The global music community mourns the death of Ghanaian highlife icon Ebo Taylor, whose passing has triggered an outpouring of tributes from across the world.
Taylor, a renowned guitarist, composer and bandleader, died on Saturday, bringing to an end a career that spanned more than six decades and helped define the sound of modern popular music in West Africa.
Widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of contemporary highlife, his influence stretched far beyond Ghana’s borders.
His death came just a day after the launch of a music festival in his honour in Accra and barely a month after he marked his 90th birthday, underscoring the profound timing of the loss for Ghana’s cultural scene.
Highlife — the genre Taylor helped pioneer by blending traditional African rhythms with jazz and Caribbean influences — was recently inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, further cementing the global relevance of his life’s work.
“The world has lost a giant. A colossus of African music,” read a statement shared on his official page. “Your light will never fade.”
Tributes also poured in from the international music industry. Los Angeles-based collective Jazz Is Dead hailed Taylor as a pioneer of highlife and Afrobeat, while Ghanaian dancehall star Stonebwoy and American producer Adrian Younge, known for his work with Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar, praised his enduring legacy and influence on generations of musicians.
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