Vida Rose & the Cool Guys - 7" (Gapophone)

I am rather fascinated by old-time highlife music featuring female singers, perhaps because these recordings are so difficult to come across. Female highlife singers in Ghana were largely marginalized through the first half of the 20th century due to social taboos and public perceptions of sexual promiscuity and impropriety. To quote concert party pioneer Bob Johnson, "A girl on stage would be branded a girl without morals." So, male actors took on the role of the female impersonator in the concert parties, while male "treble singers" strained to reach high, female-like vocal ranges. The few female singers who did make successful careers for themselves in the 1950s, '60s and '70s included Julie Okine, Charlotte Dada, Adwoa Badu, and Janet Osei, and these women surely faced some tremendous adversities.

Here we have a 7" single by "Highlife Sister no. 1" Vida Rose, released on the Gapophone label. According to John Collins, Rose was a guitarist in addition to being a singer, setting up her own concert party group in the late sixties. I've been intrigued by Rose since Voodoo Funk's "Big Mama Unice" mix back in 2007, and I humbly offer these two additional songs by the very cool Vida Rose.

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    Vida Rose Single









Note: Vida Rose photos kindly borrowed from Voodoo funk.