Haruna Ishola was the most famous apala performer, and he later played an integral role in bringing apala to larger audiences as a part of fuji music.[14]. He has since earned recognition and acclaim in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. An example is John Pepper Clark's The Ozidi Saga, a play about murder and revenge, featuring both human and non-human actors. These are most often call-and-response type songs, using archaic language. Popular Music in Western Nigeria: Theme, Style and Patronage. The Yoruba have for centuries lived in what is now Nigeria and Benin, where they had even founded great African empires. Yoruba music has become the most important component of modern Nigerian popular music, as a result of its early influence from European, Islamic and Brazilian forms. Awosika, V. O. 593 Graham does not cite a specific source for the claim by Sikiru Barrister, Arab World Information, "Popular Fuji Music of Nigeria", Graham, pg. Mbarga used English lyrics in a style that he dubbed panko, which incorporated "sophisticated rumba guitar-phrasing into the highlife idiom". 590 Graham claims that the word, Afropop: Apala Afropop cites this claim as. [11] Adewale was the first of the two to gain success, when he became the most famous performer of Yo-pop. The 12th Century Yoruba had advanced in art, and by the 14th Century had perfected their crafts in sculpture, weaving, and creating regalia. During this time, a few other styles such as apala, derived from traditional Yoruba music, also found a more limited audience. Graham, Ronnie. Music is also used in literary drama, although its musical accompaniment is more sparingly used than in opera; again, music communicates the mood or tone of events to the audience. Omojola, Bode. Yorùbá Music in the Twentieth Century: Identity, Agency and Performance Practice. Following World War II, Nigerian music started to take on new instruments and techniques, including electric instruments imported from the United States and Europe. However, there are also distinct styles of music used in Nigerian opera. The Hwana, for example, believe that all songs are taught by the peoples' ancestors, while the Tiv give credit to named composers for almost all songs, and the Efik name individual composers only for secular songs. The following are some of the most well-known Yorubas, and they arise from a number of different countries from around the world. This age was the Golden Age of the Yoruba. The ufie (slit drum) is used to wake the chief and communicate meal times and other important information to him. Kakaki trumpets can be more than two metres long, and can be easily broken down into three portable parts for easy transportation. [10] From its beginnings in the streets of Lagos, popular music in Nigeria has long been an integral part of the field of African pop, bringing in influences and instruments from many ethnic groups, most prominently including the Yoruba. Hausa ceremonial music is well known in the area and is dominated by families of praise singers. 591–592 Graham discusses at length the rivalry between Ade and Obey that spurred so much innovation, Graham, pgs. The majority of their population, about 40 million strong today, is in the so called "Yorubaland" in Western Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The location of Sabe, the old capital of the Yoruba kingdom, in Benin Republic, rather than Nigeria, made Yai realize early how the Europeans manipulated the African continent. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is from Nigeria, where the Yoruba make up 13.9% of the country's population, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. The Igbo people live in the south-east of Nigeria, and play a wide variety of folk instruments. These include long trumpets, frequently made of aluminium and played in pairs or ensembles of up to six, often accompanied by a shawm. By the 80s, Nigerian reggae stars included Daniel Wilson, The Mandators, Ras Kimono, Majek Fashek, whose 1988 cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song", became an unprecedented success for reggae in Nigeria. Music also plays a significant role in all aspects of village life, and it even accompanied the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean into North America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands. Bobby Benson & His Combo was the first Nigerian highlife band to find audiences across the country. [6] In both the Nigeria's most populous city, Lagos, and the largest city of Ibadan, these multicultural traditions were brought together and became the root of Nigerian popular music. Traditional Yoruba life was dictated by elected priestly monarchs and a council of other minor noble leaders. They are usually made of iron, or in Islamic orchestras of the north, of bronze. The Yoruba is a major cultural presence in Nigeria and Benin, as well as much of Africa as a whole. King probably coined the word jùjú — a style of music he helped to create — in reference to the sound of a Brazilian tambourine; alternatively, the term may have developed as an expression of disdain by the colonial leaders (any native tradition was apt to be dismissed as 'mere joujou, French for "nonsense"). Moreover, mainstream success grew later in the decade, with attention brought by early hits like The Trybesmen's "Trybal Marks" (1999) and the trio The Remedies' "Judile" and "Sakoma". A bowl-resonated spike-fiddle with a lizard skin table is used in the northern region, and is similar to central Asian and Ethiopian forms. The issue of musical composition is also highly variable. Struck gourds, placed on a cloth and struck with sticks, are a part of women's music, as well as the bòòríí cult dances. In the early to mid-1970s, three of the biggest names in Nigerian music history were at their peak: Fela Kuti, Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Adé, while the end of that decade saw the start of Yo-pop and Nigerian reggae. Echezonachukwu Nduka is poet and pianist, specializing in piano music by African and African-descent composers. Although the principal attraction of the durbar festivals is displays of traditional horsemanship, performances by drummers, trumpeters and praise-singers are an important part of the celebration  Africa Travel. Fuji has been described as jùjú without guitars; ironically, Ebenezer Obey once described jùjú as mambo