Thank the Ashanti Kingdom, I finally found this damn song!!! It's been playing all over the radio and has been stuck in my head for weeks!!
R2Bees' Kiss Your Hand is a great sample of the "Hiplife" music here in Ghana! (Says me, of course, who occupies zero-authority on the matter.)
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Hiplife is a branch from Ghana's traditional popular music category "Highlife." I cannot express how fun Highlife music is. It's kind of a fusion between reggae, jazz and traditional African music with a pop sensibility to it. It is quite possibly the happiest music on earth - like the Disneyworld of music with a little less spinning tea cups and a little more synth tones. The "happy" factor is bizarre since the theme of Highlife music is always unrequited love.
I knew about Highlife prior to arriving in Ghana (as it is quite famous for creating this musical category in the 70s), but Hiplife was totally new to me. Hiplife introduces elements of Hip Hop into Highlife music. An match made in heaven if you ask me.
Interruption: Literally as I am writing this blog, the song "Kiss Your Hand" just came on the radio!
I promise to post more Ghanaian music in the future. It's super fun!
Interruption: Okay now they're playing Return of the Mack... you win some, you lose some.
And last week you got to hear George Michael's "Carless Whisper"... What a treat!
ReplyDeleteGabs, I cannot tell you just how much I am enjoying your blog...look forward daily to seeing what you are up to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being you.
Love,
Char
Thanks Charlene!!
ReplyDeleteSo nice of you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Erm, what? Return of the Mack is one of THE BEST songs from the 90's.
ReplyDeleteGlad u are enjoying hiplife! are u enjoying the nigerian invasion into our local hiplife scene? If you are then check out music by 2Face, Psquare, Debange and a whole lot more.Check out Sarkodie for gh hiplife artistes, he is very hot right now. He has a remix of a song that is really banging.sorry i dont remember the name of the song! lol. If it helps there are 5 remixes of this particular song. Sarkodie freestyled on the track and just killed it.
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