Veteran highlife musician Nana Agyeman has expressed concern over the current state of highlife music, stating that many of the songs being classified under the genre today lack its core elements and instead resemble afrobeats.
Speaking in a recent interview with Adom TV, Agyeman explained that authentic highlife music is characterized by the use of specific instruments, particularly guitars and distinct drum patterns.
He emphasized that when these traditional instruments are removed and replaced with modern or unrelated sounds, the music loses its highlife identity and authenticity.
“Many people compose songs and label them as highlife and say music is dynamic. But if you compose a song and remove key instruments like the guitar and the drums and add R&B or afrobeats, then that is not highlife. It is afrobeats,” he stated.
He dismissed the idea of labels like “afrobeats mixed with highlife,” insisting artists must choose one genre.
“If it were highlife you were doing, you wouldn’t have brought afrobeats into it. You can’t say it is afrobeats mixed with highlife. You have to choose,” he added.
