The Concept of Change and Genre
Development: A Case Study of Highlife
Music
By
Austin Emielu Ph.D.
Department of the Performing Arts,
University of Ilorin, P.M.B. 1515 Ilorin, Nigeria
A paper presented at the First International Conference on Analytical Approaches to
World Music, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A. Feb. 19-21, 2010.
Introduction
Highlife music developed in the West African sub-region in the late 19th and early
20th centuries from a fusion of three major elements namely: indigenous African music,
European and New World music from America and the West Indies (Collin, 2005:4).
Because of its diverse parentage and the ethnic and cultural diversities of the West
African sub-region where it gained ascendancy as its most popular music genre through
the 1950s and 60s, the stylistic framework of Highlife music is not uniform. Coupled
with generational modifications arising from the socio-technological changes of the 21st
century, the issue of what constitutes the ‘original’ Highlife and its definitive and stylistic
framework in contemporary times, has been an unresolved one among practitioners and
patrons across generational groups and regions. This has led to several ‘revival’ concerts
since the 1980s in a bid to bring back the ‘good old Highlife’, regarding new
developments as bastardization or mutations of the ‘original’.
Data for this paper were gathered mainly during my research on Highlife music
in the West African sub-region between 2005 and 2008. Specifically in Nigeria and in
Ghana, the issues of what constitutes Highlife music and the rules of inclusion and
exclusion continuously confronted me. Coupled with my experience as a studio musician,
producer and band leader working with various musicians and bands in the West African
sub-region since the 1980s, I strongly felt the need to develop analytical and theoretical
models with which to analyze African popular music, especially against the backdrop of
increasing social and technological changes of the 21st century. In doing this, I adapted
three developmental change models from business management perspective and deployed
them in the analysis of developmental trends and categorization of the products of these
changes. To further concretize these analytical approaches, I then developed some new
analytical models and approaches of my own based on my theory of social
reconstructionism in which I posited that a socially constructed musical phenomenon can
be socially deconstructed and socially reconstructed contingent on prevailing sociomusical and historical processes. Furthermore, I stressed that African popular music like
the African man, never dies but passes through cycles of transformational changes and
2
genre development which ensures it sustainability along a historical and generational
path.
The Development of Highlife Music
In specific terms Highlife music developed from a fusion of
regimental brass band music of the West African
military and
Frontier Forces and colonial
administration; Jazz, Swing and other forms of popular music from America; Calypso,
Samba Cha Cha Cha, Foxtrot, Meringue from the Caribbean and the West Indies; guitar
music of Liberian Kru sailors, music of returning ex-slaves and ex-service men as well as
the social recreational music of tribal groups in the West African sub-region. Highlife
music first grew as a sub-regional music in the then British West Africa before its
articulation in specific West African nations, especially Ghana and Nigeria as an ethnonational socio-musical phenomenon (Emielu, 2009). The primordial roots of Highlife are
located in a diversity of social recreational music of the West African peoples. Some of
these indigenous musical forms include Adaha, Kokomba and Osibisaaba in Ghana
(Collin, 1992, 2004); Egwu Ekpiri, Ogene, Itembe and Ekombi in Eastern Nigeria1;
Akwete and Ekassa in Midwestern Nigeria (Obidike, 1994); Dundun, Apala and Sekere
music in Western Nigeria (Euba, 1975), Swange and Kalangu music in Northern Nigeria
(Ajirere, 1992). These indigenous musical forms were fused with a multiplicity of foreign
musical influences as mentioned before.
As early as the late 19th century, proto-Highlife forms such as coastal Fanti
Adaha brass band and maritime-influenced Osibisaaba guitar music began to emerge in
Ghana. The Fanti coast had one of the earliest contacts with Europeans. As early as about
1482, the Fort Elmina was built by the Portuguese in this area. The presence of
indigenous dance music before European contact as well as the influence of European
dance music and Ballads, Calypso and Rhumba brought by returnee ex-slaves from
Brazil helped to consolidate the growth of dance band music in this area (Omojola,
1995:23). By about 1925, the word Highlife was coined in the context of elite dance
orchestras which sometimes played African tunes using Western orchestration.
In Nigeria, brass band music of military and regimental bands stationed in West
Africa during the World War periods inspired the formation of African Brass band
groups like the Effiom Brass Band and the Niger Coast Constabulary Band in Calabar;
3
the Bakana Brass Band in Rivers state; the New Bethel School Brass Band and the Ikot
Ekam
Brass
Band
in
Cross
Rivers
State.
