High Life Time II

For a highlife aficionado, putting on the first disc of this compilation is like being greeted by old friends: Prince Nico Mbarga, The Ramblers Dance Band, Victor Olaiya and ET Mensah. This is indeed a celebration of the classics of the genre. The double-disc format allows inclusion of the ten-minute smash hit ‘Sweet Mother’ by Prince Nico, and the sublime 11-minute ‘Osonde Owendi’, from Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe. In addition to 19 highlife gems, there’s an intelligibly written booklet containing a history of the genre, drawn from many sources. Surprises include a scratchy rarity from the Ramblers called ‘Muntie’, described as a highlife/charanga fusion. Taken from the 1972 album Doin’ Our Own Thing, it features a conguero and trap drummer trading outrageous licks. Equally scratchy, ‘Yaa Nansa’ from Bunzu Soundz has scraper-driven percussion, and pidgin lyrics about ‘guarantee shoes’, which are the platform boots with soles so thick they never wear out.

In 1960, Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah decreed that all musicians should become proficient in traditional African music. The Broadway Band, who soon became the Professional Uhuru Band, added African percussion and by 1970 the familiar bottom-heavy, percussion-driven groove with glinting horn arrangements held sway.

Their ‘Eyya Duom’ kicks off the second disc. A Guy Warren track shows the early fusion of Western jazz with African rhythms by this pioneering drummer. We gradually find our way to Celestine Ukwu, my favourite exponent of the genre, whose restful, lilting ballad ‘Okwukwe’ has purring pedal steel guitar and muted trumpet. He was the undoubted king of Igbo music in the 70s. But before you doze off, the stirring Oriental Brothers bring their wiry, jangling triple-guitar sound to one of their grandstanding hits, ‘Ilhe Chinrenye’. The late 60s and early 70s were a hard time for the Nigerians because of the traumatic civil war. However, one thing united the people and that was highlife music: ethnicity didn’t matter on the dance floor. It’s a shame the sound of the rare tracks has not been cleaned up but this is a fine compilation nevertheless.