The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa, along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Ghanaian Musical Instruments

Ghanaian musical instruments include talking drums, atunpan, obrante (kpanlogo), kete, penpensiwa, gomme, fontonfrom, dawuro, blekete, dawuro, and seperewa, a traditional harp from the 18th century.

Ghanaian rhythms

Ghanaian rhythms include Nwomkro, Adowa, Kete, Bomaa, and Sikyi (Ashanti Region); Kpanlogo (Greater Accra), Boboobo, Agbadza, Togo Atsia (Volta Region), and Bamaya, Toola (Northern & Upper Region).

Musical Genres

Highlife is a musical genre than begun in Ghana in the 1920s and became popular in neighboring Nigeria. Highlife is the result of a combination of tribal rhythms with various European, American-style big band sounds, and even Caribbean influences.

It reached its maximum popularity in the 1950s and 1960s in dance clubs throughout West Africa. The name highlife comes from mocking the high living lifestyle of its patrons.

Mole National Park – Image by lapping from Pixabay

Ghanaian Musicians

Aja Addy
Alogte Oho
Bernard Woma
Blay Ambolley
Kusun Ensemble
Mustapha Tettey Addy
Obo Addy
Rocky Dawuni
Yacub Addy (obituary)

Ghanaian Music compilations

Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight to Ghana 1974-83 (Analog Africa)
Ghana: Ancient Ceremonies, Dance Music & Songs (Nonesuch Explorer Series)
Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat. Funk & Fusion in 70’s Ghana Vol. 2 (Soundway)
Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981 (Soundway Records)

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