Internationally acclaimed Ghanaian musician, Kwame Yeboah has declared that highlife music is effectively "dead" in Ghana, challenging the idea that modern adaptations of the genre are keeping it alive.

In an interview with Kwame Dadzie on Hitz FM's Daybreak Hitz, Yeboah, a renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer, expressed his belief that the traditional highlife sound no longer holds the same prominence it once did in the country of its origin.
“Highlife music is dead in Ghana, right? Tell me, who is doing highlife in Ghana?” he questioned, dismissing claims that the genre is still thriving.

Yeboah pointed out that many younger artists who identify as highlife performers rarely use live instruments, instead relying heavily on computer-generated beats.

According to him, bands like Santrofi, who stay true to highlife, are rarely performing locally but touring internationally and serving highlife to global audiences.

When discussing contemporary highlife artists, Yeboah specifically mentioned Kuami Eugene, asserting that his music doesn't truly represent the essence of highlife.

“Well, Kuami Eugene is not a big expo because the music he does is computer based so it’s different. If you play Santrofi’s songs and you play Kuami Eugene’s songs you can hear what I mean. One of them is played with live instruments, one of them is played with computers," he said.

Asked whether music made with technological tools could still be classified as highlife, Yeboah responded,“You can use computers to do highlife but then again is that AI music or what is that? What are we again? What do we have to show the world as Ghanaians? What do we have that the world will value? Computers are everywhere. What do we have? Is it our instruments that we have here?”

Having grown up learning from the giants of highlife, Yeboah emphasized that while fusions with other genres are fine, the soul of highlife lies in the live performance of its instruments—something he believes is being lost in the modern era.