highlife

American  

[hahy-lahyf] / ˈhaɪˌlaɪf /

noun

1. an expensive, glamorous, or elegant style of living.

2. a genre of dance music originating in Ghana that fuses traditional West African rhythms with elements of jazz and other Western popular music.

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highlife British  

/ ˈhaɪˌlaɪf /

noun

1. 1. a style of music combining West African elements with US jazz forms, found esp in the cities of West Africa

   2. ( as modifier )

      a highlife band

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Etymology

Origin of highlife

First recorded in 1755–65; high + life

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

highlife

Born Deroy Taylor in Cape Coast in 1936, he began performing in the 1950s, as highlife was establishing itself as the dominant sound in Ghana in the years following independence.

From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026

His grooves were sampled by hip-hop and R&B artists and helped introduce new global audiences to Ghanaian highlife.

From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026

Born Deroy Taylor in the city of Cape Coast in 1936, he rose to prominence during the late 1950s and early 1960s as highlife became Ghana's dominant musical form.

From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026

He pioneered the Afrobeat genre alongside drummer Tony Allen, blending West African rhythms, jazz, funk, highlife, extended improvisation, call-and-response vocals and politically charged lyricism.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026

Once he’d committed himself to music in his late teens, he threw himself into Idonije’s five-digit record collection, flipping highlife, afrobeat and jazz vinyls on the turntable for hours in his garage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2023