The Secretary General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh
The Secretary General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, has announced that Ghana's highlife music genre will be officially recognised as the country's 'intangible heritage' this year.
Madam Nerquaye-Tetteh disclosed this during the Telecel Ghana Music Awards industry event, noting that after extensive deliberation, highlife will be acknowledged internationally as originating from Ghana.
The announcement came in response to host Kofi Okyere Darko's query about controversies surrounding the true origin of highlife.
Madam Ama explained that Ghana's application for UNESCO recognition encountered no competing claims from other countries.
“This year at UNESCO, we are listing highlife as an original product of Ghana,” she noted.
“We have put in the application and we haven’t heard anyone claiming it originated from their country. We know the history and so we are finalizing that,” she added.
This development follows numerous conferences and engagements led by the Ghana Folklore Board and the Ghana Cultural Forum, aimed at securing UNESCO recognition for Ghanaian highlife on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) includes practices, expressions, knowledge, and skills recognized by UNESCO as integral to a place’s cultural identity.
Countries like Jamaica and Congo have already had reggae and rhumba respectively listed as their intangible heritage by UNESCO.
EB/NOQ
