The genre emerged in the mid-20th century as Igbo musicians adapted the popular Ghanaian highlife style. They infused it with indigenous elements such as:

The song never dies. It only waits for someone to remember the tune.

Chuka turned up the volume. The horns wailed. The guitar shimmered. And for four hours, nobody checked their phone. They held each other’s hands, closed their eyes, and remembered—not just songs, but a way of carrying sorrow lightly, of making joy from thin air.