While some people claim highlife is dying out, others also hold the opinion that there are still younger musicians projecting the genre.
According to veteran highlife musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Kofi Kinaata is an artiste he can bank his hopes on when it comes to continuing the highlife legacy.
“With the direction he wants to go, he is stepping out, out of the yo-yos. He is sticking to his highlife identity and even adding something to it. So it makes me to know that he is musically inclined to be able to do that. So we have to pass on the baton and he is the only one I know who can do it,” he said on Joy Prime’s PrimeTime.
Ambolley told the host George Quaye that his endorsement of Kofi Kinaata as the next big thing to happen to highlife is premised on constant observation of his works and craft.
Meanwhile, at the 20th Vodafone Ghana Music held at the Grand Arena in Accra, highlife musician Kuami Eugene, who won Highlife Artiste of the Year award, was honoured with a crown as the “Future King of Highlife.”
The grand honour to him was presented by veteran highlife musician Amakye Dede.
Four years later, Amakye Dede revealed the moment was not his own decision but the organisers of the scheme.
Kofi Kinaata, is one of the younger musicians who has stuck to the highlife genre for the past years. Although he started as a rapper, he has tilted largely towards the indigenous Ghanaian genre, producing records that resonate well with music lovers of different age groups.
