Music
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/7693
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Item Song Melody and Speech Tone Conflict in Translated Yoruba Christian Hymns(Yoruba Studies Review 7(1):1-18, 2018-07-11) Owoaje, T; Adegbola, TThis article engages song melody and speech tone conflict in translated Yoruba Christian hymns between the late 19th and early 20th century. In their effort to make early Yoruba Christian converts sing Christian hymns in the church, European missionaries translated English hymns to Yoruba, and sang them to the original European hymn tunes. Yoruba being a tone language, requires a significant level of correlation between song melody and speech tone, for the words to retain their original meaning when sung. The tripartite constraint of aligning melody, meter, as well as meaning, posed a major problem to the hymn translators. Having given priority to melody and metre, the translators therefore, tend to compromise on meaning, thereby producing Yoruba hymns that will sound interesting melodically, and correlate metrically with the metre, but producing hardly meaningful words when sung. This study utilized samples from Iwe Orin Mimo, being the Yoruba translation of a range of hymns in Hymnal Companion, Hymns Ancient and Modern, and some other hymn books popularly used by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). The work presents a graphical illustration of the disparity between the hymn tunes and the speech tone of the Yoruba language. It also highlights the efforts of indigenous composers in correcting the perceived error through re-composition of the first stanza of selected hymns, to which they wrote more stanzas that align with the theme of the first stanza. The inappropriately translated Yoruba hymn books have remained strong institutions within the church and have therefore, continued to promote the use of the translated hymns in the Yoruba church.Item Rhythm and musical instruments of early Yoruba native airs in christian liturgy(2018-09-01) Owoaje, TRhythm is a central element in African music. The concept of rhythm in European music differs from that of African music. To the Africans, rhythm is engaging and interactive. Therefore, rhythm elicits dance. Drums and percussion instruments play a key role in establishing a rhythm in Yoruba musical ensembles. However, Yoruba drums were associated with idol worship and a relationship with paganistic practices by the European missionaries. Hence, the prohibition of drumming and dancing for several decades in the early Yoruba church constituted a musical challenge to the early Yoruba Christian converts. Within the atmosphere of cultural nationalism of the late 19th and early 20th century, certain churchmen decided to seek alternative indigenous musical idiom to replace the unsatisfactory European type of music with which Christianity was introduced to them. They evolved a distinctive brand of music known as Yoruba native airs. This article is anchored on the theory of intercultural music, as propounded by Euba and Kimberlin, which addresses the phenomenon of musical works deriving from more than one culture. Wọ́rọ̀ rhythm is the most common rhythm employed in the early Yoruba native airs. It is based on a 12/8 compound time signature which produces a graceful rhythmic flow usually associated with Yoruba aristocracy and royalty. The musical instruments employed by the three selected composers are intercultural, which cuts across the four classes of musical instruments used in African ensembles, as well as those utilized in European church music.Item ‘Orin Ori-Oke’: A thematic examination of songs used in Ikoyi prayer mountains, Osun State, Nigeria(Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group, 2018) Samuel, K. M.; Ajose, T. S.Prayer Mountaineering is a dominant religious activity practised by Christians in Africa; it represents a culture of setting apart specific spaces such as groves, thick forests, hilly places and mountains, river banks and so forth by African Indigenous Churches (AICs) for spiritual exercises. Prayer Mountains were peculiar places where founders of many AICs encountered divine interactions and over time have become places where a myriad of religious activities, including observance of prescribed period of seclusions, offering of special prayers and related activities take place. There is a proliferation of Prayer Mountains in Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states. While religious, social and economic activities of Prayer Mountains have received scholarly investigation, no known study has examined their musical activities. This study, therefore, investigates the musico-cultural practices taking place in Ikoyi Prayer Mountains, Osun State, Nigeria, using ethnographic research approach. It also identified thematic orientations and attendant dynamics embedded in the song texts. Songs were musically represented using Sibelius 7.5 music notation software and data subjected to content analysisItem Social discourse in the songs used at Ede prayer mountain, Osun State, Nigeria(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, 2018-06) Ajose, T. S.Studies have discussed the significance of traditional and contemporary songs and prayers in various religious domains across cultures. What we sing and/or pray about is to a very large extent socially constructed since prayer and music have communicative roles, especially in a religious context. Existing studies have focused attention on the spiritual constructs of songs and prayers but adequate attention has not been paid to the social implications of the songs used in Christian worship, particularly in non- conventional church spaces such as prayer mountains. This study investigates various social discourses in the songs used at Ede Prayer Mountain, Osun State. Nigeria, using the social constructionism as theoretical framework. Through ethnomusicological method of data collection, interviews were conducted with eight purposively selected participants at Ede Prayer Mountain. Also, songs recorded during the study were content analysed with the purpose of highlighting various social narratives in the songs. The study, concludes that the songs used at Ede Prayer Mountain are not purely religious in their discourse but to a large extent are entwined with social commentaryItem Performance practices in the music of the Aganyin people of Badagry, Lagos(2018) Ajose, T. S.One of the factors responsible for cultural dynamism is acculturation which is engendered by cultural interactions over a period of time. Music, a cultural product in African society is functional as it performs social, historic, linguistic and religious roles to mention a few. This paper examines the ethnography of the Aganyin people in Badagry with a view to highlight the various performance practices in the music of the Aganyin. Using qualitative method as tool of enquiry, this study reveals the various modes of recruiting and training of musicians in Aganyin Community. Structural analysis of some selected Aganyin songs were done based on their scale System, tonality, harmony, texture and form. Data for this study were gathered through interview, Observation, archival materials, library and internet materialsItem Bunuzdogbe musical tradition among the Aganyin of Lagos, Nigeria(The Department of Music Faculty of Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, 2016) Ajose, T. S.The Aganyin of Lagos are immigrants from then Gold Coast now Ghana into Nigeria and they have largely settled around the Coastal areas of Badagry Local Government in Lagos State since around the 16th Century. Given the dearth of studies on the socio-cultural practices of the Aganyin, particularly their music, this paper examines the musical tradition among the Aganyin of Lagos. Participant observation and In- depth Interview were used to collect data for the study. This study reveals that bunudzogbe music, a social music, is characterized by three musical movements during performance. Afahun with moderately fast tempo is the opening movement, and it takes the form of songs of praise and prayer. Gbaja is the second movement. It is very fast and involves full participation. Its lyrics are satirical, and they contain warnings and social Sentiments. The last movement, Ageshe, has a moderate tempo. This paper concludes that bunudzogbe musical tradition fosters social bonding among the Aganyin and enhances inter- culturality with their host Community