Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasses multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
35-554: Osibisa is a British-Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro-rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa was the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in London, alongside such contemporaries as Assagai , Chris McGregor 's Brotherhood of Breath , Demon Fuzz , Black Velvet, and Noir, and
70-664: A London day festival which takes place in Burgess Park . The original Jazz Cafe was founded by Jon Dabner and Jean Marshall in the 1980s in Newington Green , Stoke Newington , and moved to Camden Town in 1990. Mean Fiddler took over bookings in 1992. In 2008 MAMA & Company acquired the Mean Fiddler Music Group and continued to operate the venue until it was purchased by The Columbo Group in January 2016, reopening with
105-495: A more Africanized version came containing 12/8 polyrhythms , this would be known as the "Native Blues". This style would gain popularity up until World War II when production of the records was stopped. A style of highlife that resembled western brass bands in European forts across West Africa. The military would use local musicians in their brass band regiments and taught them linear marching music . After these musicians saw how
140-1236: A new look, a technical upgrade, a revamped food and drink menu plus a ‘reinvigorated bookings approach’. Throughout its various owners the club has continued to showcase performers from the genres of jazz , hip hop , electronica , blues , world , reggae , Latin and soul , as well as providing a venue for new and established artists. The Jazz Cafe has played host to such jazz musicians as Jamiroquai , Sun Ra Arkestra , Pharoah Sanders , Don Cherry , Jimmy Smith , Abbey Lincoln , Ahmad Jamal , Archie Shepp , Eddie Harris , Cassandra Wilson , Mulatu Astatke , and many more too numerous to mention. It has hosted top-drawer funk, soul and disco artists such as Amy Winehouse , Ben E King , Leroy Burgess , Evelyn "Champagne" King , The Blackbyrds , Jocelyn Brown , Jean Carne and The Fatback Band , plus reggae artists including Lee Scratch Perry , Yellowman , The Skatalites , Max Romeo , Luciano , Horace Andy , Johnny Osbourne and Marcia Griffiths , Italian singer-songwriter Elisa , and singer-songwriter Benedict Cork . The venue also showcases music from across Africa and Latin America. The American soul singer Bilal played
175-648: A short-lived jazz in Accra. Guy Warren was one notable musician who played with E.T. Mensah and the Tempos before moving to America and working with musicians such as Red Saunders to record the album Africa Speaks, America Answers , as well as playing with Duke Ellington in Chicago for a short time. Warren is credited with introducing highlife to the United States in an attempt to bring African-American musicians back in touch with
210-610: A special Zimbabwean independence celebration, and in 1983 were filmed onstage at the Marquee Club in London but by this time were a distant version of the original band. Osibisa had an important series of gigs in India in 1981, culminating in the release of the Unleashed – Live in India album. The band engaged in a return to India, performing at the November Fest 2010 on 28 November 2010, at
245-509: A version of the band in 1994 after commencing work with two UK labels: Castle Communications (who had the licensing rights to the Buddah catalogue and some of the Bronze Records catalogue) and Red Steel Music, who specialised in remastering and reissuing albums on CD. With a new producer and label behind him, Osei progressed to record new material, culminating in the 1995 release of Monsore ,
280-558: The foxtrot and calypso with Ghanaian rhythms like osibisaba ( Fante ). Highlife was associated with the local African aristocracy during the colonial period, and was played by numerous bands including the Jazz Kings , Cape Coast Sugar Babies , and Accra Orchestra along the country's coast. The high class audience members who enjoyed the music in select clubs gave the music its name. The dance orchestra leader Yebuah Mensah ( E.T. Mensah 's older brother) told John Collins in 1973 that
315-399: The 1930s, highlife spread via Ghanaian workers to Sierra Leone , Liberia , Nigeria and Gambia among other West African countries, where the music quickly gained popularity. In the 1940s, the music diverged into two distinct streams: dance band highlife and guitar band highlife. Guitar band highlife featured smaller bands and, at least initially, was most common in rural areas. Because of
350-589: The 1970s touring the world, playing to large audiences in Japan, Australasia, India, and Africa. During this time Paul Golly (guitar) and Ghanaians Daku Adams "Potato" and Kiki Gyan were also members of the band. In January 1976, their single, "Sunshine Day", reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart . Their next single release, "Dance the Body Music", peaked at number 31 in the same listing. In 1980, Osibisa performed at
385-557: The Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "(I Feel) Pata Pata". In 1962, Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964 he formed Cat's Paw, an early " world music " band that combined highlife, rock , and soul . In 1969, Osei persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa
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#1733084921241420-543: The Corporation Kalaiarangam in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu . Changes in the music industry meant declining sales for the band, and a series of label changes resulted. Some of the band returned to Ghana to set up a recording studio and theatre complex to help younger highlife musicians. In the 1990s, their music was anthologised in many CD collections, with some of them allegedly unauthorised and paying no royalties to
