Highlife Safari

Eric Agyeman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B000007X2X
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #706,814 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ghana guitarist Eric Agyeman put his Ashanti tribe on the map with a hybrid style called sikyi highlife (pronounced "sichee"). An updated version of tribal music, sikyi consists of medleys of minor-key songs derived from the regional "palm-wine" acoustic guitarists, with an electric bass replacing the kalimbalike bass box. Agyeman was also the first highlife musician to combine the region's old brass-driven highlife with the tight new electric sound to create a musical experience that transcended generations. Originally released in 1978, Highlife Safari is a classic of the style. Incendiary tracks like "Matatu Mirika" ("I have rushed through life, only to regret it later") and the insouciant "I Don't Care" create a percussive party music illuminated by a intertwined guitars and a delightfully cheesy keyboard sound. --Richard Gehr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beautiful highlife music, May 26, 2005

By 

The Delite Rancher (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Highlife Safari (Audio CD)

This album plays beautiful highlife music. Eric Agyeman's Zairean tinged guitar really shines on "Highlife Safari." Recorded in the 1970's, it captures the time when the genre was drifting away from the heavy use of brass and moving towards using all electric musical instruments. Thus the horns are mostly used for accents and punctuation. While the African keyboards squeal every once in awhile, it is the polyrhythms that make everything sway to that wonderful tropical groove. There is enough spacing within the songs to allow the musicians to 'stretch out.' This is great party music as it is very danceable. The song writing is good and the production is excellent. Overall, "Highlife Safari" is a compliment to any Ghanian musical collection.

1. Matutu Mirika 2. Abenaa Na Aden? 3. Ao! Masem Yi 4. I Don't Care 5. Nea Abe Beto 6. Odo Bra

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a classic of the genre, March 15, 2004

By 

m_noland "m_noland" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Highlife Safari (Audio CD)

Eric Agyeman was a highly popular guitarist from the Ashanti region. Mostly recorded in 1979 with the core of the Sweet Talks band. This is guitar-driven highlife with some horns and cheesy synths, representative of the style that was popular in the late 1970s/early 1980s -- a harder, more aggressive sound than the "palmwine" and horn-driven dance band styles that preceded it, and less Westernized than the "Burger highlife" sound that became popular later when many of the musicians ended up in Europe. A variety of singers including the inimitable A.B. Crentsil handle vocal duties.