K.Junior pioneers the fusion of Amapiano & Highlife on new single ‘Mansa’ for the perfect Summer jam

Emmanuel Ghansah, Ghana Music 16th July 2021

2 minutes read

K.Junior pioneers the fusion of Amapiano & Highlife on new single ‘Mansa’ for the perfect Summer jam Photo Credit: K.Junior

We find ourselves in an era where there is a lot of experimental music coming from the new breed of artists who are young, gifted and very bold as seen on K.Junior’s new ‘Mansa’ single.

Fearless in their pursuit of music, they do not shy away from trying out new things and thanks to this class, music genres have gotten very spicy and the lines that categorize these genres keep blurring out. Listen/stream here

K.Junior takes on this mantle very well. As a Highlife musician, his goal is to take this genre which originated in Ghana in the 19th century to the world.

Joining the likes of Ebo Taylor, Osibisa and Pat Thomas, he has a master plan to attain this. Simple yet complex, he plans to achieve this feat by fusing Highlife music with more prominent and trending genres.

For his first attempt, he jumps on Amapiano, a sub-genre of House music that emerged in South Africa in 2016 and is growing into one of the biggest genres making rounds with 80% of its listeners residing outside of South Africa.

K.Junior tackles this very well by seamlessly merging the two genres (Amapiano and Highlife) on his latest single ‘Mansa’ and earning him the title of Pioneer of this fusion of Amapiano and Highlife with excitement to see other artists/producers join in.

‘Mansa’ starts with a Ghanaian traditional percussion pattern known to Kpanlogo that will get you bopping your head right from the moment you hit play.

This is followed by a smooth piano melody and consistent synth which are key elements in Amapiano. Then comes the chorus, singing in the style of a Ghanaian traditional choir with all vocals harmonized beautifully.

Somewhere along the line comes the jazzy saxophone which will blow you away. The merger of these two genres is a mission that has been perfectly executed and K.Junior brought his own Ghanaian homegrown flavor to the well-received Amapiano.

By all the standards, the production of this song is top-notch and very well crafted. The lyrics are easy to grasp and sing along and the rhythm and melody will definitely get you busting some dance moves wherever you find yourself.

K.Junior deserves his flowers for the production and performance of this masterpiece. We know you will enjoy ‘Mansa’ as much as we did and smacking it on replay will be inevitable.