[audio mp3="https://blackloveproject.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/05-abele.mp3"][/audio] My father and maternal grandfather are from Keta, Ghana, West Africa. There was never a time that I did not have a deep sense of pride in being Ghanaian. One of the greatest cultural traditions my father gave me is Ghanaian music, particularly highlife. At any given time in our household, highlife played and was as common as the air we breathed. It accompanies some of the strongest memories I have of my father, so in turn I hold it very dearly. It reminds me of the warmth of Ghana, distinctly African and proud, the fufu and okra stew my father fed me with his right hand, the feeling of embarrassment for being too American when being taught to dance traditional Ewe dances, wishing I spoke the language but feeling like home when I heard it; this is everything highlife evokes within me. For me, there is a a deeply cultural and historical connection to the music of my father's land.Ghana became an independent nation on March 6, 1957, under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is with Ghana's independence that we see a deep sense of black pride spread across the Continent in a quest for liberation. As history shows, Africans and the Diaspora continuously create even while under oppressive circumstances. Ghana was no different. The long arms of colonization reached into the musical sector of its former colony. Through European military music, Ghanaian musicians were introduced to brass instruments and European tempo and time-signature. By the late 19th century, the more expensive brass instruments were replaced with traditional African drums and singing and it is here we have the birth of Adaha, the earliest form of highlife. As the new genre moved inward towards places like the Volta Region, it became more African, using local languages and traditional circular African dancing rather than military procession. The Ewe people of Ghana call this borborbor music, the particular form of highlife played in my youth. We also see an exchange of the Diaspora's interpretation of brass music. West Indian soldiers stationed in Ghana brought with them calypso, while Ghanaian musicians like trumpeter E.T. Mensah and percussionist Kofi Ghanaba travelled to America to study the jazz coming out of New Orleans and other cities. There is a distinct parallel and connection in the creation of highlife, calypso and New Orleans brass band music. Adaha was officially coined as highlife in the 1920s, as its increasing popularity found its way into high society events. Reimagined street music had found its way uptown.Music cannot escape politics and politically, highlife gained greater importance during the infancy years of Ghana. President Nkrumah urged musicians to create and artists in turn spoke candidly about their support of Ghanaian independence, as heard in ET Mensah's Ghana Freedom, in which he sings, "Ghana, we now have freedom. Ghana, land of freedom. Toils of the brave and the sweat of their labor. Toils of the brave which have brought results." In the 60s and 70s, highlife's influence travelled across Africa, most notably to Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, who began his musical career as a highlife artist. Artists like Sweet Talks, TO Jazz Band and K. Frimpong and His Cuban Fiestas dominated the scene, experimenting with guitars, Afrobeat and the funk coming from the Diaspora in America. Modern artists like Daddy Lumba use more synth based sounds and artists like Kontihene helped create hiplife, which is highlife tuned into the sounds of American hip hop; all variations founded in the early methods of highlife.Highlife is essentially Ghanaian independence in musical form. The one thing colonialism couldn't steal from Ghanaian people was our ability to create. And as years of colonialism drew to an end, we see the steady erasure of European elements that infiltrated the music. Abele is a song that demonstrates the peak moment of artists shunning European ideals with a greater embrace for all things black African. Artists like E.T. Mensah stand as political figures in Ghanaian history, as he and many others freely created fully in their blackness and against oppression. It is in highlife that we find the soul of Ghanaian music, but also the retelling of our rise to freedom.Happy Independence Day, Ghana. God bless our homeland Ghana. Check out the list of some of my favorite highlife songs:

Adjoa, Sweet Talks
Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena, K. Frimpong & His Cuban Fiestas
Owuo Adaadaa Me, T.O. Jazz Band
Nye Asem Hwe, City Boys Band
Madamfo Pa Beko, Kontihene

Song: AbeleArtist: E.T. Mensah and His Tempo's Dance BandAlbum: Decca Presents: E.T. Mensah and His Tempo's Dance BandReleased: 1963, Decca (West Africa), United KingdomWriter: Mensah, E.T.Mensah, E.T. 1957. “Ghana Freedom” Africa, 50 Years of Music: 50 Years of Independence. West Africa CD1: Track 1 . Discograph LC 14868-3218462.