(Akpabot,1986:4).
During
the
missionary/colonial era, most elementary and secondary schools had military-typed
marching bands used for morning assembly. The British Empire day (May 24th)
celebration was also a great occasion for school bands to display dexterity on brass
instruments. Many ‘graduates’ of these school brass bands later became important
Highlife musicians both in Ghana and in Nigeria.
Another major root of Highlife is found in church hymns introduced by Christian
missionaries in West Africa. The arrival of various church missions in the middle and late
nineteenth century, each with its own set of hymn tunes helped to popularize hymn
singing. Church hymns with their penchant for primary and secondary chords as
harmonic devices, as well as parallel vocal harmonies, provided the harmonic basis for
Highlife tunes and orchestration and attests to the importance of the church in the
development of
Highlife as a musical genre both in Ghana and in Nigeria. This
attestation lends further credence to Rhodes’s (1998:6) submission that the musical
background of E.T. Mensah who introduced the dance band Highlife incarnation was
influenced by
Methodist Church hymnal style and that Mensah’s Highlife tunes
followed a hymn meter.
Within the West African sub-region also, the influence of Liberian Kru maritime
workers is quite significant in the development of Highlife. These Kru sailors had
worked abroad on European sailing ships since the period of the Napoleonic wars in
Europe. As sailors, they carried around portable musical instruments like the concertina,
banjo, harmonica and most significantly, the acoustic guitar. They introduced the twofinger guitar playing style which alternates the thumb with the index finger in a kind of
cross-rhythm. It is on record that a Kru in the 1920s, taught Kwame Asare (also known as
Jacob Sam), who is Ghana’s pioneer Highlife guitarist, the two-finger guitar style.
Kwame Asare and his Kumasi Trio recorded one of the earliest Highlife songs for
Zonophone records in London in 1928 (Collin, 2005:5). One of the hit songs on this
recording was Yamponsah, a name which has become synonymous with the two-finger
guitar style popular both in Ghana and in Nigeria.
4
The roots of Highlife music lies therefore, in the social dance music of several
cultures in the West African sub-region before European contact, as well as early
syncretic musical forms such as Gumbey music in Sierra Leone, Adaha Kokomba or
Kokoma in Ghana and Nigeria, Asiko and Itembe music in Eastern Nigeria and Agidigbo
music in Western Nigeria. These forms which usually combined traditional instruments
with Western musical instruments like the acoustic guitar, banjo, accordion and
harmonica were subsumed under an amorphous label of ‘palm wine’ music because of
their predominance in palm wine (or tombo in local parlance) bars during their hey days.
They also bear the double toga of being part of the developmental processes in the
crystallization of the Highlife form and as well representing what can be described as a
‘poor man’s’ version of Highlife music. These various palm wine styles went into the
tapestry of what later became known by the generic name of Highlife. Consequently, this
subtlety of interaction between European/American and ethnic-based recreational music
translated into ethnic and regional styles of Highlife music which necessarily exist
within a stylistic and sociological framework of what may be termed as ‘Nigerian’ or
Ghanaian ‘Highlife’ and their ethnic variations.
By around 1950, recognizable stylistic patterns of Highlife music had emerged in
Nigeria and Ghana. This was most significantly through
the music and performance
tours of Emmanuel Tettey Mensah (E.T. Mensah) and the Tempos band of Ghana, who
toured the West African region extensively from the 1950s. Although Mensah helped to
spread Highlife music through his West African tours, it was in Nigeria the country he
visited most that Highlife music caught on most significantly outside its home base in
Ghana. Mensah is generally believed to have bequeathed to Nigeria, the dance band
Highlife incarnation so recognized today (see Rhodes, 1998:6 Aig-Imokhuede 1975:214215 and Collin, 1992:24-25) .
In his own reaction to the claim that he is the originator of Highlife, E.T Mensah
humbly submits that no one can really lay claim to Highlife’s creation because it has
always been there entrenched in West African culture and that what he did, was to give
Highlife world acceptance (Mensah, in Okwechime, 1984:13). While it is plausible that
the nomenclature Highlife, predates E.T. Mensah and the Tempos Band of Ghana, E.T.
Mensah is the man who pioneered the dance band format as a contradistinction to the big
5
band orchestras of the inter-war period which spread as far as Nigeria. This dance band
format is generally regarded core of the Highlife genre because of its wide geographical
spread and popularity.