455-494: The Osei’s management and the band indicate these tracks will make an appearance in 2025 along with an album of previously unreleased material from earlier years that Osei had started work on in 2016. Ace Ghanaian hip-hop music producer Hammer of The Last Two stated that his debut production, Obrafour 's Pae Mu Ka album, which is the highest selling hiplife album to date, was inspired by Osibisa's song "Welcome Home." He also had
490-559: The Second World War its popularity came back within the Igbo people of Nigeria , taking their own traditional guitar riffs and the influence of the diverse culture and flavor of Nigeria, mixed and perfected it to form Igbo highlife which became the country's most popular music genre in the 1960s. Highlife has remained a part of popular music for Ghanaians and their diaspora globally through its integration with religious institutions and
525-533: The West Indian regimental bandsmen practiced traditional music in their spare time it inspired them to do the same. The fusion of linear marching music with polyrhythmic local music created a danceable style called adaha , as well as a style with cheaper, local instruments called konkoma. This fusion was similar to the birth of jazz in New Orleans. In the 1920s, Ghanaian musicians incorporated foreign influences like
560-597: The band continues to be used on many of the releases comprising classic material. Artwork for many of the reissues and 1990s material onwards was put together by Frank McPartland, Andrew Buckle and the Grammy Award winning designer Rachel Gutek and her Guppy Art company. Highlife Highlife gained popularity and the genre spread throughout West African regions. Pioneers like Cardinal Rex Lawson , E.T. Mensah , Victor Uwaifo , all perfected this sound by infusing traditional Africa drums and western "Native Blues". After
595-467: The band shifting away from their trademark sound, in favor of R&B , dance-pop and disco . Their first two albums featured artwork by the progressive rock artist Roger Dean (before he became widely known for his artwork), depicting the flying elephants which became the symbol for the band. The third album, Heads , features a cover by Mati Klarwein , known for his covers of Santana ’s Abraxas and Miles Davis ' Bitches Brew . Osibirock ,
630-463: The band's first album of new material since the late 1980s Movements album. The revitalised band with Osei at the helm commenced touring and recording, until Osei's stroke some fifteen years later. Osei cut back his touring schedule due to the effects of his illness but still continued to record until 2018. Various new recording and release projects were carried out from the mid-1990s onwards with remastered, remixed and re-recorded projects seeing
665-486: The band's sixth studio release featured "Negro Attacked by a Jaguar" (1910) by Henri Rousseau . Playing on the original flying elephants theme, the Ultimate Collection set features elephants with tank turrets for heads, an early Roger Dean idea reborn for the project. In 2009, their Osee Yee album featured the flying elephants once more, this time painted by Freyja Dean (Dean's daughter). Roger Dean's logo for
700-458: The band. However, this has been disputed by Osei, who, along with Amarfio and Tontoh, ran the band from the 1980s onwards. In the early 1990s, Osei regrouped the band, and many of their past recordings released legally on CD. This included a remaster series with bonus material and hitherto unreleased material and live concerts on the Red Steel / Flying Elephant label collaboration. Osei regrouped
735-748: The chance to work with Kiki Gyan a few days before his death. On 13 December 2022, drummer and founding member Sol Amarfio died at the age of 84. In June 2023, long-time Osibisa bass player, sometimes keyboard player and producer Victor Mensah died at the age of 66, after a protracted illness. Osibisa has been credited with introducing African music to European and North American audiences with their fusion of African and Western music styles. The band's style encompasses elements of rock , progressive rock , acid rock , Latin , jazz , afro-funk , jazz fusion , soul , highlife , reggae , calypso and pop . This style has been classified as afro rock , progressive rock, Afro-pop , and highlife. Mystic Energy saw
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#1733084921241770-529: The communities stems from the religious institution's ability to provide social and cultural infrastructure for the Ghanaian diaspora in Germany. E.T. Mensah and Kofi Ghanaba were important musicians in Ghana. From the late 1950s, famous jazz musicians began to visit Ghana, such as Ahmad Jamal and Louis Armstrong who played in Ghana (1956 and 1960). Armstrong's All Stars member Edmond Hall came to Ghana in 1959 to set up
805-475: The history of stringed instruments like the seprewa in the region, musicians were happy to incorporate the guitar. They also used the dagomba style, borrowed from Kru sailors from Liberia, to create highlife's two-finger picking style. Guitar band highlife also featured singing, drums and claves. E.K. Nyame and his Akan Trio helped to popularize guitar band highlife, and would release over 400 records during Nyame's lifetime. Dance band highlife, by contrast,
