MUSIC OF NIGERIA
Music is a transcendent experience, a ceremonial act that cleanses off the impurities of the soul and narrates, in its own idiom, a drama representing historical events as relating to a particular people. If intently listened to, music can tell more than historical facts ever could. It expresses the feelings of the people and it is an everlasting voice to past struggles against society, government and even racism. Known as the heartland of African music, Nigeria developed several popular styles like apala, fuji, jùjú, and Yo-pop. Little is known about the country’s music history prior to European contact, but bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments. The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of folk and popular music. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments, songs—history and meaning (Nigeria-planet.com).
Aaron Copland, a US composer once stated “…they asked, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?’ My answer to that would be, ‘No.’” (1900 – 1990).
Introduction to the music of Nigeria, Africa
Nigeria is called the heart of African music because of its contribution to the development of West African highlife, which is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band, and palm-wine music—the combination of local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso by using guitars brought by Portuguese sailors. Nigerian music is known for its highly complex musical compositions that employ simultaneous and contrasting rhythms. Musicologist considered it to be the most rhythmically complex music in the World (Music, Wikipedia.com).
The Term Paper on Music Is Cognitive
Music is cognitive Music is a kind of art. It has a great influence on our mood. Music reflecting its great significance in sound art images, one of the forms of public ideology. Music has great influence on our mood and soul. It can inspire us for doing different things but only when it is itself inspired. The basic of the music is tune and it is greatly connected with human psyche and soul.Music ...
Several popular styles which fuse native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo were apala, fuji, jùjú, and Yo-pop. These are unique to Nigeria and later evolved into different styles such as United States hip-hop and Jamaican reggae (Nigeria-planet.com).
Folk music, dependant of the ethnic group
Folk music is an integral part of the Nigerian community. It has deep roots in its own culture, since it is created by and for the common people. traditional music from Nigeria is not for pure entertaiment but rather performed to mark a ritual such as a wedding or funeral or to keep the working pace among the farmers in fields. Nigeria has about 400 ethnic groups—each with unique forms of music. However, the Hausa from the north, Igbo from the east and Yoruba from the west are the three most important because of the their predominant musical influence throughout Africa. Folk music among groups has been shaped by religion, for it has been adopted as a way to express beliefs. The Hausa ethnicity is primarily Muslim. In the Igbo ethnicity, the Catholic religion predominates and the animists religion predominates in the Yoruba ethnic group (Answers.com).
This last religion has strong connections to ancestral spirits. Orisha is the elemental spirit of this religious system. Drums are used as the main melody of their music to contact and worship spirits. When the Yoruba were brought to the Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade, in order to keep their beliefs to survive in the new world, Yoruba beliefs became influenced by Catholicism to hide their traditional beliefs. Saints and other Catholic religious figures are used as disguises for Orishas (Orisha, Wikipedia.com).
The Term Paper on Virtuoso Music Groups – Is Moxy Fruvous One?
The Game Is To Be Sold Not Tol History of Jazz and Classical Music Upon entering a modern record store, one is confronted with a wide variety of choices in recorded music. These choices not only include a multitude of artists, but also a wide diversity of music categories. These categories run the gamut from easy listening dance music to more complex art music. On the complex side of the scale ...
Folk music correlates to the ethnic group it pertains to and is dependant upon the common people and their efforts to keep traditions alive.
Hausa
The Hausa is one of the main ethnic groups. The Nergo’s of the north are known for complex percussive music, the one-stringed goje fiddle, and a strong praise song vocal tradition. The Hausa play percussion instruments such as the tambura drum and the royal, elongated kakaki trumpet. Muslims influence this etnic group since the 14th century when a movement of Muslims to West Africa took place (Music, wikipedia.com).
This influence has given rise to Hausa music which “uses free-rhythmic improvisation and the Arabic scale, combining them with West African elements such as polyrhythms and call-and-response vocalisation” (Encarta.com).
Current music for the Hausa group involves the roots of what we know as American Hip hop (Music, wikipedia.com).
Igbo
The Igbo people live in the southeast of Nigeria, and play a wide variety of folk instruments. Igbo’s rhythm of music consists mainly of drums, flute, Ogene, Igba, and Ichaka. There are also slit drums, xylophones, flutes, lyres and lutes. This ethnic group is known for adopting foreign styles quite easily and their important role in the musical genre, highlife, which spread to other West African countries. This musical genre originated Nigeria and two other African countries in the 1920’s.
For the more traditional Igbo, who keep loyal to their royal traditions, courtly music is played. They use a slit drum to wake the chief and communicate to him and bells and a drum to announce his presence. Another form of music among the Igbo’s is Ikorodo, which combines all of the music instruments while someone sings (Nigeria-planet.com).
Yoruba
The Yoruba, another main ethnic group have an extremely advanced drumming tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. The group of musicians using the dundun, play a type of music that is also called dundun. These ensembles consist of various sizes of tension drums along with kettledrums, which are large drums shaped like a bowl. The leader of a dundun group is the iyalu who uses the drum to “talk” by imitating the tonality of Yoruban. Due to the enormous influence of the animist religion on this ethnic group, most of their music is spiritual in nature, and is devoted to the Orisas of the Yoruba religious system (Yoruba, wikipedia.com).
The Essay on Mainstream Music Pop Song Groups
A line of people forms out in the cold. The tired, weary masses huddle together. All have one singular goal on their mind. All are infused with fanatical fervor. All share a common yearning. The door swings open, and at last the new N Sync CD is available to a slew of young girls. This is not an uncommon occurrence. The marketing of "music" often does have this effect on impressionable minds. ...
Fuji music originated from the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria. This music is dominated by talking drums and a percussion-based assembly. Yoruban music has become the most important component of modern Nigerian popular music, due to the multicultural traditions of European, Islamic and Brazilian forms that were brought together (Fuji, wikipedia.com).
Modern styles like Salawa Abeni’s waka and Yusuf Olatunji’s sakara are derived primarily from Yoruban traditional music (Yoruba, wikipedia.com).
Nigeria as the heart of African music
Nigeria is known as the land of music, it is considered to be the most rhythmically complex music in the World. Each of the ethnic groups such as the Hausa, Igbo and Yobura portray their culture through highly complex musical compositions that employ simultaneous and contrasting rhythms. So, if like Aaron Copland, I was asked, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?’ My answer to that
would be, ‘No.’” I believe each ethnic group has their own technique, history and meaning to music.
Bibliography
1. Answers. “Music of Nigeria” 2007.
<http://www.answers.com/topic/music-of-nigeria>.
2. Best of Nigeria on the World Wide Web, The. “Nigeria-planet”
Copyright 2006. Nnigma Inc. All Rights Reserved.
<http://www.nigeria-planet.com/Nigerian-Music.html>.
3. Brainy Quote. “Aaron Copland” 2007.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/aaroncopla136813.html>.
4. Encarta. “Traditional Hausa Music of Nigeria” 2007.
<http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461531580>.
5. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. “Fuji music” 17 March 2007.
The Term Paper on The Paper Discovers The History Of Rock Music It Presents
The paper discovers the history of rock music. It presents other styles of music and historical background that influenced rock music. The paper strives to explore and explain the rock music genres role as a dominant force of modern culture. Outline Introduction Body Rock music discussion Origins of rock music Influence of rhythm and blues Bob Dylan and Beatles Influence of rock n roll History of ...
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji_music>.
6. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. “Music of Nigeria” 29 March 2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Nigeria>.
7. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. “Orisha” 29 March 2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orisa>.
8. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. “Yoruba music” 30 March 2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_music#Folk_instruments>.