Consequent upon this, by the mid-1950s and 1960s Highlife practitioners and
their patrons could have developed a mental template of the definitive framework of what
constitutes Highlife music both in Ghana and in Nigeria. This mental template may be
thought of as socially negotiated among the various social groups like the musicians who
played the music, patrons who consumed the product, recording and marketing
companies who promoted it and critics opposed to the music at that point in history . This
is a central concept of
social constructionsim, a sociological theory which perceives
social reality as highly contingent upon
social and historical processes. Yet, in
contemporary times there have been increasing debates and disagreements over what
constitutes the ‘original’ Highlife and its contemporary modes of expression. This has led
to a clamor for the revival of the ‘old tradition’ of Highlife especially in Western Nigeria.
However, while some practitioners and their patrons feel that Highlife music is going into
extinction, others feel that the music is still very much around but in different guises (see
Aig-Imokhuede 1975:215, Ajirere (1992: 90) and Ọmọjọla (2006:122)) . It is against this
backdrop that we attempt a classification of Nigerian and Ghanaian Highlife later on in
this paper to determine the limits of Highlife’s generic boundaries amongst other things.
While the history of Highlife music is not the main focus of this paper, it is
important to identify some significant phases in its historical development. This is to
provide a conceptual and comparative framework for our analysis of socio-musical
changes and genre development. This explains my choice of representing historical
details graphically below.
Development of Highlife Music in Ghana
Period
Major Features
Musical Configuration
Late
19th
Cent
-1920s
Early European contact
around the Fanti Coast
19301939
Spread and indigenization
/vernacularization of early
Early syncretic forms:
Fanti Adaha brass band
and Osibisaaba guitar
music. Syncretization of
the foreign and the local
Transformation of
Adaha and Osibisaaba.
Genre
Development
Coinage of the word
Highlife in the
context of elite
dance orchestras in
about 1925
Emergence of
Kokoma, Odonson
6
19391946
syncretic forms as far as
Nigeria.
Impact of second world
war.
19461957
Period of nationalism and
independence. Nkrumah’s
open support for Highlife.
Highlife spread to Nigeria.
Visit of Louis Armstrong.
1960 1970
Arrival of pop music, Soul,
Twist and Rock’n’Roll.
19701980s
Period of political
instability and economic
hardship. Exodus of many
Ghanaians abroad. Decline
in live music. Mobile
discos.
Age of techno-pop.
Introduction of digital drum
machines and programmed
keyboard music. Revival of
Classical Highlife
Age of American Hip pop
music; return to civil rule
and liberalization of the
economy. Return of
Ghanaians from abroad.
1990s
Circa
2000 present
Introduction of Swing,
Calypso and AfroCuban music.
Fusion of Highlife and
Concert party.
Introduction of Jazz
melodic and harmonic
progressions into
Highlife
Fusion of new music
with Highlife and neotraditional Kpanlogo
music.
Cross-fertilization of
Nigerian and Ghanaian
Highlife. Introduction of
Christian themes.
and Palm wine
music as prototypes.
New musical
resources imputed
into Highlife.
Dance band
(classical) Highlife
emerges through
E.T. Mensah. Rise
of guitar Highlife.
Creation of Afrorock and Afro-beat
from Highlife.
Highpoint of
Highlife
development.
The gradual
emergence of
Gospel Highlife and
predominance of
female musicians
The fusion of Highlife
and techno-driven pop
music.
Creation of ‘Burger’
Highlife by
Ghanaian musicians
in Germany.
Fusion of American Hip
pop and Highlife.
Emergence of ‘Hip
Life’ as
Contemporary
Highlife alongside
classical format
Development of Highlife Music in Nigeria
Period
PreIndependence
1950-1960
Major Features
Musical Configuration Genre
Development
Age of nationalism
Cross-cultural musical
The birth of Dance
and cultural revivalism perspectives from
band (Classical)
towards self-rule and
Europe, America and
Highlife through
independence .
indigenous African
E.T. Mensah and the
music.
Tempos Band of
7
PostIndependence
1960-1970
Post-Civil
War Period
1970-1980
Economic
Depression
Period 19801990
Last Decade
of the 20th
1990-1999
The 21st
1st decade of
independence and the
Nigerian civil war of
1966-1970. The
growth of hotel-based
bands. Displacement
and relocation of Igbo
Highlife musicians
from the Western to
the Eastern region.
Oil boom and the
ascendancy of Juju
music in Western
Nigeria. Gradual
return of Igbo Highlife
musicians to the
Western region.
Triangular sociomusical relationship
between bands and
musicians in Nigeria,
Ghana and the United
Kingdom. The
introduction of Jazz
harmonic progressions
into Highlife.
