Ghanaian broadcaster and actor Mikki Osei-Berko is the latest to bemoan the seeming extinction of the highlife music genre. 

He has expressed worry over how the genre which originated in Ghana has been renamed into other music types, gradually pushing it into oblivion. 

Speaking to Joy FM’s entertainment journalist Kwame Dadzie on the sidelines of the creative arts meeting organised by the Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare on October 24, 2023 at the Police Headquarters in Accra, Mikki said as a cultural asset of Ghana, the genre must be jealously protected.

“There is not culture without music and Ghana we have been so blessed with our kind of genre of music. Are we letting it die? Or are we letting people to re-christen it and call it Afrobeats and lose it just like that? I don’t think Jamaica will do that to reggae music.

Ghana should stand firm with highlife music, improve it and grow it,” he said.

Highlife, a music genre discovered in Ghana in the 19th century has evolved into other genres and sub-genres over time. 

The emergence of new music types has reduced the prominence of the hitherto darling genre of Ghana and other parts of Africa. 

For most custodians of culture, the advent of modern forms of music, notwithstanding, should not kill highlife. 

In tandem with this and other objectives, the Cultural Forum of Ghana is collaborating with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to make it an intangible heritage.