Abstract The term ‘gospel highlife’ has been in use in Ghana and Nigeria for a long time, without examination of its underlying ideology and ambivalences. As West Africa’s pioneer popular music and as a social construct, highlife is a socio-musical phenomenon with diverse interpretations and appropriations. Drawing on three decades of academic and professional engagements in Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the literature on gospel music by notable scholars, this article asks: What exactly is gospel highlife? How does the concept of gospel highlife fit into or challenge the idea of social stratification which characterised highlife at its inception? How does the concept of gospel highlife speak to issues of social identity and economic determinism in a postmodern and neoliberal age? Overall, this article interrogates the epistemological basis of the term ‘gospel highlife’ compared to what may be described, for want of a better term, as ‘secular highlife’, as well as narratives of its historical development. This article argues that the concept of gospel highlife goes beyond the mere idea of ‘highlife without alcohol’. Rather, the concept is nested in an interest-bound epistemological premise that reflects social, economic and gendered imperatives. We conclude that both gospel and secular highlife, just like the music minister- musician constructed binary, is a paradox of sameness and difference.

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没有酒精的高端音乐？在加纳和尼日利亚询问福音高尚生活的概念

摘要 “福音高尚生活”一词在加纳和尼日利亚已使用了很长时间，但并未考察其潜在的意识形态和矛盾心理。作为西非流行音乐的先驱和社会建构，highlife 是一种社会音乐现象，具有多种解释和挪用。借鉴加纳和尼日利亚三个十年的学术和专业活动，以及著名学者关于福音音乐的文献，本文提出了一个问题：什么是福音高尚生活？福音上流社会的概念如何适应或挑战上流社会一开始就以社会分层为特征的观念？在后现代和新自由主义时代，福音高尚生活的概念如何与社会认同和经济决定论的问题相联系？全面的，这篇文章询问了“福音高级生活”一词的认识论基础，与可能被描述的相比，因为需要一个更好的术语，如“世俗高级生活”，以及其历史发展的叙述。本文认为福音高级生活的概念超越了“没有酒精的高级生活”的单纯概念。相反，该概念嵌套在反映社会、经济和性别要求的受利益约束的认识论前提中。我们得出结论，福音和世俗的上流社会，就像音乐部长-音乐家构建的二元体一样，是相同和不同的悖论。本文认为福音高级生活的概念超越了“没有酒精的高级生活”的单纯概念。相反，该概念嵌套在反映社会、经济和性别要求的受利益约束的认识论前提中。我们得出结论，福音和世俗的上流社会，就像音乐部长-音乐家构建的二元体一样，是相同和不同的悖论。本文认为福音高级生活的概念超越了“没有酒精的高级生活”的单纯概念。相反，该概念嵌套在反映社会、经济和性别要求的受利益约束的认识论前提中。我们得出结论，福音和世俗的上流社会，就像音乐部长-音乐家构建的二元体一样，是相同和不同的悖论。