Burger-highlife

Burger-Highlife is a distinctive form of highlife music created by Ghanaian immigrants to Germany. It is considered a German musical style.

In the 1980s, Reggae music was gaining popularity worldwide and was carrying with it a growing popularity for other forms of world music that were easy to dance to. Highlife music, often fused with Reggae, gained a wider audience in Europe and North America at this time. During the late 70’s, early 80’s, there was a massive exodus of Ghanaians to foreign lands. One of the countries that attracted Ghanaians was Germany, with many making the cities of Berlin, Duesseldorf and Hamburg their second home. Burger-Highlife was born when Ghanaian musicians in Germany started collaborating with German musicians and producers. They created a crossover music style from highlife, disco and funk music.

This creation of a cross-cultural fertilization between two nations and two different cultures bears all the significant hallmarks of co-operation. People from different cultural backgrounds came together, exchanged thoughts, ideas and hopes, and by doing so, they created something new and exciting that had an instant appeal and a lasting impact on Ghana and the Ghanaian and other communities worldwide. A whole subculture with its own fashion and way of life appeared. Some of the pioneers of Burger Highlife are George Darko, Lee Dodou, Rex Gyamfi and Charles Amoah, just to mention a few with hits like “Akoo ti brofo” and others.

This distinctive form of music, dubbed "Burger-Highlife", has had a lasting influence of highlife music worldwide.

[http://www.goethe.de/burger-highlife Burger-Highlife webproject of the Goethe-Institut in Accra/Ghana]