The Highlife Question
A call for revival, and a Labadi beach rave
A highlife musician's call for a revival among young Ghanaians sits on the record beside a Labadi beach rave where highlife was part of the mix.
The Hitz-Joy Beach Rave was due to start at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 31 October, at Rehab Beach Club in Labadi, MyJoyOnline's preview said that day. A ticket cost GH₵100.
Hitz 103.9 FM and Joy 99.7 FM, both part of the Multimedia Group, organised the day. MyJoyOnline counted 19 performers "from Ghana's entertainment industry" and eight DJs, with StarOil, Ayuda and Kivo as sponsors. The outlet named KiDi, King Promise and Medikal as the headliners. Ras Kuuku, whom it described as a dancehall and reggae artiste, the rising singer Morgan Nero and the duo Lali X Lola joined them, the last adding what MyJoyOnline called an "Afro-fusion sound". King Promise performed songs including Terminator, CCTV and Paris, "showcasing his blend of Afrobeats, highlife and R&B," the report said.
MyJoyOnline's live report described the rave's sound as "a mixture of Afrobeats, highlife, dancehall and contemporary Ghanaian sounds." By its account, the 2026 edition "ended on a high note" after "an afternoon and evening of live performances."
Highlife was named in that mix. On Modern Ghana's highlife news page, a different note sits on the record: an item dated 24 November 2025 and headlined "Kwaisey Pee calls for revival of highlife music among Ghanaian youth." Side by side, the two do not settle which one better describes Ghana's young listeners.
Kwaisey Pee is the Ghanaian highlife musician Kwasi Poku Addae. The 2025 item opens by saying he "is raising fresh concerns about the declining presence of highlife music among Ghanaian youth."
He gave a reason in an older interview, carried by ghkwaku from Angel FM ahead of a "Kwaisey Pee and Friends" concert set for 24 December 2019 at the Gold Coast Hub, Cantonments. That report said he had described highlife as being on a "time bomb". "Highlife music is our very own genre," Kwaisey Pee said, "but the media is not throwing more light on it which will make highlife music very unpopular." Its opening line does not say whether the 2025 call makes the same case.
Other musicians on the same page see it differently. In April 2024, Modern Ghana reported that Lucky Mensah, "the acclaimed Ghanaian highlife artist, has reaffirmed his belief that Highlife will never die." A headline from 23 July 2025 quotes Rex Omar: "Highlife music can never die; it's been rebranded as Afrobeats."
So there are two readings on the record. In Kwaisey Pee's, the genre is losing its hold on the young. Rex Omar's headline gives the other one: highlife carries on under another name. The rave report fits either. Highlife was in the mix, and in one headliner's blend, but nothing in that coverage says how much of the day it filled.
None of the coverage cited here counts how many young Ghanaians listen to highlife, or how much of the rave's sets was highlife. Those are the figures that would tell the two readings apart.
At Labadi on 31 October, highlife was named alongside Afrobeats, dancehall and "contemporary Ghanaian sounds". On Modern Ghana's highlife page, Kwaisey Pee's call for a revival is still listed. Both are on the record.
“Highlife music is our very own genre,” Kwaisey Pee said.”
- Modern Ghana: Highlife News
- MyJoyOnline: KiDi, King Promise, Medikal thrill patrons as Hitz-Joy Beach Rave ends on a high note
- MyJoyOnline: Hitz-Joy Beach Rave gets underway at Rehab Beach Club
- MyJoyOnline: King Promise, KiDi, Ras Kuuku and others set to ignite Hitz-Joy Beach Rave at Rehab Beach Club today
- ghkwaku (via Angel FM): Highlife Music On ‘Time Bomb’ – Kwaisey Pee
- Citi Newsroom: GHAMRO to distribute over GH¢1.4m in royalties
