Young artistes are killing highlife music —Naa Agyeman
MUSICIAN Naa Agyeman is all about Highlife music and he feels the new crop of artistes are not doing it properly, and as such he’s calling on seasoned musicians of the genre to come together to save it by teaching the young ones how it should be done.
For the Slow Motion hitmaker, what the young musicians are doing currently is not Highlife but Afrobeats and R&B, and it will take some of them (old ones) to educate them on proper Highlife music.
Advertisement
“A lot goes into making a Highlife song. For the beats, we should hear the guitars, the percussion, bass and other elements. The style of singing is even different. You cannot sound like a Nigerian doing Afrobeats and call it Highlife. Most of the songs being released lately by our young musicians are not Highlife.
“The young ones have a lot to learn from the likes of Amakye Dede, Daddy Lumba, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Amandzeba, Ben Brako, Oheneba Kissi, Kojo Antwi and myself. We are more than willing to teach them all they need to know about Highlife because it is what defines us as Ghanaian musicians,” he told the Daily Graphic.
Naa Agyeman suggested workshops by engaging the older musicians to train the young ones. He explained that the older musicians had all the information to pass on to the young ones.
“If such forums are done on a regular basis with funding from the government, I believe our Highlife music can bounce back on its feet.
“Highlife is not dead to me just that we now have only a few musicians doing it and that is not the best to me. I can mention the likes of Kofi Kinaata, Akwaboah and just a few others doing Highlife. We should encourage more young musicians to get involved,” Naa Agyeman said.
Born to Mr Kwasi Anane and Madam Ama Serwaa in Boamang Soko in the Ashanti Region, Naa Agyeman started his music career about two decades ago. He released his first album, Araba, in 2000. He followed it with Mr Ode in 2002. In 2004, he came out with Kwame Ahe, and 2006, he released Kwahu Bepoe.
Advertisement
Naa Agyeman took a long break after Kwahu Bepoe to take care of other businesses and finally came out with Mmbaa Pe in 2019.
Read also: Highlife music will always stand test of time —Bessa Simons