Legendary Ghanaian Highlife musician and performer Gyedu Blay Ambolley has stated in other for radio stations in the country to protect the image and the identity of this nation, they should be ready to quit playing anything about Dancehall music and focus their attention on promoting Highlife music as that is the true identity of Ghanaian music.
Gyedu Blay Ambolley is regarded as one of the ‘corner stones’ and a legend in the Highlife genre. He brought a new style of adding a little bit of ‘rap’ to the genre during his performance, making him unique from his other colleagues.
Although many believes he is ‘arguably’ the created of rap music in Ghana, he only stick to the Highlife genre and perfected it to the kind of Highlife music we see today.
The Dancehall genre however has dominated the Ghanaian music scene for a very long time since the likes of Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy joined the music scene. The two musicians ‘hijacked’ the industry with their dominance as the two top artists that has arguably the biggest fan base in the country.
The attention in the music industry shifted to the Dancehall genre and other genres like Highlife and Hiplife suffered the most until the likes of Kuami Eugene, Fameye, Kelvynboy etc begun to make a ‘meaningful’ impact in the music industry.
Ambolley said Highlife music is the true identity of Ghanaian music and also the ‘mother’ of all dance music in the world, so Ghanaians especially radio stations should be ready to portray the true identity of Ghanaian music to the world, rather than focusing their attention or a genre that doesn’t represent our culture.
Speaking at the launching of a Highlife fun club called ‘Highlife Is Alive Fan Club’ in Accra, Ambolley added Highlife muisic is on the low because of the huge gab between the old Highlife musicians like himself and the new generation of Highlife musicians.