In Highlife We Trust: Decoding Highlife

Anybody familiar with Ghanaian highlife music, especially the guitar highlife is probably familiar with the "Yaa Amponsah" style of play by now. If not, its the subject of discussion today anyway.
A lot of our favorite highlife artistes started with the guitar highlife before they moved on to what the collectors now call Afro Funk / Afro pop and all such names and categories given today. Artistes like K. Frimpong, Akwaboa, Dr. K Gyasi, African Brothers, F. kenya etc all started with guitar band styles as can be heard on many 75 RPM's on various blogs, before they evolved into the afro funk and other forms of music that crate diggers adore.
A lot of those highlife artistes like K. frimpong were just doing their highlife music and didnt categorize them as we do today, there were just being creative at what they do best whilst others specifically tried to start their own categories such as amongst others:

Nana Ampadu - Afrohili
Tony Sarfo - Afrosibi
Dr. K. Gyasi - Sikyi highlife
City Boys band - Adenkum
Anonymous - Odo Nson
Anonymous Fante Coastal Fishermen - Osibi
Ghanaian Highlife Artistes in Europe around 80's like George Darko, Rex Gyamfi, Charles Amoah, Lee Duodu etc - Burger Highlife
Kwaw Mensah - Kwaw

“The basic characteristics of traditional music that are present in Yaa Amponsah appear in almost all the guitar-band music which followed it. Yaa Amponsah was first recorded in 1928 by Jacob Sam (a.k.a. Kwame Asare), a guitarist whose “Kumasi Trio” represents one of the early highlife guitar-bands. The group also represents one of the first Ghanaian bands ever to record palm wine highlife music. Asare is credited as the composer of Asare is credited as the composer of the tune, yet it is possible that the Yaa Amponsah riff may have existed long before. The short song tells the story of a woman, Yaa Amponsah, who was likely employed by Asare as a highlife dancer in the town of Apedwa (Collins, “African Guitarism” 178). The narrator professes his love for Yaa Amponsah, declaring that he wishes them to remain lovers even though their marriage is ending. Numerous bands have recorded their own versions of Yaa Amponsah, yet even more remarkable are the ways in which highlife musicians have creatively used the Yaa Amponsah riff. Hundreds of songs feature this basic chord progression, while vocal songs/melodies may in fact be completely different from those of the original Yaa Amponsah.” ~ William Matczynski [Highlife and its Roots: Negotiating the social, cultural, and musical continuities between popular and traditional music in Ghana]

The Yaa Amponsah style that has formed the basis for many popular songs such as: