Entertainment of Monday, 14 June 2021
Source: happyghana.com
2021-06-14
High-life sensation, Akwaboah Jnr.
Ghanaian High-life sensation, Akwaboah Jnr, has shared that the debate on the death of the High-life genre gave him a mixed bag of feelings.
The musician who is particular about promoting and sustaining the genre indicated that the debate at its high made him both sad and happy.
“When I saw the debate on High-life dying on the internet, I was kind of happy and sad at the same time. I was happy for the fact that people are now seeing the light and are accepting that Ghana is High-life. You can’t take that away from us and we keep doing it,” he told NY DJ on Y102.5FM’s Ryse N Shyne show.
He noted that his colleagues, Dada Hafco, Kumi Guitar and himself are still doing High-life and trying to sustain the genre. “The sad point however is that High-life is not really played or patronised in Ghana and that is why I was sad.”
Akwaboah who is pained by the treatment the industry has given to the High-life genre added, “You know, at the end of the day High-life is still going to stand tall and we are going to make it work.”
High-life is a music genre that originated in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional Akan music and Kpanlogo of the Ga people, but is played with Western instruments.
However, the genre is being lost in the Ghanaian music industry as the young crop of artiste are pursuing other genres other than what many may call their heritage.