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VOL. 10, ISSUE 6 (2023)
Second-hand clothing and colonialist-inspired fashion criticisms through highlife music in post-independence Ghana
Authors
Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Mark Millas Coffie, Emmanuel Obed Acquah
Abstract
The study examined the lyrical texts of four
Ghanaian highlife music in the 1960s and 1970s to decipher their communicative
role in giving exposure to post-independence Ghanaian fashion history. Four
classical Ghanaian Highlife music of the 1960s and 1970s were purposively
selected since they centre on a common subject matter – second-hand clothing
and colonialist-inspired fashion artifice critiques. The selected songs were Obroni Woewu, released in 1962, by
Ramblers International Band; Ewuraba
Artificial, composed by Joe Eyison and recorded by Ramblers International
Band in 1963; Wobe tumi No, by Kwadwo Donkoh, and recorded by
Uhuru Dance Band in 1966; and Rokpokpo
by Joe Mensah in 1977. The selected songs were analysed using textual analysis
to unravel their social and historical contents and contexts to fashion
practice during the post-independence (republican status change) of Ghana. The
four classical Ghanaian Highlife music of the 1960s and 1970s drew attention to
the growth of second-hand clothing and colonialist-inspired fashion practice at
the time, which the colonialists portrayed as superior to indigenous Ghanaian
dress fashion culture. The musicians raised the red flag for the colonialists’
undermining of the indigenous Ghanaian dress and fashion culture for policy
direction. The musical compositions of the highlife musicians served as
Ghanaian dress cultural and beauty standards gatekeepers and ambassadors
through their repulsion against colonialists’ fashion ideological imposition. It
is envisaged that further studies on governmental policy efforts to ban and or
minimise second-hand clothing in Ghana from the post-independence period to the
present would benefit the study of Ghana’s fashion history.
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Pages:85-92
How to cite this article:
Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Mark Millas Coffie, Emmanuel Obed Acquah "Second-hand clothing and colonialist-inspired fashion criticisms through highlife music in post-independence Ghana". International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, Vol 10, Issue 6, 2023, Pages 85-92
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