The Queen of Highlife. A Ghanaian diplomat. A fashion icon. A cultural influencer. A multi Instrumentalist and a powerful vocalist. These are the attributes that describe the talented Asabea Cropper - the woman who championed highlife outside the shores of Ghana.
Sixty years ago only a handful of Ghanaian women appeared on stages to perform. In the mid-1950s, only two women namely Agnes Aryitey and Julie Okine, stood out as active contributors to Ghanaian music. They were both members of E. T. Mensah’s Tempos band. This progressed during the 1960s and 1970s when the likes of Joana Okang, Lola Everett, Charlotte Dada, and Asabea Cropper appeared on the scene and became trailblazers. Although women have played roles in contemporary popular music bands in Ghana, their significance has not been documented over the past years.
From the late 80s into the 90s, it became common through highlife, to see women actively involved in music on and off stage. One woman who stood out during the peak of highlife music was Asabea Cropper. Her sound was unique, soothing, and powerful. Due to the male dominance at the time, her distinctive melodic vocals transcended beyond the shores of Ghana. Famous for songs like “womaya”, “emma”, ”yehowah” and many more, Asabea introduced a new sound to the highlife genre that kept music lovers marveling anytime she took the stage.
"Growing up, a young Asabea would casually sing at home while her older brother played percussion. He had a knack for playing a variety of instruments, making him the first professional musician in the family"
Born into a family of many talents, Eugenia Asabea Cropper was gifted with a sensational voice and a passion for singing. Her older brother, also known in music circles as Kenteman, played an instrumental role in nurturing her ability to sing. Growing up, a young Asabea would casually sing at home while her older brother played percussion. He had a knack for playing a variety of instruments, making him the first professional musician in the family. He was an integral member of the band Quesera which was established in the early 70s.
This was the era where the performance framework of highlife big bands and guitar bands around the 1950s and 1960s constituted what was later termed the ‘Classic highlife’ style. This style emphasized a higher degree of Ghanaian/African nationalism as it gained prominence around the era of the country's independence.
Asabea recounts her introduction to professional music in 1975 when she was invited to Lome in Togo by her brother who was on tour with his band. Upon arrival, she went to the site where they were rehearsing. Sitting in a corner waiting for the rehearsals to be over, she sang along with the band. The superiority in her voice couldn’t go unnoticed and was invited by the band leader to rehearse with them. Her vocal power astonished everyone and later joined them in subsequent performances. It was at this moment that Asabea’s music career took off.
Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, the highlife music scene undertook a new shape, a musical revolution comprising the trans-enculturation of highlife, afro-beat, afro-rock, and afro-jazz. Hence, instruments such as guitar(acoustic/electric), percussion (local/Western), wind (trumpet, trombone, and saxophones), bass (acoustic/electric), and electric keyboards (organ/piano) became the standard resources for highlife music performance.
For this reason, Asabea was tutored by her Grandma to play a wide range of musical instruments. She plays the soprano saxophone, the bass guitar, the acoustic guitar, and the piano including other percussion instruments.
She spent the majority of her early days performing highlife in Francophone West African countries i.e Côte d’Ivoire and Togo. As such, her music is very popular there. Asaba rubbed shoulders with highlife legends such as Roger Damawuzan, Dk Pilo, and Akofa Akoussah whilst in Togo. Her song “womaya” which means “we are going to the promised land” is one of her most celebrated songs across the continent.
Asabea recounted a moment in her career when she shared the same stage with her “mother in music”, Mariam Makeba. In 1983 at the Hotel Ivoire, she performed “La grande repatrise” together with Mariam Makeba. This was a full circle moment because that was the song she was asked to sing when she joined her brother’s band to rehearse for the first time. She also mentions that Mariam Makeeba would always reference Kwame Nkrumah whenever she saw her in a Kente. It is perceived as one of the reasons why she is always seen fully draped in Kente and a big advocate for Kente.
"It is no surprise that she exhibits stints of a strong fashion sense in her style. Her influence on Kente goes as far back as the ’80s when the first textile print of Kente launched in the Ivory Coast was named after her (Pine du Asabea)."
As a woman of style, her influence goes beyond music. Growing up, Asabea loved to sew. She had a knack for it from a tender age. It is no surprise that she exhibits stints of a strong fashion sense in her style. Her influence on Kente goes as far back as the ’80s when the first textile print of Kente launched in the Ivory Coast was named after her (Pine du Asabea). Her popular head wrap was influenced by her grandmother, Maa Adobea Bako whom she was heavily influenced by.
Asabea’s music became popular in Ghana in the ’90s. Her headgear wrap (tekuwa) and love for Kente made her stand out as a fashion icon in the early 90s. She inspired many women to venture into the music scene at a time when it was almost a taboo. Today, however, there are thousands of women singers and recording artists who have entered the music profession. As the years go by, there has been an increase in the numerical presence of women in the popular music industry of Ghana. Several documented sources have revealed the active participation of women in the formation of bands in Ghana in the past decade.
In 2018, she released a single titled ‘hye Ghana Kente’- urging Ghanaians to patronise the Kente brand. She strongly advocates decent dressing and believes women should not expose their bodies in public. She says their bodies are sacred and should only be seen by their partners. Asabea identifies some challenges in the music industry as profanity and unclean lyrics. She expresses her worry about the lack of depth in the message being sent across in the music. She urges all artists to make songs that have an impact on the listener and can last for a lifetime.
Written & Researched by Paapa Quaicoe
Paapa is an aspiring badass creative marketing strategist. He loves coming up with ideas and exploring new ways of doing things. He has a strong interest in art, photography and creative content. If there’s any opportunity to contribute to the culture, sign him up because that’s what he lives for.