Highlife music is now lightweight – K K Fosu

Highlife musician, Kaakyire Kwame Fosu popularly known as K K Fosu, has said the quality of highlife music in Ghana currently has gone down compared to the early days.

Explaining the reason for the present situation, K K Fosu described most contemporary breeds of highlife acts as non performers, adding that live band forms part of the highlife artistry which such artistes cannot avoid.

K. K who has a strong passion for music speaking on Kasapa Entertainment with host Kojo Preko Dankwa on Kasapa 102.5Fm, noted that another reason why highlife music now doesn’t stand the test of time after enjoying marginal air play is due to lack of content.

“Highlife music now does not make any meaning, it’s all about beat playing and adding words to it. It doesn’t even last for long, but when you listen to people like Daddy Lumba, Nana Kwame Ampedu, Dassebere Dwamena, Kojo Antwi and among others, you can tell clearly that they are making sense in their music. Their choice of words, the tone which they use and how they go about the song makes it classic and last forever. There’s no song from these people that you still don’t enjoy.”

He therefore advised colleagues to record highlife songs which can last forever and also learn the secret of performing live on stage to further improve the quality and value of their music.

K K noted that danceable songs are mostly perishable because they will after a period of time cease to be effective which will make the artiste ineffective.

“We are trying our best but we need to hit it harder. When you listen to my song ( Panyin di Panyin) and you pay attention to the words in the song you could tell this is music. I pray God grant the promising acts the brain to compose good songs that will not only sell but last for long.”

His style of singing is simply amazing and unique. He teamed up with Batman and Kokovelli on the Ghana Music Award winning song, Adwen’ (Suu dwe suu dwe). The also had other songs like Yaapiisi, Lyno, Twa Wa Ni, Sori among others.

His songs bear a resemblance to highlife giants like Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumba and Daasebre Gyamenah. K.K. looks up to these experienced highlife musicians for inspiration.

He can switch and manipulate his vocal chords to sound like an R&B artist in one song while he appears like a highlife artist in the next. He is a pleasure to listen to or watch on stage. He has featured on many songs and possibly made them hits and has had many hits of his one. These include the ever-present ‘Anadwo ye de’ and ‘Oga’.

He has 3 albums to his credit and he has featured on more than 30 songs. His 2007 album, ‘6 O’clock’ earned him several GMA nominations.