Juju-Highlife interface
and cross-overs.
Interface of Ghanaian
and Igbo Highlife;
Increased use of
traditional musical
instruments in Highlife
music and a synthesis
of Highlife with Congo
guitar styles, Soukous
and Makossa.
Government Structural Beginning of solo
Adjustment program;
artiste syndrome in
Gradual devaluation of Nigerian music and the
the Naira, import
emergence of youth pop
restrictions and social stars. Decline in Hotelinsecurity. Mass
based Highlife music
deportation of
and musicians.
Ghanaians including
Introduction of drum
musicians.
machines and
programmed keyboard
music. Lesser emphasis
on brass instruments
March towards
Ascendancy of Fuji
democracy. Corporate music in the West;
sponsorship of musical gradual interface of
concerts and
Pop and Highlife
musicians; Highlife
revival projects in
Lagos.
Age of ICT, global
Combines elements of
Ghana. The Highlife
genre was
transnational in
outlook. Short track
Highlife format.
Development of
Highlife music
along ethnic and
regional lines. The
development of
Jazz-Highlife as a
sub-genre of
Highlife.
Development of
Afro Beat from
Highlife;
development of
Juju-Highlife in the
West and guitar
band Highlife in
Eastern and
Midwestern Nigeria.
Long Play (LP)
Highlife format.
Consolidation of
Igbo guitar Highlife
and gospel Highlife
in the West;
Keyboard-driven
Highlife and solo
acts. Incorporation
of praise singing
into Highlife.
The birth of
Contemporary
Highlife
Re-emergence of
8
Century
spread of digital music
and technology; ease
of travels and
communication.
the old and the new;
pastiche base of various
genres; amorphous
definitive framework.
‘old school’
‘classical’ Highlife
alongside
Contemporary
forms.
Highlife as a Musical Genre
While some scholars have alluded to Highlife as a stylistic format with a
definitive framework, others see the nomenclature as a generic name for a wide range of
styles arising from the musical acculturation between Africa and Europe (see Omojola,
1995:21, Collins 1992: and Ogisi 2004:38). In a sense therefore, reference to Highlife
music as a generic label for a wide range of syncretic dance music in West Africa is
understandable considering Highlife’s diverse roots and modes of expression in each
culture.
Although Highlife music has been widely discussed among practitioners, patrons
and scholars, no one has been able to provide a working definition of what Highlife
music is or is not. The nearest definition or conception that we have is that Highlife is a
musical genre that combines traditional and Western musical resources. This definition is
not only amorphous, but also symptomatic of African popular music generally. This is
why it is important to interrogate some theoretical perspectives on the generic
classification of creative works which are rooted in genre theories. By way of simplistic
clarification, genre theory deals with the ways in which a creative work may be
considered as belonging to a class of related works based on distinctive qualities and
peculiarities. In literature, drama and media studies, genre functions to categorize creative
works into such compartments as comedy, satire, tragedy, tragi-comedy, war films and so
on. Van der Merwe (1989:3) defines a music genre as a category of pieces of music that
share a certain style or basic musical language. In this sense, Highlife can be recognized
as a musical genre.
One group of genre theorists however, do not see the need for genre classification
because of inherent definitional problems. Among them is film theorist Stam who
questions:
9
Are genres really out there in the world, or are they merely
constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of
genres or are genres timeless platonic essences or
ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culture-bound
or trans-cultural? Should genre analysis be proscriptive or
definitive? (Stam 2004:14)
Supporting Stam’s position above, Feuer (1992:144) submits that “ a genre is ultimately
an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world”.
Chandler (1997) also sees genre classification as a ‘theoretical minefield’, while Neale
(1995:464)
argues that “Genres are historically relative and therefore historically
specific”.
