Calling Woebot et al... I need an URGENT highlife primer

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
So I'm on my hols in Ghana, staying with some friends in Kumasi, the second city- and my buddy here has located a shop with a couple of thousand highlife vinyl 'upstairs out the back'. We're going to check it out tomorrow. From what he's already bought there, it appears 60s & 70s highlife is the order of the day, mostly Ghanaian but with a fair smattering from other west African states.

Trouble is, while I'm listening to and enjoying highlife a lot at the moment (not just cos I'm here, though it certainly helps), my knowledge is still firmly at the 'I know what I like when I hear it' stage. It would really help me if some of the more knowledgable members on the board could sketch out a brief geneology, with major movements, scenes and key artists, plus maybe a few personal recommendations to help me out tomorrow, as we won't be able to audition the records (vinyl being an antique technology in Ghana, no one has record players any more - no doubt they'll be filing our interest in the black stuff under a long list of western eccentricities... these romans are crazy ectetc!).

And it would seem that this shop really does have a lot of highlife vinyl, so if anyone is looking for anything specific for thier own collections, let me know and I'll go on the hunt.

I'll check back on the thread tomorrow am when I get back to the cafe.

Thanks in advance highlife massive.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
yes, i'd like this too if a CD primer is on. will trade for turkish/vietnamese/colombian food or VVVVVV rare screw things.
 
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sufi

lala
quick reply:

my friend manny's face lit up when i mentioned the highlife!

King Onyina & ET Mensah are some of the well known oldskool superstars
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ph_onyina%20pam.jpg


he recommended these resources - hope you have time to check em out in the interweb caff
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/audio/article.php?ID=22
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/audio/article.php?ID=132
also http://ghanareview.com

also some imperialist account here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6289763.stm

i may have more recommendations tomorrow.....
good luck with tha black gold:cool:
 

Woebot

Well-known member
had to look this up in stapleton/may's "african all stars":

this lot are all *major* highlife artists of the 60s-70s-80s with probably lotsa excellent records under their belt:

e.t.mensah
osita osadebe
african brothers
ko nimo
s.e. rogers and super combo kings
sweet talks
prince nico
pat thomas
george darko

hope this was speedy enough!
 
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sufi

lala
not sure if GFC checked back yet but i got some more oldskool recommendations as follows:

KO Nimo (as above!)
Suku Troop
Dzadzeloi
& Wolormei

scuse the spellings!
 

scrapper

New member
hope this is not too late... ghanaian highlife is some of the most beautiful music out there. some names to keep watch for (i will buy any records you find if they are not keepers - please message me):

nana ampadu / african brothers band
yamoah's band
city boys band
k gyasi and his noble kings
k frimpong
adangbe rhythm band
okuseku int'l band
onyina's guitar band
alex konadu band
 
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Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
Thanks for the recs everybody. We got to the store the day after I started the thread. Picked up some King Onyina stuff and something by Colonel something-or-other that I recognised from UK highlife comps. Other than that we just picked up anything that looked interesting and authentic, including...

A lot of religious/traditional stuff that probably crosses over into highlife - the boundaries between the genres are pretty blurred.

Some late 70s disco-highlife records in super-cheesy covers - these records are either going to be transcendent or terrible, no possible middle ground!

Some west african reggae (mostly nigerian) from the late 70s - very much aping the roots vibe, going by the covers (as an aside, I'm really suprised at how how prominant an influence the carribean is on Ghanaian culture generally).

Some stuff we didn't get but might go back for: Pat Thomas. The shop had loads of it, but the covers made him look like a Ghanaian Perry Como, so we passed. But there's love for him in these recs, so maybe we were too hasty.

And they had a lot of records by a group called The Whites, which were worth buying for comedy value alone. Going by the covers, they are a New Seekers-type earnest folk-pop combo, all perfect teeth, aran sweaters, bushy beards and feather cuts. I've never heard of this group before so I'm assuming they were put together specifically to cash in on the African market - which, given the name, is hysterical. Like a Richard Pryor sketch come to life.

I've let the blog slide this year because of time pressures, but I'll try to revive it for a one-off special on my Ghanaian haul once I get back.

Thanks again everyone. This is a beautiful country, by the way. We've been cavorting with monkeys and playing in jungle waterfalls... the good life!

More when I get back.
 

run_time

Well-known member
...in London

anyone know where you are likely to find highlife and related sounds played out in London? listened to some last night and had a mad urge to wiggle to it surrounded by a crowd of people doing likewise
 

mms

sometimes
try the stuff on soundways records as well - maybe easier to find than some of this stuff.
 

run_time

Well-known member
was one of the Soundway compilations that got me bopping my head but am keen to go and see it played out rather than simply jumping around in my lounge
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
anyone know where you are likely to find highlife and related sounds played out in London? listened to some last night and had a mad urge to wiggle to it surrounded by a crowd of people doing likewise

I got some CDs from Kingsland Market in Dalston - think they were Ghanian. Not sure I now what Hiplife and Highlife are exactly though... But there is definately guys selling copied CDs there for £2.50 with photocopied inserts etc. Might be worth a punt. The ones I got are quite good. One seems a bit religious.

Oh sorry, thought you were asking about CDs not nights...silly me.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Weirdly enough I was just having a pint by the river and a boat went past blasting out highlife, so it looks like you might have to get a job with citycruises to get the good parties! It got (not literally...) blown out of the water by the RnB boat's sound system though, Beyonce trumped highlife on the river tonight.
 
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