Highlife: A journey of evolution:

‘From Yaa Amponsah to Fada-Fada’

Keynote address: 2nd Rex Lawson Highlife Music Festival.

University of Port Harcourt- 12 October 2016

By Ezennia Ed Emeka Keazor

The esteemed persons of the Vice-Chancellor University of Port Harcourt, the Deans of

Faculty, Heads of Department, distinguished members of the various academic faculties, and

distinguished guests. I shall start firstly by expressing my sincere thanks to the Department of

Music and the Rex Lawson Chair, here at the University of Port Harcourt, for according me

the priviledge of addressing what truly is a distinguished gathering.

The title of this paper is Highlife: “A journey of evolution. From Yaa Amponsah to Fada Fada”.

I shall start off by apologising for the seemingly convoluted title, however the significance of

the component parts to the present discourse has motivated the same. In the course of

delivery, I hope it shall become clearer.

This paper seeks to study the historical origins of Highlife, its key structural influences and

evolution. To do justice to a genre with wide sub-continental roots, would probably require a

PhD thesis, which thankfully, this occasion does not require me to undertake, thus for the

sake of brevity, this paper shall largely focus on Nigeria, Ghana and to a lesser extent, Sierra

Leone for its case studies. I apologise once again for any inconvenience this may cause.

We shall start by examining:

A. Origins of Highlife:

The first written usage of the term Highlife was, according to Nathan Plageman, in his work

‘Everybody likes Saturday Night- A social history of popular music and masculinities in the Gold

Coast’, evidenced in 1922, in the program of the Grand Ball of the Cape Coast literary society,

of the then Gold Coast (Ghana). However, Plageman clarifies that the term had been in use

for a few years before this time. The relevant question then arises as to when the genre itself

came into being?

There the answer becomes less definitive. This being on account of the multifarious

seminal influences of the genre. What is, however, an important marker to lay at the onset,

is that the Gold Coast (or Ghana) was strategic in the formal origins of the genre, though not

exclusively so. John Collins, in his authoritative work ‘Highlife time’, identifies, three streams

of development of the genre. The first being the traditional Brass Bands that emerged in the

mid 19th century, modelled as Uchenna Ikonne states, his work ‘Highlife Music in West’ Africa’

(www.musicinafrica.net), on the martial music played by the West India Regiment, which had

been stationed in the Gold Coast, from the mid-19th century.

In due course, several indigenous communities established Brass Bands, playing a

style which according to Ikonne, was known as ‘Adaha’. This form consisted of a combination

of traditional rhythms and lyrical component, in a hybrid fusion with the martial themes

inherited as said. This was not exclusive to the Gold Coast, as this phenomenon extended

across the Anglophone West African coast, from Sierra Leone to Nigeria. One of the earliest

Nigerian Brass ensembles being the famous Calabar Brass Band, which emerged at the end of

the 19th century. Ikonne goes on to advance another well recognised theory on the origins of

the name ‘Highlife’, as arising from reactions by working class Africans to the elite spectacle

of Ballroom dances, at which the genre was played, in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

The second strand, according to Collins, was the Guitar based format. This was first

popularised by the Kru Seamen from Liberia (or ‘Krumen’), who were acknowledged as the

leading Sea-faring professionals of the West African coast at the time. They adopted the

Guitar, as an instrument, inherited from Spanish sea-faring colleagues. They sang a hybrid

lyrical and melodic fusion of West Indian Calypso, English Sea-Shanties, Latin and traditional

styles, sung in their native language or in a pungent Patois, which they generally

communicated. This style, consisting of a cross fingered technique, was soon, per Ikonne,

seeped into Sierra Leone and emerged as the indigenous style known as ‘Maringa’. This was

the birth of the sub-genre known as Palmwine Guitar, the name being derived from the

popularity of the genre at Palmwine bars.

Plageman offers that between 1910 and 1920, the style grew exponentially in the then

Gold Coast, where it was performed, not just by solo instrumentalists, but sometimes by

ensembles consisting of Banjo players, Accordionists, Concertina’s, local drums and

percussive instruments and the Akan Hand-Piano, ‘Aprempremsemna’. An early Nigerian

practitioner was the expatriate Singer-Guitarist, Domingo Justus, who performed Yoruba Folk

songs, with Guitar and Traditional Drum accompaniment.

However, if there was a definitive personality in the development of the genre, it was

the Ashanti Guitarist and bandleader, Kwame Asare (AKA Augustine Sam) who, according to

Ikonne, composed what is widely described as the first Highlife song, ‘Yaa Amponsah’, in

1919. Sam and his band, the Kumasi Trio, consisting of Guitar, drums and percussions, were

eventually to record this song in 1928, at London’s Kingsway Hall, under the Zonophone

Record label (a subsidiary of RCA-Victor). It is important to mention that Domingo Justus, also

recorded his album on the same Zonophone label, in the same year, however it did not enjoy

the same prominence as Sam’s work.

