# The 7 Best Highlife Tracks of All Time

West Africa's first great popular music: Akan rhythms and palm-wine guitar meeting brass-band and swing arrangements in coastal Ghana, recorded from 1928 and named for the clubs ordinary people were not admitted to.

- **Origin:** Ghana and coastal West Africa, 1928
- **Tempo:** 100–140 BPM
- **Also known as:** high life, guitar band highlife, dance band highlife, palm-wine music
- **Tracks:** 7
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/

## The list

### 1. [Kwame Asare](https://waxonia.com/artist/kwame-asare/) — [Yaa Amponsah](https://waxonia.com/track/kwame-asare--yaa-amponsah/)

*1928 · Zonophone*

Recorded in London with the Kumasi Trio, and the first Ghanaian highlife on record. Its finger-picked guitar figure became a rhythm other musicians simply refer to by name.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Kwame%20Asare%20Yaa%20Amponsah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F09XX2CgVc4)

### 2. [E.T. Mensah & The Tempos](https://waxonia.com/artist/e-t-mensah-and-the-tempos/) — [All For You](https://waxonia.com/track/e-t-mensah-and-the-tempos--all-for-you/)

*1952 · Decca*

Mensah put a dance band behind highlife and took it across West Africa. Louis Armstrong sat in with the Tempos in Accra, which tells you how good the horn section was.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/E.T.%20Mensah%20%26%20The%20Tempos%20All%20For%20You) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9rK3DIN3EuU)

### 3. [Prince Nico Mbarga](https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/) — [Sweet Mother](https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/)

*1976 · Rogers All Stars*

Reckoned to be the best-selling African single ever made. A pidgin-English song about a mother's love over a guitar line of total sweetness, and utterly unembarrassed by any of it.

Also on: [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ)

### 4. [Nana Ampadu & The African Brothers Band](https://waxonia.com/artist/nana-ampadu-and-the-african-brothers-band/) — [Ebi Te Yie](https://waxonia.com/track/nana-ampadu-and-the-african-brothers-band--ebi-te-yie/)

*1967*

An animal fable about who gets the comfortable seat, read as criticism of the military government and pulled off the radio. Highlife's most elegant piece of political smuggling.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nana%20Ampadu%20%26%20The%20African%20Brothers%20Band%20Ebi%20Te%20Yie) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=creb9dsHwsQ)

### 5. [Sir Victor Uwaifo](https://waxonia.com/artist/sir-victor-uwaifo/) — [Joromi](https://waxonia.com/track/sir-victor-uwaifo--joromi/)

*1965*

A Benin folk hero, a guitar figure that circles rather than resolves, and Nigeria's first gold record. Uwaifo built his own guitars, which sounds about right.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sir%20Victor%20Uwaifo%20Joromi) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rbe7UefYCN8)

### 6. [Gyedu-Blay Ambolley](https://waxonia.com/artist/gyedu-blay-ambolley/) — [Simigwa Do](https://waxonia.com/track/gyedu-blay-ambolley--simigwa-do/)

*1975*

Highlife with the funk turned all the way up and a rapped Fante vocal years before anyone in New York had a word for that. Genuinely ahead of itself.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gyedu-Blay%20Ambolley%20Simigwa%20Do) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OgFdE6iw-Vw)

### 7. [Osibisa](https://waxonia.com/artist/osibisa/) — [Sunshine Day](https://waxonia.com/track/osibisa--sunshine-day/)

*1976 · Bronze*

Ghanaian and Caribbean musicians in London, making highlife that charted in Britain without diluting the percussion. The diaspora version, and a very good one.

Also on: [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Osibisa%20Sunshine%20Day) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MeH3OdgGHso)

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