Veteran highlife musician, Amandzeba has expressed concern over the lack of effort by Ghanaians to promote and preserve the highlife music genre.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, he emphasized that despite highlife’s deep roots in Ghanaian culture and its global potential, it is not being adequately projected by the people of Ghana.
Amandzeba’s comments came during a discussion on UNESCO’s initiative to list highlife as an intangible cultural heritage.
He drew parallels to highlife music, pointing out its widespread influence, from the coast of Ghana to Zaire, Congo, and beyond, citing iconic artists like Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masekela who were drawn to the genre.
“Collectively, we seem to have failed. We normally trivialize our heritage, everything. The Chinese can make our kente, they can do anything at all with our own heritage and then we sit in silence and keep admiring them while we know that we have the thing and must be developed here.
It’s just like music. When we had high life, right from the outset, it affected everybody along the coast even all the way to Zaire, Congo and other places. Take the likes of Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masekela. They were here [because of highlife],” he said.
Amandzeba also mentioned that many international music stars question what Ghanaians are doing to protect highlife.
While he praised the efforts of the National Folklore Board to have highlife recognized by UNESCO, he stressed the media’s role in ensuring the genre’s survival.
Recently, Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, the Secretary General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, announced that highlife would soon be listed as Ghana’s intangible cultural heritage.
This follows numerous engagements and conferences by the Ghana Folklore Board and the Ghana Cultural Forum to secure highlife’s place on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).
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