Going by Neale’s submission above, frequent references by practitioners and
patrons of Highlife music to ‘the good old days’ of Highlife, may suggest that Highlife
music is a product of a historical past. When viewed from this perspective, revival
projects of E.T. Mensah of Ghana and Nigeria’s Victor Olaiya in 1983 in Lagos, the
BAPMAF/Goethe Institut ‘Highlife Month’ held in Accra in February 1996, the Goethe
Institut ‘Highlife Party’ held in Lagos in 1998 and 1999 and the current monthly Highlife
‘Elders’ Forum’ at the Ojez Nightclub in Lagos, may just represent at best, revivals of a
fading tradition. Yet, there are contemporary modes of Highlife expressions as seen in the
music of Chris Hanen of Ozigizaga fame, Bright Chimezie, Sunny Ineji, Lagbaja, Jesse
King’s and many others in Nigeria; the ‘Burger’ and ‘Hip Life’ styles of C.K. Mann,
Daddy Lumba, Nana Kyeame, Batman Samini and several other musicians and bands
playing similar styles in Ghana. But whether old musicians and patrons of Nigerian and
Ghanaian Highlife music accept these contemporary modes as belonging to the Highlife
category is another issue. For example, while watching a live performance of
contemporary Nigerian musician, Sunny Ineji in Abuja Nigeria, the late veteran of
Highlife, Chief Osita Osadebe commented: “ they want to convert Highlife and play it as
pop music but it will never work. Highlife is Highlife” 2 Osadebe’s comment and position
highlights the growing generational gap between ‘old’ and ‘new’ Nigerian/Ghanaian
musicians. This is why it is important to adopt a historical and contemporary approach in
the study of Highlife music both in Ghana and Nigeria.
However, as Miller has rightly observed, “ the number of genres in any society
depends on the complexity and diversity of that society” (Miller, 1984). Thus the ethnic
10
complexity and cultural diversity of the West African sub-region must be taken into
account in our classification of musical genres and in determining the rules of inclusion
in and exclusion from the Highlife category. This is why Gledhill (1985:64) submits that
“ genres are not discrete systems consisting of a fixed number of listable items”, while
Neale (1980:48) is of the opinion that “genres are instances of repetition and difference”.
Despite inherent problems in genre classification some of which have been discussed
above, it is necessary to still classify creative works according to certain criteria so that
genres do not exist as formless and amorphous entities which will preclude interpretation
and analysis.
The Concept of Change and Genre Development
Change as a concept has been defined by Jick & Peiperl (2003:xvi) as a “planned
or unplanned response to pressures and forces and I agree with him largely. The global
‘soundscape’ of the 21st century with its avalanche of economic, technological, musical,
social, political and ideological changes have created several layers of pressures, choices
and survival strategies. From the graphic historical development of Highlife music earlier
on, we can see that the development of the Highlife genre has been characterized by
changes which define the genre in specific social and musical terms synchronically and
contextually. We are also able to understand to some extent, the dynamics of musical
change and responses to such changes in contemporary Africa. However, to manage these
changes and put them in proper theoretical perspectives, I will deploy three perspectives
of change developed by Linda Ackerman3, a business management expert. The models
will help us to analyze these changes and to also assess how best they can serve as
analytical tools for musical change and genre development.
Fig. 1a Developmental Change
Involves continuous
improvement of what is
11
The model above involves the continuous improvement of a skill, method or
condition which do not meet current expectations. In this case, continuous changes along
an upward path will lead to greater improvement, development and sustenance.
Sustenance is therefore, directly related to progressive and continuous developmental
changes along an upward path of evolution. It is a linear model of change. In terms of
Highlife music, this will mean periodic introduction of new innovations that represent
positive changes in the Highlife style, strong enough to sustain audience interest on a
continual basis. This seems to support Benson Idonije’s (one of the greatest champions
of the Highlife revival projects in Nigeria) view that Highlife is not thriving as a musical
idiom because over the years, it has failed to experience any form of artistic development
and innovations (Idonije, 2001:29-30). This presupposes that the Highlife genre has been
in a state of inertia but this is not so. However, the developmental change model does not
acknowledge the social processes of change and the adjustment to such changes, which
could lead to the development of multiple and alternative patterns of life, tastes and
choices. The resultant effect is that continuous improvement of a product does not
actually guarantee continued usage and patronage, due to some sociological and
psychological factors that affect consumer behavior. To me, the greatest strength of this
model is that there is an established starting point against which other forms of
developmental changes can be measured.
Fig.1b : Transitional Change
old
State
Transitional State
New
State of
product
Involves the emergence of a
known new state and the
management of the interim
transitional state over a period
of time.
This is a typical case of changing from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’. What is not clear in
the model is whether the new product is different from the ‘old’ both in composition and
12
nomenclature. However, the transitional state represent a stage of ‘deconstruction’ of the
old product and the gradual emergence of a new product with presumably, some elements
of the old product. Although it is not specifically stated in the model, it is logical to think
that the process is a circular one. This is because the new product becomes sooner or
later an old product, and the process of change begins again. The idea of deconstruction
as typified by the transitional stage and the emergence of a new state are strong points in
this model.
