Obiba Sly Collins, a renowned Ghanaian highlife musician who has worked with a lot of veteran musicians says Afrobeat, which incorporates highlife, originated from Ghana.
The musician, who has regularly penned several songs to encourage love and harmony among Ghanaians, insisted that Afrobeat was invented in Ghana and not Nigeria.
He is pleased that young people are attempting to turn highlife into Afrobeat and the majority of the veteran musicians, including Gyedu Blay Ambolley are also performing Afrobeat.
The history of Afrobeat began in Ghana when the musicians combined West African regional music with Western jazz and calypso.
Obiba Sly Collins revealed that the late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti is credited with making Afrobeat famous in the 1970s. He started off with highlife before switching to Afrobeat.
The celebrated Ghanaian musician said, “I can tell you with confidence that Ghana is where Afrobeat originated not Nigeria, as some people have suggested.”
Sly Collins, who spent years living in Nigeria, returned to Ghana in 1994 to release his debut album, ‘Don’t Forget Your Culture’.
According to him, hiplife music which is currently well-liked by Ghanaian youth, was also influenced by highlife music.
“Every nation has its own music, so why do we have to abandon highlife to pursue other genres that don’t advance our culture?”he quizzed.
Obiba Sly Collins indicated in an interview with Prudent on DGN that Ghanaians have not only failed to invest in highlife music but have also failed to support the growth of the genre.
He went on to say that because the younger generation do not take pride in Ghana’s status as the birthplace of highlife music, they have also failed to learn from the veterans.
He hinted that the survival of highlife music is greatly threatened by the rise of other musical genres, stressing that highlife must be loved and promoted at all costs.
Dissatisfied with the situation of indigenous highlife music, the renowned musician voiced concern over the genre’s slow decline into obscurity due to its rebranding into other musical genres.
He asserts that highlife music is a beautiful genre that, if promoted, will gain recognition abroad and strengthen the nation’s music industry.
He was of the view that highlife music will succeed if we come together and work as a team to inspire the next generation of musicians to play more of it.
He added that it was important for the youth and up-and-coming artistes to follow the good steps of highlife veterans to project highlife globally.
Sly Collins is credited with inspiring and educative songs which include ‘Asomdwe’, ‘Ghana Odo Nkoaa’, ‘My Lover’, ‘True Love’, ‘Ghana Oman’, ‘Abrabo’, ‘One Day’, ‘Love Is The Key’, ‘Where Is The Love’, and a host of others.
It’s interesting to note that he translates some of his songs into Yoruba, Igbo, Twi, and English so that many people outside of West Africa may understand the message he conveys.
His third album, ‘Odo Fantastic’, was also released by Universal Records in 2000.
He has worked with a variety of gifted young artists, including Agbeshie, Kamelyon, Sherifa Gunu, and Mawunya.
His fourth album, ‘Total Unity’, was released in 2004 via the Nigerian record label OJEZ Music.
In 2008, he released his fifth album with a peace song. In 2012, he dropped an album featuring another peace song, ‘Peace Election’, in preparation for the 2012 election.
He released another album in 2015 titled ‘Voice of Reason’, which featured SherifaGunu, Atinka, Kodzi, and Sudha Parkeler.
Obiba Sly Collins has firmly planted his name on the Ghana highlife music scene.
