The President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, has credited Borga Highlife with expanding Ghanaian music and making it more adaptable to other genres.
Speaking on Channel One TV, he explained that Borga Highlife—popularized in the 1980s by artistes like George Darko and Ben Brako—maintained the core elements of traditional highlife while incorporating new digital sounds.
According to him, Borga Highlife not only modernised highlife but also paved the way for fusion with other musical styles.
“From those days, recordings became digital. What happened was that the sounds changed—there were synthesisers, electric drums, and lean drums, all of which transformed the sound. But still, Borga Highlife retained the proper highlife elements.
“When you hear George Darko on the guitar and singing Akoo ti brofo, no one will tell you this isn’t Ghanaian because no other person could sing like that. That is where the highlife element comes in.
“So, Borga Highlife really enhanced traditional highlife because people realised they could fuse it into other genres. That is why I keep saying highlife is the easiest genre to blend with any other—it just fits,” he stated.