in Accra was seen as legitimizing Ghanaian music. Though the concert is now mostly remembered for its role as a catalyst in the subsequent Ghanaian roots revival, it also led to increased popularity for American rock and soul. Inspired by the American musicians, new guitar bands arose in Ghana, includingNana Ampadu & the African Brothers, The City Boys and others. Musicians such asC. K. Mann,Daniel Amponsah andEddie Donkor incorporated new elements, especially fromJamaicanreggae. A group calledWulomei also arose in the 1970s, leading a cultural revival to encourage Ghanaian youths to support their own countryman's music. By the 1980s, the UK was experiencing a boom in African music asGhanaian and others moved there in large numbers. The group Hi-Life International was probably the most influential band of the period, and others included Jon K, Dade Krama,Orchestra Jazira andBen Brako. In the middle of the decade, however, British immigration laws changed, and the focus of Ghanaian emigration moved toGermany.
The Ghanaian-German community created a form of highlife calledBurger-highlife. The most influential early burgher highlife musician wasGeorge Darko, whose "Akoo Te Brofo" coined the term and is considered the beginning of the genre. Burgher highlife was extremely popular inGhana, especially after computer-generated dance beats were added to the mix. The same period saw a Ghanaian community appear inToronto and elsewhere inCanada.Pat Thomas is probably the most famous Ghanaian-Canadian musician. Other emigres include Ghanaian-AmericanObo Addy, the Ghanaian-Swiss Andy Vans and the Ghanaian-Dutch Kumbi Salleh. InGhana itself during the 1980s, reggae became extremely popular.
By the late 1990s, a new generation of artists created a new genre of music calledHiplife.[7] The creator of this style isReggie Rockstone, a Ghanaian musician who dabbled with hip-hop in theUnited States before finding his unique style. Hiplife basically was hiphop in the Ghanaian local dialect mixed with elements of the traditional High-life.[8] Ace music producerHammer of The Last Two unveiled artistes includingObrafour, Tinny and Ex-doe who further popularized the Hiplife music genre respectively. Hiplife has since proliferated and spawned stars such asReggie Rockstone,Sherifa Gunu,Ayigbe Edem,Samini andSarkodie. Producers responsible for steering this genre to what it is today wereHammer of The Last Two,Ball J,EL and Jupitar Dancehall Artiste.
Ghanaian hip hop is asubculture andart movement which developed inGhana during the late 1990s. The hiphop genre came into existence inGhana throughReggie Rockstone, who is known as the hiplife father[9] and other notable musicians such asJayso andBall J. It first came toGhana as Hiplife whereReggie Rockstone introduced a fusion of hiphop beats with African sounds to create a whole new genre known asGh hiphop.
In the late 2000s, a new generation of artists introduced the Afro beats genre into the Ghana music scene which is mostly referred to as Afro-pop.4x4 andFuse ODG among others popularized it and it has become part of the Ghanaian music Culture.