Journal of the Association of Nigerian Musicologists

The Interface between African and Western Musical Creativity: An Interpretation of ‘Yemi Olaniyan’s Rere Lo Pe

Akpan Udoh Ukeme — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores ‘Yemi Olaniyan’s composition Rere Lo Pe written for Solo and Piano. In the composition, the composer approaches creativity as a node of mediation: a point at which multiple forms or elements converge to convey the African and Western compromise in Modern Nigerian art music creativity. ‘Yemi Olaniyan as a composer draws on meaningful cultural forms – in this case, the model of solo-ensemble relationship. While foregrounding my discourse on the dominance of oral-written synergy in Africa's literary (written) compositions, I situate my discourse on analysis and synthesis, which is an interpretative performance model. I argue that all music in Africa is ensemble music, even when written to be performed as Solos or soloistic. My argument about ensemble ideation in solo works is based on an interpretative approach to compositional realisation in performance and its relationship to the ensemble model in the African musical art systems. I seek to promote musical creativity that hinges on cultural identity models in Nigerian art compositions.

The Functions of Music in Prayer at the Spring House Community Church, Calabar

Adriel Vincent Chiori — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The interaction of music and prayer in Nigerian Christianity has generated discussions among church denominations on the functions of music in prayer. Whereas most older denominations maintain that prayer time is sacrosanct and should as much as possible be devoid of distractions of which music is chief, new-generation churches accept the valence of music as an effective tool that enhances praying. Accordingly, vocal and instrumental music of a solemn nature is deployed together with prayers in these churches. While existing literature predominantly agrees that liturgical music enhances Christian worship, there is a scant focus on the interactions between music and the individual aspects of worship, such as prayer. To bridge this gap, I interrogated the various roles that music assumes during prayers in a typical Nigerian Pentecostal church. Vocal and instrumental music genres, song forms and sounds which make up what is herein referred to as ‘prayer music’ are highlighted and discussed for the possible rationale for its usage in prayers. Primary data for this study were generated from a 24-day prayer and fasting programme at the Spring House Community Church, Calabar. Other sources of data include interviews, participant observation, and existing literature relevant to the subject matter. Prayer music can enhance meditation, establish a tempo to prayer, and stimulate emotional responses which kindle the heart of congregants to pray. This study therefore, posits that prayer music in itself promotes, rather than inhibits congregational and individual praying because the character of prayer music complements prayer. To this end, I recommend the employment of prayer music during prayers in church worship.

Legal Compliance and Musical Documentation on Social Media in Nigeria: A Study of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter

Sunday Olufemi Akande — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Over the years, there has been a strong intersection between music and the social media. Research from Music Watch has observed that ninety percent (90%) of social media users engage with music and musicians; sharing or liking musician’s posts. Different kinds of music or musicians are viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as the social media have become avenue for creating awareness and advertising musical works. In fact, social media has become a platform for documentation of musical works. However, it is expedient to note that the quest for sudden fame usually brings about infringement that is capable of threatening security and morality, thereby escalating issues of copyright and fraud. As a result, it is therefore imperative to investigate the level of compliance to social media regulations and laws on musical documentation, which this study has adopted a descriptive survey design to investigate. The materials used in this research were sourced from books, journals, magazines and Internet. The study observes that there has not been strict compliance to social media laws and also calls for amendment of the regulations and enforcement by government. It also recommends that musicologists who are specialists in content analysis of music should be involved in the regulatory body.

Musical Analysis of “Mase-Vetho”, a Song by Hunyeme Afinfin Zojigbo Mase Ensemble of Ajara-Vetho in Badagry, Lagos State, Nigeria

Funmi Rapheal John — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Mase music is a popular, functional, socio-cultural, traditional, and secular Ogu music genre, popular among the Ogu communities in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. It is used for entertainment at social events, life celebrations, funerals, coronations and festivals. A survey of existing literature on Ogu music revealed a dearth of studies on the musical analysis of Ogu-Mase music. In executing this study, a Five-week fieldwork expedition was carried out to Ajara-Vetho, Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria. Data was collected through participant observation and oral interviews with the use of unstructured questionnaires. Focus group discussions which drew upon the experiences of experts in the field were used. Relevant and important information relating to the study was also collected from the Lagos State University library and internet search engines. The study revealed that Hunyeme Afinfin Zojigbo Mase ensemble is an all-male musical group, based in Ajara-Vetho, Badagry, Lagos State, led by Pa. Hunyeme Zumadiapa and performs the Mase-Ake variant of Ogu-Mase music. All members of the ensemble double as singer and play one of the following accompanying instruments, Alekle-Daho, Ogan, Alekle-pevi, Aze, Aya, Apesin-Daho and Mase-Apotin. Additionally, the study revealed significant musical elements of scale, melody, instrumentation and a texture of polyrhythmic instrumental patterns distributed among the accompanying instruments. The study documented and provided resource materials in the form of music transcriptions, thereby preparing a ground for further research and exploits in Ogu-Mase music through its analysis and examinations of Vetho-Mase.

Beyond Western Formal Structures: Music Education as a Performance Process in Nigeria

Elizabeth Onyeji — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Formal music education in Nigeria is largely a Western heritage bequeathed to it through missionary, school and colonial activities in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa. Its processes in Nigeria have also trod the path established for it from the Western contact. This has raised issues bordering on structure, creative process and methods that have been generally voiced by Nigerian music educators. Views have been expressed against the West-centric structures that seem to have disrupted the natural music education processes and heritage of the Nigerian leading to a palpable lack of progress recorded so far. Evidence of criticisms against the Western structures and processes by notable scholars exist. Significant in the Western process is the foregrounding of theoretical knowledge. This structural notion of music education seems to run in opposition to the established praxis in the Nigerian socio-cultural context. Whereas the West prioritizes knowledge and theory which drive practice, Nigerians seem at home with the primacy of practice which drives theory and knowledge acquisition in music. This calls to mind the well-known participant-observation method or learning by practical participation. This article argues music education in Nigeria as a performance process against the classroom structures established by the West. It supports the notion of music education as structurally anchored on the cultural heritage of practice and creativity as pathways to the development of theoretical knowledge in music education. The descriptive method is employed in the discourse to re-affirm the views raised by Nigerian scholars against Western structures of music education in Nigeria, while raising the notion and foregrounding practice in Nigerian music education structure.

