Ghana can be described as a land of festivals, music, and
traditional dances. There is hardly any community, clan, or tribe which lacks an occasion
to celebrate annually. There are many traditional musical styles around the country. In
the South, music is usually drum-based, and in the far North, fiddles and other string
instruments are more common.
The most popular, and well-known, music to come out of Ghana is 'highlife’, a mix of
different homegrown styles which fuses traditional percussion rhythms with various
European, American, and even Caribbean influences. Highlife developed in the 1920s and
reached a peak of popularity between 1950 - 1970. You can still get classic highlife music
from the 1950s, now available on CD. E T Mensah, is a name to look out for. Another
all-time classic, first released in 1978, is Eric Agyeman’s Highlife Safari.
The title track, Matatu Mirika, has a reputation for setting Ghanaian parties
alight.
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Photos for Oxfam GB by Penny Tweedie
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