Although the issue of deconstruction will be discussed later in this paper, I wish
to emphasize that many
musical forms have emerged from Highlife, though not
necessarily acknowledged by the practitioners of such genres. For example, Victor
Uwaifo’s Akwete, Sassakosa, Mutaba and Titibiti sounds which are derived from his Edo
culture in the old Midwestern region, are musical changes which may or may not be
classified as Highlife (Emielu, 2009). The development of Afro Beat and Juju music from
Highlife are all so cases in point.
Fig. 1c Transformational Change
Plateau or peak of development
decline
Re emergence or
revival
Birth
(Adapted
Death
Source: Linda Ackerman Inc © 1984
Fig 1c captures in totality, the current thinking and social perception of stagnation
and decline of Highlife music in Nigeria and the need for its revival which has been on
since the 1980s. The model above seems to suggest a typical economic product cycle
which is characterized by birth, growth and maturity, decline, ‘death’ and ‘rebirth’. In
13
Nigeria, this model can fit into the mindset that Highlife was born in the 1920s and 40s
from its ‘palm wine’ origins and big band orchestras, reached the peak of its development
in the 1950s and 1960s, stagnated around the late 1960s and began eventually to decline
somewhere around the late 1970s, while the 1990s represent a period for its revival and
re-emergence. This perception of absolute decline is at the centre of the various Highlife
revival projects in Lagos currently. However, rather than transformational changes, what
is sought in these revival projects seems to be a revival of the ‘old’ tradition of Highlife.
How realistic and possible this is under the prevailing social, economic and technological
changes of the 21st century is a crucial issue in this research. Understanding
transformational changes is important in tracing the development of a musical genre over
time.
Some Observations and Deductions
From my research, I observed that Highlife music exists in diverse forms which
reflect the diverse roots of Highlife music and the ethnic diversity of the West African
region. Based on principal and identifiable elements, the following forms of Highlife
music were identified in my research:
(a) Secular Highlife: Uses secular themes as opposed to Christian or religious themes.
(b) Gospel Highlife: Uses Christian or religious themes as opposed to secular themes.
(c) Classical Highlife: A Highlife style which many old musicians call the ‘original
Highlife’. It uses mainly 4/4 meter and combines a range of brass instruments,
trap drum and other local percussions especially the conga drum with the guitar in
a moderate elegant tempo. It is most times referred to as ‘old school’ Highlife by
the new generation.
(d) Folk Highlife: Highlife based on folk songs of ethnic groups. No claim to authorship
except in the re-interpretation and re-arrangement of such songs by individual
musicians.
(e) Brass Band Highlife: Consists of essentially brass instruments which may or may
not be combined with guitar and percussions.
(f) Guitar Highlife: Consists essentially of guitar and percussion instruments. This
could be acoustic ‘unplugged’ or electric ‘plugged’ guitar. Guitar Highlife has
its roots in ‘palm wine’ and Congolese music. Multiple guitars are sometimes
14
used to add to the harmonic density of the music. Brass instruments are deemphasized
(g) Contemporary Highlife: Refers to a wide range of new developments in Highlife
music
of
in the new millennium. The definitive framework of contemporary
Highlife is
not only amorphous, it is also a site of struggle and a point
dispute between
traditionalism
and
contemporariness
and
between
essentialism and social constructionism. It has a pastiche or hybrid base
that combines historical styles with new innovations in contemporary music.
Digital and synthetic sound is emphasized over and above the analog sound
of ‘classical’ Highlife. The sound relies more on programmed computers and
electronic keyboard instruments. Jesse Jackson’s Buga style, Sunny Ineji’s
pop-styled Highlife in Nigeria and the‘ Burger Highlife’ and Hip Life in
Ghana are concrete examples of Contemporary Highlife.
(h) Juju–Highlife: This categorization represents a new synthesis of Juju and Highlife
music. It is essentially guitar and keyboard music which feature a whole range
of hourglass drums typical of Juju music ensemble and occasionally one or
two brass instruments.
(i) Highlife-Jazz : A style that combines Jazz solos, chords and horn arrangements with
the basic I-IV-V harmonic progression of Highlife music.
(j) Ethnic/Regional Highlife: Reflects ethnic and regional identities in terms of usage of
traditional musical resources, folkloric elements and linguistic attachment. Its
nomenclature derives from its ethnic or regional identity e.g. Yoruba Highlife,
Igbo Highlife, Esan Highlife, Edo Highlife, Isoko Highlife, Akan Highlife, Fanti
Osibisaaba and so on.
