Highlife Music Gets UNESCO Recognition

Highlife music, integral to Ghanaian culture, will soon gain UNESCO recognition as an intangible cultural heritage.

Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, Secretary General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, disclosed this at the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) industry mixer in Accra’s Palm Convention Centre.

She underscored UNESCO’s dedication to recognizing highlife music as a quintessential product of Ghanaian heritage.

“This year at UNESCO, we are listing highlife as an original product of Ghana,” she stated.

This decision follows extensive discussions and conferences organized by the Ghana Folklore Board and the Ghana Cultural Forum.

Addressing the longstanding debate regarding the origin of highlife, Nerquaye-Tetteh clarified that Ghana’s application to UNESCO was uncontested by any other country.

“We have put in the application and we haven’t heard anyone claiming it originated from their country. We know the history and so we are finalizing that,” she affirmed.

The recognition of highlife as an intangible cultural heritage underscores the genre’s significance in Ghanaian culture. Intangible cultural heritage, as defined by UNESCO, includes practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills that are integral to a place’s cultural identity.

This non-physical intellectual wealth encompasses folklore, customs, beliefs, traditions, knowledge, and language.

Highlife will join other music genres like Jamaica’s reggae and Congo’s rhumba, which have already been listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.

The recognition of highlife music by UNESCO not only serves to celebrate its deep historical significance but also to secure its ongoing preservation and promotion for the benefit of future generations.

Additionally, UNESCO’s endorsement will bolster the development of the TGMA’s music Hall of Fame, reinforcing highlife music’s enduring legacy in the global music landscape.