Musicologist and lecturer, Professor Edmund John Collin, will launch his latest book on highlife on Sunday, July 1, 2018.
The programme will take place at at the +233 Club House in Accra, at 5:00 pm.
The book titled ‘Highlife Time 3’ traces the origins of highlife music and its adventures across the West African Coast, profiling pioneer musicians such as E.K. Nyame, Kobina Okai and E.T. Mensah.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, Prof. Collins said the book also has information on palm wine music, adaha brass bands, concert party guitar bands and dance bands, right up to off-shoots such as Afro-rock, Afrobeat, burger highlife, gospel highlife, hiplife and contemporary highlife.
The 632-page book recently captured the top spot on the Amazon chart in the International Music books new release category.
It beat books such as Leipzig After Bach, Don’t Stop the Carnival Black British Music and Renegotiating French Identity: Musical Culture and Creativity in Francesince last week, making it one of the longest a Ghanaian book has topped the global book charts on Amazon.
Published by DAkpabli& Associates in collaboration with Dr.Wereko-Brobby’s Anansesem Publications, Highlife 3 also discusses the present Ebony (Priscilla Opoku Kwarteng) who passed on a couple of months ago, is featured as are Shatta Wale, Okyeame Kwame and Hewale Sounds.
‘Highlife Time 3’ includes chapters on the traditional background or roots of highlife, the entrance of women into the Ghanaian highlife profession and the biographies of Nigerian, Togolese and Ghanaian highlife musicians, composers and producers.
The author, Prof. John Collins, is a retired lecturer of the Music department at the University of Ghana. He naturalised as a Ghanaian in 2008.
Since 1969,Prof. John Collins has been active in the Ghanaian/West African music scene as a guitarist, band leader, music union activist, journalist, writer and archivist.
The new book is available in both e-book and paperback formats on Amazon, iBooks, Booknook.store (operating out of Ghana and selling paperbacks) and other online platforms globally.
Source: citinewsroom.com
