Highlife Giants: West African Dance Band Pioneers

by John Collins

Overview

"Highlife Giants is an intimate portrait of the pioneering artistes of West Africa's vibrant music scene from the 1920s onwards. It is packed full of inside information from stars including E.T Mensah, Kofo Ghanaba, King Bruce, Bobby Benson, Victor Uwaifo, and Ignace De Souza. Blending European and African-American styles with traditional African patterns, highlife music contributed to the development of post-independent national identity in Ghana, Nigeria and along the West African coast. Highlife Giants is an important and indispensable record on this Pan-African musical identity."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911115304
Publisher:	CASSAVA REPUBLIC
Publication date:	11/14/2016
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	324
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Professor John Collins is a naturalized Ghanaian of British descent who came to Ghana in 1952. He is a guitarist, harmonica player and percussionist and has worked and recorded with numerous Ghanaian & Nigerian bands. In the 1970s he had his own Bokoor Band and since 1982 has been running Bokoor Recording Studio near Accra. Collins has also written numerous publications on West African popular and neo-traditional music. Collins is a Professor at the Music Department of the University of Ghana in Legon. He is a patron of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and is Chair of Bokoor African Popular Music Archives Foundation (BAPMAF).

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

SECTION ONE: The Origins and Spread of Highlife

Chapter One: Black Soldiers, Seamen and the Coastal Elites:
Brass Bands, Guitar Bands and Ballroom Dance Orchestras
Chapter Two: Highlife Dance Bands and the Early
Independence Era

SECTION TWO: Highlife Pioneers in Ghana and Nigeria

Chapter Three: E.T. Mensah: Youthful Days and the Early
Tempos
Chapter Four: Louis Armstrong and the Later Tempos
Chapter Five: Some Tempos Graduates
Chapter Six: Guy Warren/Kofi Ghanaba: The Accra Orchestra
and the Tempos
Chapter Seven: The Tempos’ Travels in West Africa
Chapter Eight: Bobby Benson and the Jam Session Orchestra of
Lagos

SECTION THREE: Highlife’s Golden Age: Nigeria,
Ghana and Benin

Chapter Nine: Veterans From Bobby Benson’s Band
Chapter Ten: Victor Olaiya and Chris Ajilo
Chapter Eleven: Victor Uwaifo: The Nigerian Bini Highlife
Maestro
Chapter Twelve: Orlando Julius: From Highlife to Afro-Fusion
Chapter Thirteen: Ignace De Souza of Benin
Chapter Fourteen: King Bruce and The Black Beats
Chapter Fifteen: Saka Acquaye: The Ghanaian Musician and
Artist
Chapter Sixteen: Jerry Hansen and the Ramblers International
Band
Chapter Seventeen: Broadway, Uhuru and Ebo Taylor
Chapter Eighteen: The Ghanaian Highlife Composer
Oscarmore Ofori

SECTION FOUR: The Highlife of Eastern Nigeria

Chapter Nineteen: Eastern Nigerian Highlife Artists
Chapter Twenty: The Eastern Nigerian Highlife ‘Explosion’ of
the 1970s

CODA: The Highlife Revival

Chapter Twenty-One: The Current Highlife Revival in Nigeria,
Ghana and Abroad

PHOTO CREDITS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX