Yoruba music
Encyclopedia
The music
of the Yoruba people
of Nigeria
is best known for an extremely advanced drumming
tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. Yoruba folk music
became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music
in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles. Yorùbá music left an especially important influence on the music used in Lukumi practice and the music of Cuba
play a type of music that is also called dundun. These ensembles consist of various sizes of tension drums along with special band drums (ogido). The gangan is another such. The leader of a dundun ensemble is the oniyalu who uses the drum to "talk" by imitating the tonality
of Yoruba
. Much of Yoruba music is spiritual in nature, and this form is often devoted to Orisas.
Yoruba music traditionally centred around folklore and spiritual/deity worship, utilising basic and natural instruments such as clapping of the hands. Playing music for a living was not something the Yoruba's did and singers were referred to in a derogatory term of Alagbe, it is this derogation of musicians that made it not appeal to modern Yoruba at the time. Although, it is true that music genres like the highlife
played by musicians like Rex Lawson
, Segun Bucknor, Bobby Benson
, etc., Fela Kuti
's Afrobeat
and King Sunny Ade
's juju
are all Yoruba adaptations of foreign music. These musical genres have their roots in large metropolitan cities like Lagos
, Ibadan
, and Port Harcourt where people and culture mix influenced by their rich culture.
Some pioneering juju
musicians include Tunde King
, Tunde Nightingale
, Why Worry in Ondo and Ayinde Bakare
,Dele ojo, Ik Dairo Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala). sakara
played by the pioneers such as Ojo Olawale in Ibadan
, Abibu Oluwa, Yusuf Olatunji
, Sanusi Aka, Saka Layigbade.
Apala
, is another genre of Yoruba modern music which was played by spirited pacesetters such as Haruna Ishola
, Sefiu Ayan, Ligali Mukaiba, Kasumu Adio, Yekini (Y.K.) Ajadi, etc.
Fuji
, which emerged in the late 60s/early 70s, as an offshoot of were
/ajisari
music genres, which were made popular by certain Ibadan
singers/musicians such as the late Sikiru Ayinde Barister, Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara
and Ganiyu Kuti or "Gani Irefin.
Another popular genre is waka music
played and popularized by Alhaja Batuli Alake and, more recently, Salawa Abeni
, Kuburat Alaragbo, Asanat Omo-Aje, Mujidat Ogunfalu, Misitura Akawe, Fatimo Akingbade
, Karimot Aduke, and Risikat Abeawo. In both Ibadan
(Nigeria's largest city), and Lagos
(Nigeria's most populous city), these multicultural traditions were brought together and became the root of Nigerian popular music.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of the Yoruba people
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
is best known for an extremely advanced drumming
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. Yoruba folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music
Music of West Africa
West Africa stretches from the Sahara Desert to the Atlantic Ocean. The region's musical heritage includes a variety of popular music styles, especially from the countries of Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Sierra Leone and Nigeria...
in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles. Yorùbá music left an especially important influence on the music used in Lukumi practice and the music of Cuba
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...
Folk music
Ensembles using the dundunDundun
Dundun may refer to;*The Yoruba talking drum*Dunun, dundun, doundoun or djun-djun, a family of West African bass drums* Dunedin, the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand...
play a type of music that is also called dundun. These ensembles consist of various sizes of tension drums along with special band drums (ogido). The gangan is another such. The leader of a dundun ensemble is the oniyalu who uses the drum to "talk" by imitating the tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
of Yoruba
Yoruba language
Yorùbá is a Niger–Congo language spoken in West Africa by approximately 20 million speakers. The native tongue of the Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and in communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas...
. Much of Yoruba music is spiritual in nature, and this form is often devoted to Orisas.
Popular music
Yorùbá music is regarded as one of the more important components of the modern Nigerian popular music scene. Although traditional Yoruba music was not influenced by foreign music the same cannot be said of modern day Yoruba music which has evolved and adapted itself through contact with foreign instruments, talents and creativity. Interpretation involves rendering African, here Yoruba, musical expression using a mixture of instruments from different horizons.Yoruba music traditionally centred around folklore and spiritual/deity worship, utilising basic and natural instruments such as clapping of the hands. Playing music for a living was not something the Yoruba's did and singers were referred to in a derogatory term of Alagbe, it is this derogation of musicians that made it not appeal to modern Yoruba at the time. Although, it is true that music genres like the highlife
Highlife
Highlife is a musical genre that originated in Ghana in the 1900s and spread to Sierra Leone, Nigeria and other West African countries by 1920...
played by musicians like Rex Lawson
Rex Lawson
Rex Jim Lawson , known as Cardinal Rex, was a singer, trumpeter and bandleader from Kalabari , Nigeria. One of the best-known highlife musicians of the 1960s, Lawson took highlife music to an intoxicating peak that has hardly been heard again after him.Lawson played with Sammy Obot, Bobby Benson,...
, Segun Bucknor, Bobby Benson
Bobby Benson
Bobby Benson was an entertainer and musician who had considerable influence on the Nigerian music scene, introducing big band and Caribbean idioms to the Highlife style of popular West African music.-Life:...
, etc., Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
's Afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...
and King Sunny Ade
King Sunny Adé
King Sunny Adé is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian Jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time.-Background:...
's juju
Juju
A Juju is a supernatural power ascribed to an object.Juju may also refer to:-Geography:* Juju , one of seven districts on the island of Rotuma in Fiji* Juju , a village in the district of Juju on the island of Rotuma-Albums:...
are all Yoruba adaptations of foreign music. These musical genres have their roots in large metropolitan cities like Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
, and Port Harcourt where people and culture mix influenced by their rich culture.
Some pioneering juju
Juju
A Juju is a supernatural power ascribed to an object.Juju may also refer to:-Geography:* Juju , one of seven districts on the island of Rotuma in Fiji* Juju , a village in the district of Juju on the island of Rotuma-Albums:...
musicians include Tunde King
Tunde King
Tunde King was a Nigerian musician, credited as the founder of Jùjú music, who had great influence on Nigerian popular music.Lagos in the 1920s and 1930s was peopled by a mixture of local Yoruba people and returnees from the New World. Together they created a form of music named "Palm Wine" that...
, Tunde Nightingale
Tunde Nightingale
Tunde Nightingale, a.k.a., "Western" was a native of Ibadan, the largest city in both Nigeria and Africa. An incredible guitarist with a sonorous voice to boot, he was best known for his unique Jùjú music style, following in the tradition of Tunde King....
, Why Worry in Ondo and Ayinde Bakare
Ayinde Bakare
Ayinde Bakare was a pioneering Yoruba juju and highlife musician. He began recording on the HMV label in 1937 and is thought to have been the first juju musician to use an amplified guitar, in 1949....
,Dele ojo, Ik Dairo Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala). sakara
Sakara music
Sakara music is a form of popular Nigerian music based in the traditions of Yoruba music.It is a Moslem-influenced style, mostly in the form of praise songs, that uses only traditional Yoruba instruments such as the solemn-sounding Goje violin, and the small round Sakara drum, which is similar to a...
played by the pioneers such as Ojo Olawale in Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
, Abibu Oluwa, Yusuf Olatunji
Yusuf Olatunji
Yusuf Olatunji, also known as Baba Legba or Baba L’Egbaa was a Nigerian Sakara drum player, who popularized the sakara music style....
, Sanusi Aka, Saka Layigbade.
Apala
Apala
Apala is a musical genre, originally derived from the Yoruba people of Nigeria.It is a percussion-based style that developed in the late 1930s, when it was used to wake worshippers after fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan...
, is another genre of Yoruba modern music which was played by spirited pacesetters such as Haruna Ishola
Haruna Ishola
Haruna Ishola was a Nigerian musician, and one of the most popular artist in the apala genre.Haruna IsholaBorn: Unknown, Ijebu-igboDied: 1983...
, Sefiu Ayan, Ligali Mukaiba, Kasumu Adio, Yekini (Y.K.) Ajadi, etc.
Fuji
Fuji music
Fuji is a popular Nigerian musical genre. It arose from the improvisation Ajisari/were music tradition, which is a kind of music performed to wake muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season...
, which emerged in the late 60s/early 70s, as an offshoot of were
Were
Were and wer are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures ....
/ajisari
Ajisari
An ajisari is one who arouses others to pray and feast during Ramadan. He goes from house to house, as early as 2:00 AM, beating his kettle drum with a stick and singing at the top of his voice. This is purely a religious duty; it is voluntary...
music genres, which were made popular by certain Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
singers/musicians such as the late Sikiru Ayinde Barister, Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara
Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara
Dauda Akanmu Epo-Akara , a Yoruba musician from the historical city of Ibadan, was the main force behind the popular Yoruba music genre called were music. He started producing SP and LP records under Saliu Adetunji's Omo Aje Records label in Lagos...
and Ganiyu Kuti or "Gani Irefin.
Another popular genre is waka music
Waka music
Waka music is a popular Islamic-oriented Yoruba musical genre. It was made popular by Alhaja Batile Alake from Ijebu, who took the genre into the mainstream Nigerian music by playing it at concerts and parties; also, she was the first waka singer to record an album. Later, younger singers like...
played and popularized by Alhaja Batuli Alake and, more recently, Salawa Abeni
Salawa Abeni
Salawa Abeni is a popular Nigerian singer. An Ijebu Yoruba from Epe, in Lagos State, she began her professional career in waka music when she released her debut album, Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, in 1976, on Leader Records...
, Kuburat Alaragbo, Asanat Omo-Aje, Mujidat Ogunfalu, Misitura Akawe, Fatimo Akingbade
Akingbade
-Akingbade:Akingbade is a West African Surname which is held by a number of individuals all over the world.-Definition:The definition of the name Akingbade is “strong/brave one who wears the crown” Its origin is from the West African language of Yoruba.A more detailed origin of the surname is...
, Karimot Aduke, and Risikat Abeawo. In both Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
(Nigeria's largest city), and Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
(Nigeria's most populous city), these multicultural traditions were brought together and became the root of Nigerian popular music.
Musical instruments
- Agbe: a shakerShaker (percussion)The word shaker describes a large number of percussive musical instruments used for creating rhythm in music.They are so called because the method of creating sound involves shaking them—moving them back and forth rather than striking them. Most may also be struck for a greater accent on certain...
- AshikoAshikoAn ashiko is a kind of drum shaped like a truncated cone and meant to be played with bare hands. The drum is played throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas....
: a cone-shaped drum - Batá drum: a well decorated traditional drum of many tones, with strong links to the deity Shango, it produces sharp high tone sounds.
- GojeGojeThe Goje, is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts leading to the Sahara. Snakeskin or lizard skin covers a gourd bowl, and a horsehair...
: sort of violin like the sahelian kora - SekereSekereThis article is about the musical genre. For the musical instrument, see Shekere.Sekere is a type of traditional Yoruba musical genre that was pioneered and popularized by the one and only "king of sekere," the late Alhaji Alamu Atatalo from Ibadan, Nigeria...
: a melodic shaker; beads or cowrie shells beautifully wound around a gourd, shaken, beaten by fists occasionally and thrown in the air to create a festive mood. - guduguduGuduguduGudugudu is a traditional drum used by the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. The gudugudu, being a member of the dundun family of drums, is said to mimic speech. Some commentators think that the gudugudu drum is so melodic and danceable that it can sustain a melody without accompaniment...
: a smaller, melodic bata - Sakara drumSakara drumThe Sakara drum is one of the four major families of Yoruba drums of Nigeria. The other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Gbedu drum....
: goatskin istretched over clay ring - AgogôAgogôAn agogô is a single or multiple bell now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba music and also in the samba baterias . The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West African Yoruba single or double bells...
: a high-pitched tone instrument like a "covered" 3-dimensional "tuning fork" - Saworo: like agogo, but its tone is low-pitched
- aro: much like a saworo, low-pitched
- SeliSeliSeli is a mountainous-alpine village and winter sports resort located in the Vermion Mountains of northern Greece. The village of Seli is located at a distance of 22km from Veria and 93km from Thessaloniki, in the prefecture of Imathia, Central Macedonia-Greece. It is also known as Kato Vermion...
: a combination of aro, saworo and hand-clapping - AgidigboAgidigboThe agidigbo is a large traditional plucked lamellophone used by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Its appearance is piano-like; a rope is worn round the neck of the player who then supports or braces the instrument, whose body is a rectangular wooden box, by his chest or thoracic region...
, a thumb pianoThumb pianoThe thumb piano is an African musical instrument, a type of plucked idiophone common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.-Description:Each note of a kalimba, mbira, etc. is a separate idiophone, and in orchestral terms, the instrument as a whole belongs in the bar percussion family...
instrument wound round the neck and stabilized by the player's chest. - Dundun, consisting of iya ilu or gbeduGbeduGbedu literally means "big drum" and is a percussion instrument traditionally used in ceremonial Yoruba music in Nigeria and Benin.More recently, the word has come to be used to describe forms of Nigerian Afrobeat and Hip Hop music.-Tradition:...
, main or "mother" drum and omele, smaller drums, played as an accompaniment to bata drums to create a base for their sharp beats. - Bembe, bass drum, kettle drum. (see also List of Caribbean membranophones)
External links
- Gray, John. Soul Force 101: Yoruba Sacred Music, Old World and New
- Various Artist, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OYC79OAwon Ojise Olorun: Popular Music of YorubalandYorùbálandYorubaland, or Yorùbáland , is a cultural region in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo that includes the indigenous territory and cultural reach of the Yoruba people.- History :-Settlement:Oduduwa is regarded as the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba...
1931-1952], (Audio CD), Savannahphone, 2007