‘Yaa Amponsah’, which was composed as a praise song, became not just another

song, but the structural template for the new genre that was Highlife. Its lyrics were to be

covered by 100’s of artistes, from its advent till date. Its stylistic element was infused into an

uncountable number of compositions by artistes all over West Africa, spawning variants, most

notable of which was Bonsue many years later. Yaa Amponsah, in its stylistic element was to

find a twin, equally emanating from the Gold Coast, this being the ‘Dagomba’ style, which

borrowed heavily from the Latin Guitar style.

The late 1920’s also saw several Ghanaian artistes record under the Zonophone label,

most of whom were based in London at the time. These included Nicholas Van Heer, George

Williams Aingo and the duo of Frank Essien and Edmund Tagoe. All of whom combined

traditional vocals with a variety of Guitar styles of the 1920’s ranging from Ragtime and

Charleston to the Swing Jazz style, on acoustic Guitar.

In the 1930’s and 1940’s, several other pioneers and elite musicians in the Palmwine

Guitar style were to emerge, such as Kwaa Mensah and Kwesi Pepera, from the Gold Coast,

Irewolede Denge, Dixon Oludaiye, Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare from Nigeria and Ebenezer

Calendar from Sierra Leone. The predominant style adopted by the Nigerian performers being

a variation of the ‘Yaa Amponsah’ and ‘Dagomba styles’, with the inflection of indigenous

phrasing. Subsequently emerging in this sub-genre, in the early -mid 1950’s were the

legendary Israel Njemanze and the Three Night Wizards, Okonkwo Adigwe and Celestine

Obiakor and John Ikediala. Also to emerge at this time was the ‘Toye’ Palmwine Guitar style,

spearheaded by the virtuoso Guitarist Julius Araba and his Afro-Skittles, which included the

legend Fatai Rolling Dollar. In Sierra Leone, perhaps the greatest Palmwine Guitar Highlife star

emerged in the 1950’s, in the person of the great Soliman Rogie, whose single ‘My lovely

Elizabeth’ remains in high demand, till date- 22 years after his death.

The third stream was the classic Dance Band Highlife format. Plageman posits that the

growth of this stream was not abrupt or formulaic, as Big Band Orchestra’s had from the

1920’s and 1930’s, performing Highlife, alongside Ballroom standards. This era also saw the

growth of Jazz Music in the Dixieland format, which found its way into West African Dance

halls in the period. As Collins recounts, one of the earliest recorded Dance Highlife

performances was a song ‘Look trouble’ performed by the Gold Coast, Excelsior Orchestra

in 1920, at Jamestown, Accra. In later years, two of its greatest pioneers were Emmanuel

Tetteh Mensah and Kofi Ghanaba, who began experimenting with a fusion of Jazz and

African rhythms. However, by the 1950’s, a more populist version of the Dance Band stream

emerged which, as Collins and Plageman recount, found its way into the commercial clubs

and popular outlets. This became the classic era of Highlife music. E.T.Mensah, however was

the first real superstar of Dance Highlife, touring across West Africa, at this time and Nigeria

in particular in 1953, taking the nation by storm.

In Nigeria at this time also arose great pioneers of Dance Highlife and Jazz music, which

were closely allied in the performers and performances. Prime in this era was Bobby Benson,

who returned to Nigeria in 1946 and introduced Big Band Jazz and became the nation’s

premier Big Band Highlife Orchestra- ironically imitating E.T.Mensah. Benson’s Jam Session

Orchestra however became the veritable training ground for a generation of great Nigerian

Highlife Musicians, such as Babyface Paul, Dan Satch Joseph and many others. Ikonne’s view

however is that Benson’s forte was more in the area of Jazz and Mambo His position further

being that the first real Nigerian pure Dance Highlife star was Victor Olaiya, whose Cool Cats

Orchestra became the toast of Nigerian Dance Highlife from the mid-1950’s onwards. Other

Dance Highlife Orchestras were to emerge, such as Stephen Amaechi and his Empire Rhythm

Skies, E.C.Arinze and his Empire Rhythm Orchestra, Charles Iwegbue and his Archibogs etc

Across the sub-continent, Highlife became the music of Anglophone West Africa, thus

that upon gaining Independence in 1957, Kwame Nkrumah designated Highlife Music, the

official music of the new nation. The sum total of this showing the tri-partite origins of the

genre, in that there was no monolithic progression, rather there were different silos, which

appeared to display the common features of hybrid components of African and foreign

origin, both in the rhythmic and melodic elements. These disparate forms, were however

to amalgamate, at least to an extent, from the 1960’s onwards.

