Ever since my group (David and Sophia and I) did a presentation on the many cultures in Ghana, I have been hooked on my contribution to that presentation on Ghanaian music. We learned that there are primarily five types of music that are listened to in Ghana:
- Traditional Folk Music
- Cultural Music
- Highlife
- Gospel Music
- Hiplife
The two that stood out the most to me and my peers were highlife and hiplife—highlife being music from the 70s that influenced Ghanaians to add Western sounds to their traditional folk music, and hiplife revealing an even deeper Western influence by adding melodies and rhythms from the sounds of hip hop and R&B.
With David’s help, I was drawn to the Top 100 Ghana playlist on Apple Music and found some of the most popular artists listened to in Ghana. After doing some more digging, I cultivated a playlist featuring not only Ghanaian sounds, but Afrobeats. I noticed that not all of these artists are from Ghana and some of them are from Nigeria.
My playlist is more hiplife influenced with some traces of R&B, since that’s what I usually gravitate to. Most of these songs are easily found on Apple Music/Spotify/YouTube and other streaming outlets like Aftown, a music streaming app strictly for African musicians.
- Madu – Kizz Daniel
- Dumebi – Rema
- Consider – Del B, Flavour & Wizkid
- Drogba (Joanna) [feat. WizKid] – Afro B
- Nobody Fine Pass You – T-Classic
- Démo – DJ Neptune & Davido
- Maayaa – Juls, Tiggs Da Author & Santi
- Abena (feat. Kwesi Arthur, Shaydee & Ceeza Milli) – Cuppy
- Gbona – Burna Boy
- Love Can Do (feat. Maleek Berry) – Legendury Beatz
- Come Closer (feat. Drake) – Wizkid
- On the Low – Burna Boy
- What Do You See? (feat. Kojo Funds) – DJ Spinall
- Pablo Alakori – Adekunle Gold
- Irie – J. Derobie
This playlist gives me warm, summer, vibes and makes me excited to experience night life in Ghana. One of my must-sees is listening to live music and dancing! Even though I may not understand the words, music is another language that transcends feelings and stories through song and dance. I hope others are able to feel my excitement through this playlist!
Enjoy!