840-417: The late '90s, productions used solely electronic instruments. Considered one of the most popular music genres to both Ghanaians and its diaspora, gospel highlife has outlived burger highlife because of its success in blurring the lines between religion and pop culture. This genre is similar to burger highlife but its inspiration comes from Charismatic Christianity and Pentecostalism . Its significance within
875-522: The light of day. This included previously unreleased material from the African Flight period, the incomplete follow-up which had a working title of African Dawn , live projects including Live at Cropredy (the bands first live album in fifteen years) followed by the semi acoustic live offering recorded at London's famous Jazz Cafe , Aka Ka Kra . Work commenced on more studio material that remains unissued to this day. A new studio album, Osee Yee ,
910-543: The music of Africa, as awareness of African influence on Afro-American music was lacking before the "African musical renaissance" of the late '50s. Source: The Jazz Cafe The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town , London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. The venue holds 450 people across both floors. The music venue also curates Jazz Cafe Festival ,
945-725: The nickname, the "King of Highlife". Also important from the 1950s onward was musician King Bruce , who served as band leader to the Black Beats. Some other early bands were, the Red Spots, the Rhythm Aces, the Ramblers and Broadway-Uhuru. Economic problems led to a mass migration of Ghanaians in the 1960s looking for more opportunities and after that political instability in the '70s and '80s would cause more people and many prominent highlife musicians to leave and create clusters of communities across
980-634: The positive effect it had on immigrating Ghanaians leaving their homeland. The following arpeggiated highlife guitar part is modeled after an Afro-Cuban guajeo . The pattern of attack-points is nearly identical to the 3-2 clave motif guajeo as shown below. The bell pattern known in Cuba as clave is indigenous to Ghana, and is used in highlife. The origins of Highlife stem from colonialism and trading in West Africa through regional styles of music. Palm-wine music , also known as maringa in Sierra Leone,
1015-795: The term 'highlife' appeared in the early 1920s "as a catch-phrase for the orchestrated indigenous songs played at [exclusive] clubs by such early dance bands as the Jazz Kings, the Cape Coast Sugar Babies, the Sekondi Nanshamang and later the Accra Orchestra. The people outside called it the highlife as they did not reach the class of the couples going inside, who not only had to pay a relatively high entrance fee of about 7s 6d (seven shillings and sixpence), but also had to wear full evening dress, including top-hats if they could afford it." From
1050-525: The west with Germany being a preferred destination because of its relaxed immigration laws . Ghanaians in Germany created a secular style of highlife that combined the genre with funk, disco, and synth-pop. It is believed it was called burger highlife because the largest communities of Ghanaians resided in Hamburg . The music became associated with migrants who would travel between Germany and Ghana. It also would become defined by its use of modern technologies; by
1085-649: Was born. The name Osibisa was described in lyrics, album notes and interviews as meaning "criss-cross rhythms that explode with happiness" but it actually comes from " osibisaba " the Fante word for highlife. Joining the three Ghanaians in the first incarnation were Antiguan Wendell (Dell) Richardson (lead guitar and lead vocalist), Nigerian Lasisi Amao (percussionist and tenor saxophone ), Grenadian Roger Bedeau, also known as Spartacus R (bass), and Trinidadian Robert Bailey (keyboards). Nigerians Fred Coker and Mike Odumosu (bass guitar) were later replacements. The band spent much of
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1120-452: Was largely responsible for the establishment of world music and Afro-Rock as a marketable genre. The original band that featured on the first three studio albums was universally known as the "Beautiful Seven", also a song on their album Woyaya . In Ghana in the 1950s, Teddy Osei (saxophone), Solomon (Sol) Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef, and Farhan Freere ( flute ) played in a highlife band called The Star Gazers. They left to form
1155-476: Was more rooted in urban settings. In the post-war period, larger dance orchestras began to be replaced by smaller professional dance bands, typified by the success of E.T. Mensah and the Tempos. As foreign troops departed, the primary audiences became increasingly Ghanaian, and the music changed to cater to their tastes. Mensah's fame soared after he played with Louis Armstrong in Accra in May 1956, and he eventually earned
1190-431: Was one style that originated on coastal locations when local musicians began using portable instruments brought by traders and fused it with local string and percussion instruments. It was usually played in a syncopated 4/4 metre . This music was played in low class palm-wine bars at ports where sailors, dock workers, and working class locals would drink and listen to the music. Eventually this genre worked its way inland and
1225-433: Was released in 2009. After the removal of personnel by Osei in 2014/15, a new recording project with Osei at the helm commenced in late 2015, shortly after the successful placement of material that was chosen for Richard Linklater 's film Boyhood . However, apart from one track included on the band's 2020 Sunshine Day: The Boyhood Sessions album, the recordings featuring Osei remain unreleased. Recent announcements from
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