Periscoping Highlife, Mainstay Of Kuta Nigerian Music

Highlife was the most popular music in 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. Before then and down through the 1960s, highlife has always been a mainstay of the Nigerian music industry. It was West African pop music seeping into the country from Ghana.
Following World War ll, Nigerian music started to take on new instruments and techniques including electric instruments imported from the United States and Europe. Rock n. Roll, Soul and later Funk became very popular in Nigeria and elements of  these genres were added to Juju by artistes such as I.K. Dairo.
Meanwhile, highlife had been slowly gaining grounds among the Igbo people and their unique style soon found a national audience, at the same time ‘Apalas’ Haruna Ishola was becoming one of the country’s biggest stars. When the Union Jack was lowered for the last time by the British colonial masters in Lagos and Nigeria’s Green while Green flag was hoisted, highlife was the ruler of the streets.
Ghana had a lot of influence on our music, right from the 1950s and 60s, Ghana had always been Nigerian’s big brother when it comes to music.
Ghanaian highlife stars dominated Nigerian social scene and night clubs due to the authenticity of their sound and immersive melodies. Ghanaian stars were the toast of Lagos and played in night clubs raking exclusive money for many Nigerian bands.
Nigerian artistes had to travel to Ghana to gain knowledge in music before returning to Nigeria to replicate that new direction.
Even Fela Kuti was influenced in Ghana. In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, reformed Koola Lobitos and trained as radio producer for Nigerian Boardcasting corporation (NBC).
He played for sometime with Victor Olaiya and his All Stars. In 1967, he went to Ghana to soak up their songs and think up a new musical direction. That was when Fela first called his music Afrobeat. Fela was later banned form Ghana by the Ghanaian government in 1978 after riots broke-out in Accra during his concert when he was performing the song “Zombie”.
While in Ghana high life music held more significance, in Nigeria it was feel good music carrying mundane themes and made specifically for dance; the same way we currently have pop songs about nothing, highlife filled that void in the 60s.
Music was recorded and played live and the best spots to consume live music was at the Lagos clubs which had a mixture of  Ghanaian and Nigerian highlife stars, the music was played by bands. The Ghanaian E.T. Mensah easily the most popular highlife performer of the 1950s toured Nigeria frequently, drawing huge crowds of devoted fans.
Bob Benson and his Combo was the first Nigerian highlife band to find audience across the country. Benson was followed by Rex Lawson &  The Mayors Dance Band who achieved national fame in the mid 70s ending with Lawson’s death in 1971. During the same period, other highlife performers were reaching their peak. “They include Prince Nico Mbaga whose Sweet Mother, was a Pan African hit that sold more than 13 million copies, more than any other African single of any kind.