Kunle orlando owoh biography

Highlife is winning over a new generation of fans Small and thin, eyes sparkling beneath his signature cloth cap, cigarette and guitar in hand, he's the oldest of the highlife stars still active on the music scene. From the s to the s, highlife was the sound of West Africa. It was Africa's first example of musical fusion between African traditional songs and rhythms with western styles such as jazz, Caribbean calypso, Cuban son, rumba and military band music.

The new forms spread as sailors brought new influences and instruments back to the West African coast from the s. It got its name because the bands played in clubs frequented by the elite; people who were living the high life. Made famous in Ghana, highlife spread across the region. Rolling Dollar started playing music in the s, first using a thumb piano, before moving onto the guitar, and joining highlife bands in Lagos in the hey-day of the s and s.

Decline But in Nigeria, the music gradually went into decline - sparked by the Biafran civil war from to which split up bands, as musicians joined the army, and nightclubs closed.

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Today we are trying to push highlife back again. And it's coming back Fatai Rolling Dollar "The whole band's boys went to join the army, the navy and the air force," Rolling Dollar recalls. And so from that time, highlife went down, because there was no-one to play it. But some people are trying to revive highlife.

Example of juju music

In Ojay's bar in Lagos, the last Sunday of each month is the Great Highlife Party, when old stalwarts like Rolling Dollar come and play with the bands. The Biafran war put an end to many highlife bands, Rolling Dollar says It's a chance to hear the classics, but also to bring the music to a new generation. Mr Idonije hopes the music will influence Nigeria's current music scene.