- Adina calls for intentional promotion of highlife music to revive the genre
- Music producer Justice Oteng suggests producers can influence new styles and trends
- MUSIGA announces plans to award special prizes to highlife musicians to boost the genre
Ghanaian singer Adina has emphasized the need for music consumers to develop a love for highlife music, encouraging more musicians to explore the genre. In an interview with Joy FM’s Kwame Dadzie on Showbiz A-Z, Adina stressed that embracing highlife music is crucial for its growth and appeal to younger generations.
“When people release highlife music, we should embrace it. Let’s intentionally promote highlife music. The more we promote it, the more it will be appealing or interesting to the younger ones,” Adina said.
Music producer Justice Oteng, aka Wei Ye Oteng of Drumline Studios, also highlighted the role of producers in preserving highlife. “Producers set the pace. We can have an agenda and set the pace…if I get ten musicians and I send them a certain kind of beat, and I know they will love it, and within three to four months, those people are going to drop those songs, and we promote them, trust me, it becomes a trend.”
Bessa Simons, President of the Musician’s Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), announced plans to motivate highlife musicians by awarding special prizes to winners of the highlife category in the Telecel Ghana Music Awards. Dada Hafco suggested making the Highlife Song of the Year category the highest award of the scheme to whip up musicians’ interest in doing highlife.
The conversation on reviving and preserving highlife has gained momentum, driven by UNESCO’s recognition of highlife as an intangible cultural heritage of Ghana and the success of Afrobeats globally. Advocates believe that highlife holds the key to Ghana’s resurgence in the international music market.