Song: Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Yo MpenaArtist: K. Frimpong & His Cubano FiestasAlbum: K. Frimpong & His Cubano FiestasReleased: Ofo Bros ‎- OFBLS 1012 (LP) Ghana 1977.Writers: Alhaji Kwabena Frimpong

[audio mp3="https://blackloveproject.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/09-hwehwe-mu-na-yi-wo-mpena.mp3"][/audio]

Independence Day. March 6, 1957.

At long last, the battle has ended! And thus, Ghana, your beloved country is free forever! Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (March 6, 1957)

And with these words, Ghana became the first African nation to gain its independence from Europe. I make the distinction of using the word gain, to stress that Ghanaians were not given autonomy over our land, we fought to control what is rightfully ours. We all know that independence is taken and not given. Revolutions do not just happen over tea and biscuits. Or fufu and soup for that matter. It is important that we remember the revolutionaries who fought British colonialism before independence, specifically Yaa Asantewaa, one of the most important women in Ghanaian history.Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of a liberated Ghana spoke widely about the philosophy of Pan-Africanism, which asserts the need for a global black community, one that shares an understanding of cultural, historical and socio-political aspects of black people. If one looks at the movement of African Independence, beginning with Ghana in 1957, there is a clear parallel between this and the American Civil Rights Movement. There was an international parallel of black struggle for autonomy. Nkrumah recognized this, and spoke adamantly about the African man understanding and showcasing his brilliance, without the crutch of European hands and pockets. This idea that black men recognizing their capabilities would generate a successful people, resonated through the Continent and Diaspora.

June 19, 1950. Keta, Volta Region, Ghana, West Africa

My father and maternal grandfather are from Keta, in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa. My father is a tall and proud man, as are most African men. It took me becoming an adult and him moving to Ghana, for me to fully grasp how Ghanaian my father is. By his very breath and existence he is Ghanaian. The normalcies of my childhood, were in part cultural lessons and preservation. The traditions and nuances I hold dear are things I will tell my children to remember. For example, receiving things and eating with your right hand. This was something taught as my father would feed me small, rounded handfuls of fufu he'd dipped into steaming bowl of okra stew. Learning to remember and honor my ancestors, by Western measures nothing more than tribal voodoo, was given to me through our frequent libations. Speaking in Ewe, he would would call out the names of our ancestors, asking them to guide and protect us. There would be a handle of gin and roots, a glass of water and black eyed peas or farina as offerings. It is customary for each person to taste the gin and water, to share a toast with your family. In thirds, he would then offer the gin, water and food. I remember always feeling very moved when he would speak the names of those who'd gone before us, but through libations and reverence were with us still. Or even just watching my father tend to his garden, of tall stalks of okra and corn. Boiling ground nuts and making me sweet potato custard. As a child, you don't understand the importance of traditions passed down, they seem very common place. However, as I am growing to know myself these seemingly common traditions, become increasingly important in my identity. My African heritage is something that I intensely honor. It is the thing that made me.

Gold All on My Watch and Other Cultural Leanings

I grew up in a house filled with music. Most Saturday evenings, our house was filled with music, the smell of a clean house, and something stewing on the stove. This tradition my parents gave to me the love for the very thing Africans created; music. The music of their generation consists mainly of traditional African rhythms influenced by the funk and jazz of America. Highlife is a genre that is strictly Ghanaian. Striking horns borrowed from jazz, plucky guitars, a steady base and drum beat and a maintenance of Ghanaian vocal structure, these are the bones of highlife music. These are the songs that remind me of my childhood and my people. The songs are long and meant to be danced to, meant to be enjoyed. This need for rhythm and movement, is an inherently African expression of life and one that can be seen throughout the Diaspora.

As far as I can remember, we have always been a gold wearing family. You will not find silver 'round these parts. Before independence, Ghana was called the Gold Cost, aptly named for the thing Europeans were stealing the most of. The Ashanti believe that gold is a reflection of the sun, the source of life. You will find chiefs draped in gold, from head to toe. This natural inclination towards gold has traveled with the Diaspora, showing in the gold in our watches, necklaces and teeth. We've always been a gold people. The kente cloth that is so frequently used throughout the Diaspora as a symbol for Africa, is strictly Ghanaian. These, amongst so many other traditions, are the things that Ghana has given to the world.

It's Highlife Time: On the History of Ghanaian Brass Music

Back in the Day: The Liberation of Ghana