According to him, all Ghanaian songs are derived from the highlife sound and he sees himself as a beacon to draw everyone else to highlife music.
Speaking on the Showbiz 360 show on TV3, Akwaboah explained the inspiration behind his “Lighthouse” album.
He said that he wanted to showcase the beauty and the challenge of highlife music, which involves live instrumentation and requires precision and skill.
He added that he wanted to direct people to the highlife genre that Ghana is doing and to encourage other artistes to pick from their source.
“I feel I'm the highlife lighthouse of Ghana music. Because bottom line is, that every song we are doing now is derived from high life. So this is me trying to tell everybody that I am the lighthouse to Ghana music. Whether they like it or not,” he noted.
“I just need people to understand that Highlife is the core of everything that we're doing. So you can do anything that you want to do. But pick it from your source, which is the high life here
So Lighthouse is me directing people to the high-life thing that we're doing here in Ghana. So every song you hear out there, it's somewhat live, like, instrumentation-wise, because, you know, way back, they used to do everything live,” he said.
Highlife music is a genre that started in West Africa, especially in Ghana, in the 19th century.
It combines African rhythms and melodies with Western instruments and jazz influences. It is usually upbeat, danceable, and expressive. Highlife music is popular in Ghana and other West African countries, as well as in the diaspora.