Yoruba music

Yoruba music is the pattern/style of music practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. It is perhaps best known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition and techniques, especially using the gongon^[1] hourglass shape tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles; it left an especially important influence on the music used in Santería^[2] practice and the music of Cuba.^[3]

The Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria are also one of the most socially diverse groups on the African continent. A major feature that sets them apart from other groups in Nigeria is their accomplishment in the arts and entertainment industry, especially in music. Jùjú, fùjì, àpàlà and sákárà music are among the popular genres of music that originated among the Yoruba people. How and when these forms of music emerged in the Nigerian music scene has remained a puzzle to historians. However, it is generally believed that these genres of music originated from popular folk music among the Yoruba people during the colonial era and gradually grew to become popular forms of music in the country after independence in 1960. This paper traces the origin and the significance of Yoruba traditional music in Nigeria as well as its roles in popularising the cultural values and heritage of the Yoruba people at home and in the diaspora. It is argued that music constitutes an important medium through which Yoruba values have been sustained in society in the face of the aggressive cultural imperialism that is fast encroaching the African continent.^[4] For a comprehensive discussion of Yoruba music, see Bode Omojola's book, Yoruba Music in the Twentieth Century (University of Rochester Press, 2012).

The most commonly used

The strokes of the standard pattern coincide with: 1, 1a, 2& 2a, 3&, 4, 4a.

12/8:

1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a ||
X . X . X X . X . X . X ||

4/4:

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a ||
X . . X . . X X . . X . X . . X ||

A great deal of Yoruba drum music is based in

Popular music

Yorùbá music is regarded as one of the more important components of the modern

Yoruba music traditionally centred on 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 Yorubas did and singers were referred to in a derogatory term of Alagbe, ^{[citation needed]}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, Ebenezer Obey Segun Bucknor, Bobby Benson, etc., Fela Kuti's Afrobeat^[14] and King Sunny Adé's jùjú^[15] 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 Jùjú musicians include Tunde King, Tunde Nightingale, Why Worry in Ondo and Ayinde Bakare,Dr. Orlando Owoh, 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.

Another popular genre is

• shaker
• drum
• Batá drum:^[16] a well decorated traditional drum of many tones, with strong links to the deity Shango, it produces sharp high tone sounds.
• Goje: sort of violin like the sahelian kora
• Sekere:^[17]
  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.
• gudugudu:^[18] a smaller, melodic bata
• Sakara drum: goatskin istretched over clay ring
• Agogô: a high-pitched tone instrument like a "covered" 3-dimensional "tuning fork"
• Saworo: like agogo, but its tone is low-pitched^[19]
• aro: much like a saworo, low-pitched
• Seli:^{[citation needed]} a combination of aro, saworo and hand-clapping
• thumb piano
  instrument wound round the neck and stabilized by the player's chest.
• Dundun, consisting of iya ilu or gbedu, main or "mother" drum and omele, smaller drums, played as an accompaniment to bata drums to create a base for their sharp beats.
• Bembé, bass drum, kettle drum. (see also List of Caribbean membranophones)
• Gangan: a talking drum, has two face and use in prosody if human speech
• Omele Ako Bata: known as omele meta and is a smallest drums in bata family

Ahmad Audi Adamu

See also

• List of Nigerian highlife musicians
• Owambe

References