How tech is preserving the legacy of Ghana's musical founders | 3NEWS.com

Springing from a time of fierce cultural pride and intense nationalism, Highlife is one of the most significant and widely popular styles of music to originate from Ghana in modern times, and it’s profoundly connected to the country’s founding as the genre essentially provided the soundtrack to Ghana’s independence in the 1950s.

However, as is often the case with music, the genre underwent a significant evolution over time as new music styles emerged, globalisation increased, and Hip Hop entered Ghana’s youth scene.

As music styles undergo metamorphosis, the legendary musicians of genres past – while beloved by those who grew up listening to them – can often fade into the background as younger audiences seek out new music styles.

At Spotify, our algorithms provide listeners with custom and personalised playlists automatically generated based on user’s listening habits to match their musical tastes while introducing them to artists and genres they might not know or don’t already listen to

In this way, they are helping a new generation of listeners discover older but still impactful and beautiful styles of music, leading to established legendary artists like Osibisa finding completely new audiences. 

Today, through playlisting, Osibisa’s music is streamed on the platform by listeners aged 18 to over 60, in cities like London, Amsterdam, Accra, Rotterdam and São Paulo, with songs like , , , , and  claiming the highest number of plays.

Benewaah Boateng, Editor, West Africa at Spotify

As audiences continue to embrace the hits of decades past, a programme like Spotify for Artists provides artists and their managers with a powerful free tool to build their presence on the platform