The evolution of Highlife, 1960-2015, is examined next.

The Evolution of Highlife 1960-Present day

In Ikonne’s view, Nigerian Highlife witnessed an evolution into a more indigenous

style, distinct from the all-pervasive Ghanaian style that had characterised most forms in the

early period. Prime in this movement was Roy Chicago and his Abalabi Dandies, who

popularised the use of the Yoruba Talking Drums in Highlife Music and infused Yoruba chants

in the break phase of his compositions. It is instructive that one of his sidemen was the

legend that was Erekosima Lawson, AKA Rex Lawson. He (Lawson) equally, was extremely

influential in changing the dynamic of Highlife Music, to the extent of introducing his

traditional Kalabari cultural nuances into his compositions. A highly disciplined compositeur

and arranger. Lawson followed in the revolutionary mould of Roy Chicago, with the skilful

infusion of his native Kalabari rhythms and lyrical content into his compositions. His first

being the seminal ‘Japu nama, japu feni’, fittingly a celebration of Kalabari Folklore,

delivered in Dance Highlife format, while he performed with the Mayors Dance Band of

Onitsha. He was to take this to another level, with his national hit-composition, ‘Tamuno bo

iboro ma’, also with the Mayors Dance Band, which propelled him to the stellar heights of

prominence in the genre. It also brought the cultural flair of the Niger Delta, for the very first

time to National prominence.

Lawson and a generation of other Highlife Musicians, such as Celestine Ukwu, were to

lead Highlife into the next phase of its evolution, with the de-emphasis of the Dance Band

style, into a more compressed Guitar based format- which in the view of this writer, was an

expansion of the early Palm-Wine Guitar phase. Whilst the Horns were certainly not phased

out, the Guitar melodies, however, became the more prominent influence. Dance Highlife

via the efforts of performers like those mentioned earlier, and innovative and prolific

entrants like the recently returned Fela Ransome-Kuti and Chris Ajilo, performing as part of

the NBC Orchestra and as individual performers, were prominent players. However, the

Guitar Highlife phase was duly emergent in this period. This phenomenon was also

witnessed in Ghana, with the emergence of Guitar led ensembles, such as K.Gyasi’s Band,

C.K.Mann and many more, which nevertheless co-existed with Dance Bands, notably the

legendary Ramblers Dance Band, led by Jerry Hansen.

The Nigerian Civil War, which spanned the years 1967-1970, was to have a significant

effect on the Nigerian Highlife scene. This being on account of the departure of Eastern

Nigerian Highlife musicians from the spotlight of Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, back to

the East. As Ikonne suggests, the effect of this was to make room for a Highlife variant, Juju

Music, to emerge in Western Nigeria. The key actors who emerged in this period, included

Ebenezer Obey, who having learnt his trade from the afore-mentioned Fatai Rolling Dollar,

enjoyed initial success, with pure Highlife hits like ‘Gbebe mi’, ‘Ore mi ese pele’ and ‘Ore mi

ma je aja’ which were in the view of many commentators pure Highlife, in that they were

delivered in ‘Yaa Amponsah’ style. Other Juju musicians who emerged with Highlife

influence in this era included, Orlando Owoh (another Fatai Rolling Dollar protégé)

S.F.Olowo-okere and Prince Kayode Dosunmu. However, artistes like King Sunny Ade,Tunde

Nightingale and Kayode Fashola, performed with less Highlife influence, likewise others like

Pick Peters and Prince Adekunle. Shortly after, Juju Music, was to forge its own unique path,

diverse from mainstream Highlife, which was itself witnessing evolution.

New players were emerging, displaying their idiosyncratic ethnic influences, within

the broad Highlife structural framework. This time, the Midwest of Nigeria was to spawn a

generation of stars, which included notably, Victor Uwaifo, who had ironically trained under

E.C.Arinze. Uwaifo performed in Edo language, employing the percussive style of the Benin

traditional musicians into his compositions. No better example being his formulation of a

style known as ‘Ekassa’, which ironically was an ancient dance invented by the legendary

Queen Idia, in the 16th century. It is also necessary to mention two female Highlife Highlife

pioneers from the Midwest, Guitarist, Victoria Iruemi and Meg Aghomo, who led their own

Highlife bands in the 1960’s. Also, the veteran of the South-East, Chief Inyang Henshaw led

the charge for Highlife in his native Calabar, performing in Efik and infusing traditional Efik

styles into his Highlife compositions.

Likewise, the North of Nigeria was not to be left out of this revolution, with the veteran Bala

Miller and his Pirameeds of Africa experimenting with a hybrid of Sahelian rhythms with

Dance Highlife.

The evolution of Highlife in this era was not merely an unpressured innovative phase.

