Cultural origins Kru people | Derivative forms Highlife | |
Stylistic origins Kaiso/Calypso, African music | ||
Palm-wine music (known as maringa in Sierra Leone) is a West African musical genre. It evolved among the Kru people of Liberia, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso. Palm-wine music was named after a drink, palm wine, made from the naturally fermented sap of the oil palm, which was drunk at gatherings where early African guitarists played.
Palm-wine music was first popularized by Ebenezer Calendar & His Maringar Band, who recorded many popular songs in the 1950s and early 1960s. Palm-wine music left an influence on many styles, especially soukous and highlife. Though still somewhat popular, the genre is no longer as renowned as it once was. Other renowned palm-wine musicians include Koo Nimo (a.k.a. Daniel Amponsah), S. E. Rogie, Abdul Tee-Jay and Super Combo.