Highlife Music: Ghana’s Legends, the History and the Best Songs
Highlife is Ghana’s gift to African music, and in 2025 UNESCO recognised it as intangible cultural heritage. It was born on the Gold Coast in the 1870s out of palm-wine guitar music, colonial brass bands and Akan rhythms. The name arrived in the early 1920s, coined by the people standing outside the exclusive Accra dance clubs where orchestras played for patrons in top hats. In June 1928 Jacob (Kwame) Asare and the Kumasi Trio recorded “Yaa Amponsah” in London, widely regarded as the first Ghanaian guitar-band highlife on record, and in May 1956 E.T. Mensah, the “King of Highlife”, shared a stage in Accra with Louis Armstrong.
By the 1940s the music had split into two streams that still define it: dance-band highlife, urban and horn-driven, and guitar-band highlife, rural and built on the two-finger picking style borrowed from Kru sailors. Later came burger highlife, made by Ghanaians in Hamburg with synths and disco from the 1970s to the 1990s, and gospel highlife, which is where much of the genre lives in church today. Since about 2018 a faster, synth-driven highlife has come back to the top of the charts.
The legends
Daddy Lumba (Charles Kwadwo Fosuh, 1964–2025)
Regarded as the greatest and most influential Ghanaian musician of his era: more than 200 recorded songs, seven Ghana Music Awards between 1999 and 2015, and Ghana’s Grand Medal in December 2024. He died on 26 July 2025. Start with Obi Ate Meso Buo (his 1990 solo debut), “Theresa” and “Mpempem Do Me”, which appeared on King Charles III’s Apple Music playlist in 2025.
On Ghana Songs: “Obi Ate Meso Buo” · “Theresa” · “Mpempem Do Me” · “Yemfa Odo” · all Daddy Lumba songs
Amakye Dede (Daniel Amakye Dede, born 1958)
Active since 1973 with the Kumapim Royals and, from 1980, his own Apollo High Kings, Amakye Dede was the dominant highlife voice of the 1980s and 90s with almost 20 albums, and was later installed as a sub-chief at Agogo. Classics: “Dabi Dabi Ebeye Yie”, “Akwadaa Wesoa”, “Iron Boy” and “Jealousy Go Shame”.
On Ghana Songs: “Akwadaa Wesoa” · “Sookoo” · Watch: “Dabi Dabi”
Nana Acheampong, Daasebre Gyamenah and Kojo Antwi
Three more names every highlife playlist needs. Listen on Ghana Songs: Nana Acheampong — “Adakatia”, “Casanova”; Daasebre Gyamenah — “You Stole My Heart”, “Gye Me”; Kojo Antwi — “Mfa Me Nkoho”.
Highlife today — the award winners
- 2026 Ghana Music Awards: Best Highlife Artiste Kofi Kinaata; Best Highlife Song “It is Finished” — Kofi Kinaata (nominees: King Paluta “Foko!”, Kwabena Kwabena “Aso II”, Amerado “Obi Adi”, Kuami Eugene “Do Better”).
- 2025: Best Highlife Artiste Fameye; Best Highlife Song “Aseda” — King Paluta, which was also Most Popular Song of the Year.
- 2024: Best Highlife Artiste Kuami Eugene; Best Highlife Song “Kwaku Ananse” — Amerado.
Kofi Kinaata — “It Is Finished” (2026 Best Highlife Song)
King Paluta — “Aseda” (2025 Best Highlife Song)
Also watch: Amerado — “Kwaku Ananse” (official video) · On Ghana Songs: Kofi Kinaata · King Paluta · Kuami Eugene · Fameye
12 highlife songs to start with
- Daddy Lumba — “Theresa” — listen
- Daddy Lumba — “Mpempem Do Me” — listen
- Daddy Lumba — “Obi Ate Meso Buo” — listen
- Daddy Lumba — “Yemfa Odo” — listen
- Amakye Dede — “Dabi Dabi Ebeye Yie” — watch
- Amakye Dede — “Akwadaa Wesoa” — listen
- Nana Acheampong — “Adakatia” — listen
- Daasebre Gyamenah — “You Stole My Heart” — listen
- Kojo Antwi — “Mfa Me Nkoho” — listen
- Kofi Kinaata — “It Is Finished” — watch
- King Paluta — “Aseda” — watch
- Amerado — “Kwaku Ananse” — watch
Where to stream highlife
Search “The Sound of Highlife” on Spotify or “Highlife Essentials” on Apple Music, and browse the Highlife section here for new releases and classics.
Sources: published histories of highlife, the artists’ published biographies, and Ghana Music Awards results 2024–2026. Last updated 19 September 2026.