There was real pressure arising with the influx of foreign influence from Soul, Reggae and

Rock Music, in the late 1960’s. Highlife composers were compelled to change or lose out to

the Soul craze spearheaded by local performers like Geraldo Pino and emerging Pop

combo’s emerging before and during the Nigerian Civil war. This compelled Highlife

innovators like Rex Lawson and Orlando Julius Ekemode to release albums, in response.

Lawson in particular, with his album, ‘Rex Lawson The Highlife King in London’, vowed quite

forcefully to chase Soul out of Nigeria. This album featured tracks like ‘Osima toru korote’

and ‘Peri Peri Mbanga’, which displayed strong soulful elements. Whether he would have

succeeded is now moot, since he was to pass away months after the release of this album.

Highlife was however to suffer a severe decline in the 1970’s-1990’s, as a result of the

deluge of foreign musical influences, such as Disco, Funk and other genre, which took over

the commercial space, which Highlife had occupied from the 1950’s. There was however to

be a Highlife renaissance in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, with the re-emergence of live

music culture in Nigeria’s urban centres, notably Lagos. A generation of nostalgic fans, began

to crave the old Highlife fare and naturally the musicians responded. The era was however

not to witness the legendary recordings of the 1950’s and 1960’s, it saw the re-emergence

of demand for Highlife Music in live performances.

One of the more notable initiatives in this regard being the Elders Forum Highlife

Series, at Lagos, which provided a forum for some the old veterans to ply their trade and

remind their constituency that they still existed. Three great musicians to benefit from this

being Fatai Rolling Dollar, Tunde Oshofisan, formerly of Roy Chicago’s Band and Alaba Pedro,

virtuoso Guitarist and star of the Highlife Guitar movement. This was instructive, as the

intervening period had seen the demise of some of the great Highlife legends of the golden

era, of the 1950’s.

The late 1990’s and early 2000’s was to see a slow shift back to the Highlife genre.

Young Nigerian musicians began to record covers of Highlife classics, notably Lt Shotgun,

who recorded Victor Olaiya’s ‘Baby jowo’, to huge commercial success. However this track

used as a case study, showed the new evolution of Highlife, in that it was recorded with

what was now the prevalent digital programming format. The only instrumentation

employed being an electronic keyboard. This was to be the trend in a number of other

recordings in the ensuing decades. A minor breath of fresh-air, being the brief re-alignment

of Jazz and Highlife, in the early 2000’s, with a number of artistes like Kayode Olajide, Bisade

Ologunde and Laitan Adeniji performing Highlife classics, in Jazz format. However true

innovation in the 1990’s was engendered by the artiste known as Lagbaja, who

experimented with Hip-hop, Highlife and Jazz, in an innovative hybrid. Ghana on its own was

to witness variations of the Highlife genre, firstly in the form of ‘Burger’ Highlife, a digital

variant, with Disco styled rhythms, which took shape in the 1980’s, propelled by stars like

Daddy Lumba, Kojo Antwi , Amakye Dede, Blay Ambolley and Charles Amuah. This was to be

replaced in the mid-1990’s, by ‘Hip-life’, a very direct fusion of Hip-Hop and Highlife music.

A form pioneered by the performer Reggie Osei (‘Rockstone’).

From the mid 2000’s- the present, with the digital music revolution and the emergence of a

new generation of globally identifiable stars, Nigerian and indeed Ghanaian music entered a

new and exciting phase. Highlife music was not to be left out of this trajectory. The neo-

Highlife movement, which had been spawned in the 1990’s gained huge momentum, with

performers like MC. Loph, MC Raw, Flavour and Phyno reverting to Highlife format, albeit

with the predominant influence of Hip-hop styled lyrics, delivered in Igbo language. Ghana

likewise enjoyed a similar explosion in cultural visibility, with Hiplife stars like Sarkodie, Tic-

Tac, Obrafour, Samini, Castro and others enjoying both visibility on the global stage and quite

justifiably, immense commercial success.

Highlife one again finds itself on the front-pages, albeit in a compromised format, which

purists may deem unrecognisable from its seminal origins. However, this in itself would be

answered by the simple fact that Highlife was never a static, unchangeable phenomenon. Its

very dynamism being the most distinct part of its character.

Conclusion

Highlife, in its almost century old history, has witnessed numerous changes over the

years. However, what remains undeniable is that Highlife has always provided the cultural

bridge between the traditional expressions of the people and the varied external influences

experienced over the years. Nonetheless it would be correct to state that through all these

changes, it has retained its essential structural spine- its very essence. Long may this continue.

Augustine Sam and the Kumasi Trio. 1928

Justus Domingo

E.T.Mensah and the Tempos Band

Bobby Benson. 1955

Victor Olaiya, 1957

Cardinal Rex Lawson