Ghanaian is calling for a renewed focus on the country's indigenous music genres, Highlife and Hiplife, in the wake of the global popularity of Afrobeats.
In a recent interview with TV3, Keche expressed concerns that many artistes are mislabeling their music as Afrobeats despite it being originally Highlife. This, they believe, eventually reduces the impact of the distinctive sounds of Highlife on the global music scene.
They also acknowledged the positive impact of the diaspora on Ghana's music scene but emphasized the need to showcase the country's unique musical heritage.
“The whole Afrobeat thing is making most of us lose our way; even people do Highlife and they want to call it Afrobeats. We are lucky we have the diasporans coming in, but what are we giving to them?
“Let's make sure that our genre would be projected very well, it doesn't mean we should stop the Afrobeats but let's project our genres, the Highlife and the hiplife,” they stated.
Keche further cited the case of Nigeria and how they’ve been able to champion the Afrobeats genre, stating that their efforts are responsible for the consistent influence of Nigerian acts in the global music scene.
They thus called for more efforts from the Ghanaian community to enable the Highlife and Hiplife genres to also attain the same heights as Afrobeats.
“Now if we mention Afrobeats, there’s only one place that comes to mind, Nigeria; they’ve done everything possible to champion it. Now, the Grammy nominations came out and you see they’ve flooded it.
“So, let's project our genre, and let's keep hitting it. This is what we have, Hiplife and Highlife. Let's just champion our songs and push them. You will see, in about 5 to 7 years, we will also get to that point as well,” they stated.
Keche’s comments come on the back of reignited debates over the state of the Ghanaian music industry after the release of the 2024 Grammy nominations which were devoid of any Ghanaian acts.
Many netizens blamed the phenomenon on the lackadaisical behaviour of Ghanaian artistes towards their crafts. While the artistes and other stakeholders called for an end to unnecessary comparisons between artistes.
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Music duo, Keche.