African Music of the 70's

Today’s selects are all shared from the highlife movement that came out of Africa in the 1950’s - 1970’s. Highlife is a genre that originated in Ghana, blending traditional African rhythms with Western instruments like horns, guitars, and jazz-style arrangements. It became the soundtrack of postcolonial West Africa, spreading to Nigeria and beyond with its danceable grooves and socially conscious lyrics. Highlife laid the foundation for genres like Afrobeat and continues to influence modern African music today.

Pat Thomas helped define Ghana’s highlife sound in the 1970s. He’s a legendary Ghanaian vocalist and songwriter, renowned for his work with Ebo Taylor in the ’60s and ’70s.

The song is a feel good groove wrapped in silky horns, laid-back guitar, and Thomas’s still-effortless voice. At 73, he sounds just as good as he did when he was in his 20’s. Backed by the tight-knit Kwashibu Area Band, Thomas still has got it. It's a perfect entry point if you're new to highlife and a reminder, for longtime fans, that the legends never die.

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Released in 1973, this highlife anthem is a feel good groove but has a super interesting story behind it. The band, led by Raphael Amarabem, recorded the track after being commissioned to send a message to a man named Eddie Quansa. He had moved to Ghana after the Biafran War and cut ties with his brothers back in Nigeria. When they lost their father, they left Eddie out of the inheritance, and things spiraled from there.

So what did they do? They hired the Peacocks to reach him the only way they could through music.

It’s pleading. It’s rhythmic. It’s layered in guitars, drums, and emotional undertones that hit you whether or not you understand the words. The main message of the song was for Eddie to come home back to his brothers because they missed him.

Eddie, never came back. But the song became a regional hit and a classic of the West African music history.

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Ebo Taylor, born in 1936 in Cape Coast, Ghana, is a legendary guitarist, producer, and bandleader who emerged in the late 1950s highlife scene. He fused traditional Ghanaian melodies with jazz, funk, soul, and afrobeat, creating a signature style.

By the time he released this track in the mid-70s, he was in full command of his craft. You can hear it in the shimmering guitar lines, the gently swaying horns and the subtle reggae undercurrent. It’s laid-back but rich in instrumentation and vibes.

Originally released on Gapophone Records in Ghana (in a run of only 500 copies), the album vanished into obscurity thanks to political instability and limited distribution. But decades later, crate diggers and reissue labels like Mr Bongo brought it back to the surface, giving it the recognition it always deserved.

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This electrifying performance captures Fela Kuti and his legendary band Africa 70 at the height of their powers during the 1978 Berliner Jazztage (Berlin Jazz Festival). Filmed at the iconic Berliner Philharmonie, the concert showcases Fela’s unmistakable fusion of jazz, funk, and traditional Yoruba rhythms…the very DNA of Afrobeat.

This image captures a candid, intimate moment from the legendary Fela Kuti's, Kalakuta Republic, his self-declared autonomous commune and home in Lagos, Nigeria, during the 1970s.

At the center of the image, shirtless and holding a saxophone, is Fela Kuti himself — the pioneer of Afrobeat, a genre that fused highlife, funk, jazz, traditional Yoruba rhythms, and biting political commentary. Surrounding him are members of his band, Africa '70, and likely some of his dancers or Kalakuta residents.

Kalakuta wasn't just a residence; it was a full-on countercultural hub. Fela used it to challenge colonial legacies, military corruption, and Western influence in Africa. The government viewed it as a threat, and in 1977, it was violently raided and burned down by the Nigerian military, a brutal event that Fela responded to with the powerful protest album “Zombie.”

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