Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre, along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
Ghanaian highlife singer Amakye Dede
An invitation to a concert featuring Louis Armstrong "from America" and E. T. Mensah and his Tempos Band "of West African Fame"
Top: clave. Bottom: highlife guitar part (Playⓘ).
The Igbo people are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A sizable Igbo population is also found in Delta and Rivers States. Igbo is also considered a very minority tribe in states such as Benue, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Edo. Ethnic Igbo populations are found in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, as migrants as well as outside Africa. There has been much speculation about the origins of the Igbo people, which are largely unknown. Geographically, the Igbo homeland is divided into two unequal sections by the Niger River—an eastern and a western section. The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.
Igbo family in traditional attire
Glass beads from Igbo-Ukwu
An Igbo man with facial scarifications, known as ichi, early 20th century
Bronze ornamental staff head, 9th century, Igbo-Ukwu