Week #1 Ghana - Music

I remember visiting the home of one of my Ghanaian brothers a few years ago and enjoying a delicious traditional meal, some good 'reasoning' and music. I remember how he played different styles of music and how much I enjoyed the really older, traditional music.


Highlife
According to Wikipedia, "Ghana has many styles of traditional and modern music, due to its multiplicity of ethnic groups and its cosmopolitan geographic position in West Africa. The best known modern genre that originated in Ghana is Highlife" which incorporates elements of swing, jazz, rock, ska and soukous..."


Ofori Amponsah aka All4Real seems to be quite popular in this genre. Museke shares that he sings mostly love songs, started his own record label and has received an MTV Best African radio hit of the year. I find the video for his song "Cinderella" to be quite funny while romantic:

For many, he's considered the best Highlife singers in Ghana and has helped to unearth a number of artistes, including Ofori Amponsah to the Ghanaian music scene. Museke has lauded Daddy Lumba as having "released over 20 albums, religiously producing or making an album of his own every single year. He even released a couple of gospel albums." Daddy Lumba has had an incredible career and his son, "Dangerous" is sung in Twi (Ghana’s most common language) and talks about dangerous girls:

Hiplife
Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style which fuses highlife and hip hop, and is influenced by Jamaican dancehall and reggae. Stylus Magazine states that "dancing is paramount to hiplife, so the beats tend to be faster than American rap productions." So, you should get your groove on with these.


RnM is a girl group that came to fame after winning the Vodafone ‘Icons: Divas Edition’ reality TV show. Their first single, ‘Let Your Hair Down’ has an authentic sounding R&B flavour and the video is well directed too. The media review in Modern Ghana reveals that Deniece, Stephanie and Natasha want you "to loosen up and have some fun anyway despite their hectic lives and its challenges."

According to Vibe Weekly, "The soulful reggae sound of Blakk Rasta has earned him accolades all across the world from his peers and fans alike including presidents Ellen Johnson of Liberia and America's Barack Obama." I like his song "Miss Right". Check out the lyrics he gives to Ms. Right towards the end of the song. *blushing*:

There is much to enjoy with Ghanaian music! I hope you enjoyed the videos and will check out some more.