Doing Highlife limits artiste's global reach –Bada

AFRO-FUSION musician Bada has sparked an interesting debate in the music industry, stating sticking to Highlife music could limit an artiste's global reach, which would be a big loss to Ghana’s music industry.

For Bada, real name is Emmanuel Amegba, the advocacy by some musicians to make Highlife the standard of music in Ghana should not be encouraged because music has become globally competitive.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, Bada argued that the times and seasons had changed, with music listeners yearning for a mixture of local and foreign sounds. So projecting Highlife in an era when music had become globally competitive was a big loss to Ghana’s music industry.

According to him, Highlife wasn’t even appreciated enough in Ghana and didn’t have the mojo to break the international scene.

“Highlife is archaic and it is very surprising people still think that it is the wand to works the magic for Ghana to make an international impact.

“It’s a big no because even at the moment, Highlife is struggling in Ghana so why do we think we can sell a struggling music style as a commodity to the international market?” he asked.

In a recent interview with Graphic Showbiz, Highlife artiste, Kwabena Kwabena, challenged up-and-coming artistes to do Highlife since the genre was the key to creating hit songs. (Read also: “I will defend myself, I’m not afraid of anybody”, Prince David Osei warns attackers, I’m not going to Parliament to fight for the industry, you didn’t put me there- A Plus to creatives)

Kwabena Kwabena explained that it was unfortunate most young artistes preferred other music styles to Highlife when many of today’s smash hits were deeply rooted in Highlife, showcasing its timelessness and relevance.

Bada, however, disagrees with that. He told Graphic Showbiz young artistes should rather do foreign music styles to appeal to the international audience since the goal wasn’t to blow just in Ghana.

He noted that his desire to grab international attention had influenced him to change his style to Afro-Fusion.

“I still believe in my roots and that is why I have fused our local rhythms with foreign ones to suit a diverse audience. This is the point I have been making,” he stated.

Bada, formerly known as Manuel, is not new in the music industry. He started commercial music in 2004 as a member of the defunct Twins group.

However, after the split of the group, he went solo with the stage name Manuel. In a bid to enhance his music career, he took a hiatus.