Musical Narratives of Yoruba Indigenous Food, Transformations, and Human Health Sustainability

Olufemi Akanji Olaleye — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study focuses on musical narratives of Yoruba indigenous foods and their transformations. Scholarship in music has been conducted on mobility trajectories on infrastructures, however, little has been discussed on musical narratives of Yoruba indigenous foods and their transformations in southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted archival and ethnographic methods with interviews, textual and musical analysis. The archival sources include the analysis of traditional chants, linguistic evidence, historical evidence, hereditary, and legends. Secondary data were sourced through the library and the internet. Based on the transformative theoretical framework and its uniqueness, this study draws on the values of cultural history, object analysis, and environmental trajectories to recreate a theoretical footing on Yoruba foods for expropriation and integration into the body of knowledge. The study concluded that music and old chants are signifiers of the trajectories of foods, food production, and consumption, and how they influenced the human body and bodily sustainability among the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria.

Social Relevance of Salẹkẹ Music in Puberty Rites Custom of the Okpẹ People

Orhẹrhẹ Ẹdah, Emurobọmẹ G. Idọlọr — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Salẹkẹ music is a component of puberty rite practice (Osamo) among the Okpẹ people in Delta State, Nigeria. The puberty rite portrays maturity when Okpẹ girls are most times matrimonially engaged and circumcised for marriage. This tradition has not sufficiently benefitted from the intensive study of its music component. It has become imperative to examine the performance practice of Salẹkẹ music and its social relevance; collect, transcribe, notate and analyse existing songs for the records and knowledge for children within and outside Okpẹ land. The Theory and Methods in Ethnomusicology was adopted and the result showed that Salẹkẹ songs function as social paradigm as they are instructive to mature girls, their mothers and the entire society. The musical practice is currently dwindling going by the influence of the 2008 World Health Organisation declaration on the practice of circumcision. It is, however, recommended that Salẹkẹ music should be adapted to proximate social activities in the society and also benefit from scholarship and art music creativity.

An Examination of the Everyday Christian Themes in Ebenezer Obey's Juju Music

Tolu Owoaje — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Ebenezer Obey, one of the most popular Juju music exponents in Nigeria, has contributed immensely to the development and popularization of Yoruba Christian music among Yoruba people both home and abroad. Beyond signposting culture, Yoruba Christian music also contributes to popular culture in Nigeria and offers the space for conversation about the everyday life of people. Ebenezer Obey’s musical repertory covers various Christian themes such as prayer, praise, morality and admonition as well as Yoruba philosophy about marriage, work, relationship, prosperity–spiritual and economic. Despite Obey’s indelible presence and relevance in Nigerian soundscape for over five decades, not much is known about the contributions of his music, particularly the themes to the everyday life, social and religious, in Yoruba popular culture. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore how the themes in Ebenezer Obey’s music help to shape spirituality and inspire wellbeing among his listeners on the one hand, and provide new contents for other Yoruba (Christian) musicians on the other hand. Anchored on the theory of popular culture, this paper examines ways whereby the use of the everyday Yoruba Christian themes is implicated in the music of Ebenezer Obey and its manifestations in everyday life among the Yoruba people. It employs the purposive sampling method to select song tracks of Ebenezer Obey for textual analysis. The Juju music of Ebenezer has continued to feature in the everyday life of Yoruba Christians and has formed part of the childhood experience of Yoruba Christians and those of other faiths, whether they reside in the rural or urban areas. The music of Ebenezer is therefore, part of the elements that make up popular culture among Yoruba Christians, as well as the non-Christian Yoruba.

Music as Journalism: Some African Typologies

Yemi Andrew Akperi, Rotimi William Ologundudu — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In traditional African societies, music is deployed as a communicative device for the dissemination of information, recording of historical events, sensitization of the populace about issues that are relevant to their daily lives, as well as warning the people of impending danger. The significant role of music as a communicative/recording tool in Africa, is captioned by this paper, as music as journalism, even so, the role of music as journalism has not been adequately highlighted in extant literature. Consequently, this paper through a qualitative methodology that is hinged on historical research brings to the fore, the usefulness of music as a communicative instrument, tracing it from its origin in traditional Africa to contemporary times. The paper reveals some distinctive roles of music as a means of communication and the need for its sustenance especially in nations and in areas where mainstream media are censored.

Dealing with Challenges in Popular Music Video Production: Perspectives of Select Music Video Directors in Southern Nigeria

Peter Ogheneghwanre Odogbor, Arugha Aboyowa Ogisi, Atinuke Adenike Layade — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the challenges music video directors encounter in the process of producing song videos, and how they address the challenges. Twelve music video directors in six states of Southern Nigeria were interviewed as part of the data-gathering process. In addition, observations were undertaken on locations during production activities overseen by some of the directors. Classic grounded theory methodology was adopted in the analysis of data. From the analysis, five categories - client/artiste, concept development, power supply, weather conditions, and interpersonal relations – account for the challenges music video directors encounter. The measures adopted in dealing with the challenges are reflected under three categories of creativity/improvisation, anticipation/preparation, and dialogue/mentorship. Implications of the paper for music scholarship and professionalism in popular music video production are also examined.