Kofi Sammy
Ghanaian highlife legend, Abrekyieba Kofi Sammy, has called on music industry players to preserve, develop and promote highlife as a genre that represents the country’s identity.
The veteran highlife legend, who is not happy about the current state of our indigenous music genre, emphasised the need to celebrate and promote highlife as the national identity.
He revealed that even though highlife is originally a Ghanaian music genre, other countries are trying to lay claim to it while Ghanaians look on unperturbed.
Though he doesn’t have problems with stakeholders in the industry projecting other music genres, but rather thinks that highlife music is an indigenous Ghanaian music and better identified as the country’s identity than the other genres.
Abrekyieba Kofi Sammy, who is also the founder and leader of the Okukuseku International Band said “Jamaica is known for Reggae and Dancehall, Jazz is from America, Germany is recognized with Rock and Pop, Ghana is also known for our authentic Highlife.”
According to him, almost every country has a specific style of music which makes them different from other countries, adding that most of these styles of music depict the culture and beliefs of the people.
In an interview with Roman Fada on Atinka FM, Kofi Sammy pleaded with the entertainment industry personalities and Ghanaians not to let their efforts of making the music genre very attractive and more marketable on the international scene be in vain.