Theoretical Models and Approaches for African Popular Music Analysis
Having examined the issues in socio-musical change, genre development, decline,
revival, sustenance and their inherent flaws, distortions and ambiguities, I wish to make
certain propositions toward evolving
new theoretical and analytical approaches to
African popular music analysis using Highlife music as a paradigm.
15
1. Social Reconstructionism Model
Social
Construction
Social
Deconstruction
Social
Reconstruction
This indigenous model by this researcher posits that musical change does not occur
in the once and for all straight-line process of birth, growth and decline of a musical
genre. It rather, treats the decline of a musical style as a deconstruction in which some
of the components of the older music style are then reconstructed, as they are creatively
integrated within a new socio-cultural context into a novel and qualitatively distinct
music idiom. It also posits that popular music genres are social constructs which can be
socially deconstructed and also socially reconstructed contingent upon prevailing sociohistorical and technological processes. This circular ‘Social Reconstructionism’ model is
therefore a valuable socio-historical tool for analyzing the dynamics of musical change
and social dialectics in contemporary Africa .
Social reconstructionism as a new theoretical paradigm, is rooted in theory of
social construction which Berger and Luckman (1966), Searle (1995), Hacking (1999),
Boghossian (2001) have theorized on . The process begins with the stage of construction,
through the social process, moves on to a stage of ‘deconstruction’ which midwives a
reconstruction process where the music takes on a new identity existing outside its
original core essence. The three stages are analyzed below.
The Stage of Social Construction
16
For a musical style to emerge, there must be certain pre-conditions:
a. The availability of musical resources - prevailing musical sounds, musical
instruments and appropriate technology that supports musical creativity;
b. Availability of skilled musicians to create the new sound of music;
industries
that market and promote the music and the audience or social group for which the
music is intended; and
c. An enabling socio-cultural and economic environment which supports the
development of the music in question and its labeling and classification as a
musical genre.
This stage is thus characterized mainly by the creative combination of available
musical resources into a coherent and recognizable musical core which imputes a
musical essence into the product. The ideologies and intentions of its creators are also
imprinted on the style to give it meaning and musical symbolism.
The Stage of Social Deconstruction
Social deconstruction represents a process where the engrafted meaning,
conventions, symbolism and iconography in a social construct begin to loose their
absolute advantages as emergent social and historical forces act upon them. In my
developmental schema , the stage of social deconstruction is characterized by these main
features:
a. The musical style begins to deviate more and more from its core musical essence and
definitive framework. This phenomenon arises based on peripheral levels of artistic recreation and re-interpretation that are brought to bear on the original style. This again, is
a reflection of individual, group, generational or new socio-technological and economic
demands.
b. The musical style begins to loose the original meaning of its creators. It gradually takes
on
added meanings and a new social identity as can be detected in the changing
conventions, iconography and significations. It could possibly also acquire a new
audience gradually, while loosing some old ones along the way.
c. New stylistic innovations are introduced into the musical product. A deconstructed
musical form may contain some elements of the old style which are combined with new
stylistic innovations reflective of the prevailing socio-musical environment.
17
The Stage of Social Reconstruction.
The reconstruction stage represents significant attempts towards a re-definition of
the social construct in new stylistic and social terms. It is a stage of assemblage of the
‘old’ and the ‘new’ in proportions that impute new musical and social meanings into the
product. The reconstruction stage is also an on-going process, a direct response to the
changing social world of the art and the society at large. The main features of this stage
include:
1. Multiple modes of expressions which may or may not be directly derived from the
original core essence.
2. Attempts at fashioning out a new direction and a new core essence for the
product.
3. Attempts at locating the musical stream within a new socio-economic, artistic and
cultural space. This attempt seeks to define the social group of its audience and
the social world of the product.
4. The search for new meanings through some forms of ideological mutation to
reflect the changing socio-musical configuration, interactions and social
mediations.
How long each process in the social reconstructionism model takes is dependent on
the degree of musical saturation in the society. This will also depend on the level of
social interactions between the various social actors in the chain as well as their degree of
social responsiveness and willingness to change.
The Social Construction, Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Highlife
I have demonstrated adequately in this paper that Highlife music is a social
construction. I have also stated that Highlife music exists in diverse forms reflective of
the ethnic and regional diversities of host societies as well as differences that articulate
authorial and artistic autonomy. My graphic representation of the historical development
of Highlife music earlier on highlighted the relationship that exists between social forces
and musical change and how these affect the social perception of Highlife in
contemporary times. We can thus safely deduce that Highlife has deviated significantly
from its core musical and social essence at its inception in the 1950s when the dance band
18
format was popularized in the West African sub-region. The social, musical, ideological,
economic and technological backdrop against which Highlife music developed in the
1950s have undergone several changes over time. These have significantly re-defined
Highlife in new social, musical, economic and ideological terms. Highlife has thus, gone
through a process of deconstruction. This stresses the need for a social reconstruction of
the term ‘Highlife music’ in the light of current global socio-musical realities.
2. Core and Periphery Model or Diffusion Theory
Core
Periphery
level 1
Periphery
level 2
Periphery
level 3
Periphery
level 4 etc
The core and periphery analytical model is an intersection of essentialism and
social constructionism and represents in a way, diffusion theory. This model posits that
despite the social construction and social immersion of the African popular music genre,
there are some fixed traits which define it in specific musical terms. When a musical
genre has been created through socio-historical and socio-musical processes, the social
and musical elements of its creation imputes into it a core essence which is recognizable
and identifiable. From this core essence emerges peripheral levels of artistic re-creation
19
and re-interpretation contingent on prevailing
forces of change, generational
modification and geographical spread. The various peripheral levels of re-creation are
shown in different colors in the diagram; each color depicts the changing form of the
genre relative to the core. In the case of Highlife, E.T. Mensah’s dance band Highlife
incarnation created in the 1950s and by extension Ghanaian Highlife, could be taken to
be the core of the West African Highlife against which backdrop, other re-creations and
transformations of the genre can be measured in artistic and cultural terms. The earlier
proto-types (like Kokoma, Osibisaaba, Agidigbo, Gumbey and Odonson) bear a double
toga of being the forerunners of the dance band format alluded to in modern terms as
‘original’ or ‘classical’ Highlife, and being at the same time, a ‘poor man’s’ versions of
the classical Highlife. Both the core and the various peripheral levels can be studied
separately and also in relation to the core.
3. Historical and Contemporary Approach
African popular music scene both in the past and in the present, has been on the
receiving end of various foreign socio-musical influences which
greatly affect the
stability and definitive framework of popular music traditions. Consequently, managing
socio-musical changes on the African continent has been a major challenge because of
the rapidity of these changes which have been accelerated in this age of ICT and
globalization. Some of these changes and their effects on musical developments have
been shown in our graphic historical representation of Highlife in Ghana and Nigeria
earlier on. To understand, interpret and situate these changes within socio-musical and
historical contexts, I suggest that
African popular music genres
be studied
synchronically (i.e. as a slice of time in history) and diachronically (along a historical
continuum) as I deed in my research on Highlife. In this case, developmental trends and
changes can be situated in molds and then studied within particular socio-historical
contexts as well as along a historical path. Because of the social and technological
upheavals of the 21st century, African popular music forms are best studied using a
historical and contemporary approach. In each case, the social and aesthetic benchmarks
for assessment will be based on historical specificity and historical relativity.
20
Conclusion
The generic boundary of what we call Highlife in recent times is fluid and
amorphous. At the same time, the social perception of what constitutes Highlife in
contemporary terms is a point of dispute between musicians and generational groups.
Highlife as a socio-musical phenomenon, has been deconstructed through series of
developmental and transitional changes. We can thus speak of Highlife styles within the
Highlife generic tradition. Highlife styles are alive in Ghana and in Nigeria and are
replicated in various forms of popular music which do not necessarily bear the name
Highlife. Because African popular music can not be compartmentalized in strict stylistic
and geographical contexts, what exist in practice are ‘family resemblances’ which share a
basic musical language and contextual usages. I will conclude here by agreeing with
these genre theorists: Neale’s (1995:464) submission that definitions of a genre are
always historically relative and therefore, historically specific; Buckingham’s (1993:137)
assertion that a genre is not simply given by a culture, but that it is in a constant process
of negotiation and change and Miller’s (1984) submission that “the number of genres in
any society depends on the complexity and diversity of that society”. My three theoretical
and analytical approaches proposed in this paper are derived from these premises as well
as Linda Ackerman’s change models. These approaches will be of significant benefit as
analytical tools for African popular music analysis and to support my thesis that African
popular music is in a constant state of re-creation through a negotiated process of
continuity and change.
21
Notes
1
Oral consultations with Goddy Ojukwu (27/09/07), Anayo Okoro(16/0406) and Gloria
Ekere(10/05 2007) on Highlife in Eastern Nigeria.
2
See Vanguard online January 8th, 2005
3
The copyright of the Developmental, Transitional and Transformational models belong
to Linda Ackerman. They have only been used here for educational purposes.
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26