A highlife song recorded in Ghana more than four decades ago is about to reach one of the biggest gaming audiences in the world. "Gye Wani", the 1984 track by Pat Thomas featuring Ebo Taylor, has been named on the song list for Grand Theft Auto VI, according to reports by GhanaWeb, Pulse Ghana and Adom Online.
LADbible reports that Rockstar Games previewed the game's radio stations on its official music page this week. "Gye Wani" appears on Afro Bank FM, the game's African music station, which the outlet says is hosted by Nigerian superstar Burna Boy alongside DJ Palms Trax.
The Ghanaian outlets say word spread on X on October 8 and 9, when posts, including one from the account Complex Music, listed the song among the tracks selected for the game. Ghanaian social media users quickly shared the news and congratulated the veteran musician.
Talk Talk has not seen a statement from Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor or their representatives on the placement.
According to LADbible, "Gye Wani" sits on Afro Bank FM alongside Asake's "Joha" and "Shay'sana" by South African producers DJ Lag and Robot Boii featuring Kamo Mphela. Pulse Ghana's wider list of reported tracks across the game's stations includes songs by Bad Bunny, Charli XCX, MGMT, Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress, Romeo Santos, Loretta Lynn, Black Sabbath, Pantera and Slayer.
LADbible says the game has several other themed stations. These include Cocotea FM for Latin party music, hosted by characters voiced by Bad Bunny and RaiNao; Back Country Radio, with Lana Del Rey and Morgan Wallen; Dirty South Classics, hosted by Trick Daddy and Trina; the metal station The Chamber; and the pop station Flash FM.
Pat Thomas, born Nana Kwabena Amo Mensah in 1946 in Agona in the Ashanti Region, is widely known as "The Golden Voice of Africa". He began his career in the 1960s working with guitarist and bandleader Ebo Taylor and became one of the defining voices of Ghanaian highlife.
He formed the band Sweet Beans in 1974 and released his first album, False Lover, that same year. He later led the group Marijata. In 2015 he released Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band, an album that marked 50 years of his career and introduced his music to a new generation of listeners abroad. Further releases followed, including Coming Home in 2016 and Obiaa! in 2019, and he has toured internationally with the Kwashibu Area Band.
Ebo Taylor, his long-time collaborator on "Gye Wani", is one of the most influential figures in highlife and Afrobeat. His recordings have been reissued for international audiences, and his partnership with Pat Thomas produced some of the best-loved highlife recordings of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Grand Theft Auto series is famous for its in-game radio stations, which have introduced millions of players to songs they might never have heard otherwise. Placements in past games have been credited with reviving interest in older songs years after their release.
For Ghanaian music, a place on Afro Bank FM puts a classic highlife record in front of a massive global audience, next to some of the biggest names in Afrobeats and South African dance music. It also shows how far interest in Ghana's musical heritage has travelled, decades after the golden era of highlife bands.
The moment is especially meaningful because it is a vintage recording rather than a new release. Highlife fans have long argued that the genre's classic catalogue deserves more international recognition, and this placement gives that catalogue a new route to younger listeners who may discover it through gaming first.
LADbible says the game's release is only slightly more than a month away. Once it launches, players will be able to tune in to Afro Bank FM and hear "Gye Wani" while exploring the game's world.
Fans will also be watching to see whether the placement drives new streams of Pat Thomas's catalogue, as has happened with other older songs featured in the franchise. For a song first recorded in 1984, it is a remarkable second life, and a proud moment for highlife.
