‘Highlife not lost, just adjusted to fit the recent technological advancements — Okyeame Kwame

The popular Ghanaian musical genre of Highlife has seen significant changes over the decades to adapt to recent advancements in technology, according to renowned Ghanaian musician and songwriter Okyeame Kwame.

In an interview with content creator and YouTuber Kwadwo Sheldon, Okyeame Kwame explained how the Highlife sound originated in the 1920s to represent anti-colonial sentiments but has since evolved with changing technologies.

"When Highlife music started becoming popular in the late 1920s, it represented a certain struggle and a certain colonial ideology," said the rapper.

“So the genre found itself which had become like the stable Ghanaian sound was Ghanaian musicians trying to transpose their ideas on synthesized keyboards and electric guitars,” he added.

He noted that as technology advanced, the Highlife sound had to change in order to remain relevant and keep up with how music was consumed.

"With amplification and new technology, sound changes. When they were technology sound changes now. Nobody's listening to music on an equalizer and an amplifier with big speakers anymore. Around 90% of music is consumed on phones and earpieces, therefore, the sound that you need to create to make sure that the music plays well on them, therefore, the frequencies must change,” the renowned rapper stressed.

The musician emphasized that the Highlife genre has simply adapted to modern times rather than being lost.

“It has just changed to work with the current technology that we have. That's why we cannot force Kuami Eugene to create music like Daddy Lumba or Daasebre Dwamena,” said Okyeame Kwame.

This follows recent conversations that the local genre has lost because songs that are currently termed as highlife are without the signature features of the genre.