highlife en · NOUN
Etymology
From high + life.
Meanings
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(uncountable) A genre of music that originated in Ghana in the early 20th century, blending elements of traditional Akan music with Western instruments and ideas.
Anwar took the broom away from the Congolese cleaner – whose name I did not know, whose name no one ever thought to ask – and made her dance with him, to some highlife he had going on the transistor radio he carried everywhere.
2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 326:
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(countable) A work or performance in this style.
Several of the city's most prominent ensembles started to incorporate foreign rock 'n' roll numbers into their existing repertories of ballroom, calypsos, and highlifes.
2012, Nate Plageman, Highlife Saturday Night: Popular Music and Social Change in Urban Ghana, →ISBN, page 142:Then he left the stage and listened to us playing highlifes.
1985, John Collins, African Pop Roots: The Inside Rhythms of Africa, →ISBN, page 76:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| highlifes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Descendants
Translations (2)
nb high life (genre of music originating in Ghana) · nb highlife (genre of music originating in Ghana)