What do you know about the African music genre named after an alcoholic drink?
Palm-wine music, also known as Maringa & Palm Wine Guitar is a West African musical genre.
Palm wine music was developed in the early 20th century in the British-colonized and Anglophone areas of coastal West Africa, i.e., in what are now Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.
Palm wine music is a fusion of the African Folk Music of the region with imported Caribbean Calypso. The basic instrumentation is fingerstyle guitar, percussion and vocals, but other instruments are often added as well. Palm wine music has been very influential in the development of both Highlife and Jùjú.
Important and exemplary artists include Ebenezer Calendar and S.E. Rogie from Sierra Leone, and Kwaa Mensah and Koo Nimo from Ghana. Get your taste of the Palm Wine below.
