THE SPECIALIST
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds In The Diaspora, 1980-93
Rare archive gems and hybrid synth-funk cuts from West Africans in European exile
Abdul Raheem
Andy Vans
SOUNDWAY
7/10
ONE of West Africa’s most enduring and adaptable signature sounds, Ghanaian “highlife” music has long sent its supple rhythms and lilting melodies, cycling guitar lines and brassy big-band arrangements rippling out across the globe, where it merged with jazz, disco, funk and reggae. This so-called “diaspora loop” effect entered aprolific new chapter in the 1980s, when thousands of Ghanaian musicians emigrated in search of better opportunities, driven out by the repressive regime and restrictive economic policies of military junta leader Jerry Rawlings.