Ghanaian supergroup revives Burger Highlife classics

DW (English)

Almost half a century ago, Ghanaian migrants forged a form of music that's grown into a thriving cultural scene both in Ghana and in Germany. Mixing jazz, funk, reggae, soul and Afrobeat, Burger Highlife fuses Western and African sounds.

Transcript

00:00Living the high life in Berlin, Ghana style, multiple generations of performers coming

00:17together in celebration of the West African country's culture and music.

00:26And we've been lucky enough to get a sneak preview of their distinctive Ghanaian sound

00:31at the band's rehearsal studio.

00:36Pat Thomas is one of the most well-known faces of the high life scene.

00:41Or put another way, he's a Ghanaian high life legend.

00:43High life is supposed to be the original because of the clips.

00:53It gives everything, jazz, funk and everything.

01:02This genre of music originated in coastal Ghana in the late 19th century, but was brought

01:08to Germany in the 1970s and 80s by musicians fleeing political instability and the country's

01:15military regime.

01:19And now with access to new music and the latest instruments, they let their creative

01:23juices flow.

01:27Being in Berlin, being abroad, do you think that added anything to your sound compared

01:31to being in Ghana?

01:35Well, definitely.

01:39Because of the equipments in the first place, I had a different sound.

01:44Because by then, that was when all these new equipments have come out, like synthesizers

01:51and, you know, heavy keyboards, you know, and so it gave a different kind of sound.

02:00And that sound evolution soon got a new name, Burger High Life, a style of music associated

02:06with the many migrants who would travel between Ghana and Germany, with the latter at the

02:12heart of the so-called burger movement, a nod to the German word for citizen.

02:23But singer Charles Amoha found that putting a band together wasn't always easy.

02:29Most of the German guitarists were, it was something new to them.

02:35So trying to find them to get it was a problem.

02:39So I kept thinking and was wondering how it was going to work out.

02:42And what did that translate to with your audiences, both here and back home in Ghana?

02:49Surprisingly, any time we play in Germany, you know, Ghanaians have friends, they have

02:55German friends and all that, some of them are also my friends and all that.

02:58When they come, they can relate to the music easily.

03:01But when the music was first dropped in Ghana, oh lord, people would say, no, they've messed

03:06up High Life.

03:07There is no more High Life again.

03:11But over the years, Burger High Life only became more popular with its experimental

03:16cross-border approach seen as playing a part in the evolution of African music today.

03:25The music went from one border to the other.

03:27And then when it came back, it changed.

03:30And this is how we ended up with Afrobeats today.

03:33So I think we try to stay original, but we also make it exciting and use today's tools

03:38to make it sound a bit more kick-ass, I would say.

03:43The band is now preparing to play gigs here in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, hoping

03:50to delight fans old and new with a modern twist on the classic Burger High Life blend

03:56of sounds.

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