with guitars. Other [12] By the early 1930s, British record labels such as His Master's Voice had started to record palm-wine, and more celebrities emerged, including Ojoge Daniel, Tunde Nightingale and Speedy Araba. The six geopolitical zones in Nigeria were created during the military regime of President Ibrahim Babangida.Nigeria’s economic, political and educational resources are often shared across the zones. Differences in politics and religion have also contributed to the ills that have pervaded Nigeria. In the 1990s, however, fuji and jùjú remained popular, as did waka music and Nigerian reggae. Omojola, Bode. [8] Following an era defined by influences from European and North American art, the Nigerian film industry evolved a unique method of film scoring called prefiguring. Resource control over the oil largess in the Niger Delta also resulted in 12 days of fighting between the Niger Volunteer Force, a militia group out to get its fair share, and the state-supported Nigerian Armed Forces. Thus, the Oyo Yoruba empire was established from the 11th Century on, lasting into the 17th Century. It usually has five or six strings and pentatonic tuning. [8] This novel film scoring technique unique to the Nigerian film industry draws upon the art of storytelling in indigenous communities of Nigeria, displaying qualities of the communities’ languages, songs, dances, and dramas.[9]. The first stars of palm-wine had emerged by the 1920s, the most famous of whom was Baba Tunde King. They are known for their ready adoption of foreign styles, and were an important part of Nigerian highlife. After living in London briefly, he moved back to Lagos and opened a club, The Shrine, which was one of the most popular music spots in the city. UK based saxophonist Tunday Akintan created yorubeat based on Yorùbá rhythms. These included Prince Nico Mbarga and his band Rocafil Jazz, whose "Sweet Mother" was a pan-African hit that sold more than 13 million copies, more than any other African single of any kind. By the end of the 1980s, jùjú had lost out to other styles, like Yo-pop, gospel and reggae. Those of Yoruba ancestry can be found in Santa Lucia, Brazil, Cuba, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Burna Boy, Vector, Reminisce, Ice Prince and M.I Abaga. [4], The Yo-pop craze did not last for long, replaced by Shina Peters' Afro-juju style, which broke into the mainstream after the release of Afro-Juju Series 1 (1989). In the early 1980s, both Obey and Ade found larger audiences outside of Nigeria. [7] Early television dramas in this era utilized folklore and songs from popular indigenous genres like Nigerian highlife as well as indigenous languages like Igbo, Yoruba, and so on. His lyrics were a mixture of improvised praise and passages from the Quran, as well as traditional proverbs. Violence and Politics in Nigeria: The Tiv and Yoruba Experience, 1982. Scrapers are common throughout the south. It is most common in the central part of the country, and is associated with agricultural songs and those expressing social concerns. Benson was followed by Jim Lawson & the Mayor's Dance Band, who achieved national fame in the mid-'70s, ending with Lawson's death in 1971. The African Caribbean fusion is one that has been popular and growing over the years, especially in the 21st century. On October 1, 1960, Nigeria became an independent nation structured as a federation of states. They have also migrated into many parts of the world, and continued on to become famous citizens of those diverse foreign countries. Also, the general rapid growth of the entertainment scene with support from the media helped popularise Hiphop music in Nigeria. At that time, the Yoruba people already lived in fortresses with high walls, and had a population of 100,000, surpassing many other populated areas, though still not comparable to the most populated city in Africa today, which is Lagos, Nigeria with 20 million people. In 1985, Kuti was jailed for five years, but was released after only two years after international outcry and massive domestic protests. The music required two or three talking drums (omele), a rattle (sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo) and a bell (agogo). A brief period in the United States saw him exposed to the Black Power movement and the Black Panthers, an influence that he would come to express in his lyrics. [4] these varieties are better-known than Nigerian palm-wine. Other holidays in which music plays an important role include drumming and dances performed at Christmas, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. [18] However, at its roots, fuji is a mixture of Muslim traditional were music'ajisari songs with "aspects of apala percussion and vocal songs and brooding, philosophical sakara music";[19] of these elements, apala is the fundamental basis of fuji[20] The first stars of fuji were the rival bandleaders Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Kollington[21] Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister started his fuji career in the early 1970s with the Golden Fuji Group although he had sung Muslim songs since he was 10 years old. Two of the biggest stars of the '80s were Segun Adewale and Shina Peters, who started their careers performing in the mid-'70s with Prince Adekunle. Cereal stalks bound together and strings supported by two bridges are used to make a kind of raft zither, played with the thumbs, typically for solo entertainment. Durbar festivals are held in many parts of North-west Nigeria; durbar is meant to honour the Emir during the culmination of the Islamic festivals Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha, and Sallah for the well-known Katsina durbar, and is sometimes also used to honour visiting dignitaries  IslamOnline. The extreme north region is associated with monodic (i.e., single-line) music with an emphasis on drums, and tends to be more influenced by Islamic music. The Hausa play percussion instruments such as the tambora drum and the talking drum. Referring to "Sweet Mother, Graham explains: Graham, pg. Religious festivals are also popular events that attract thousands around the region, and drums are an essential part of the music during these religious celebrations. Point Richmond, CA: Music Research Institute Press, 2009. They help to keep the rhythm of workers in fields, river canoes and other fields. Although popular styles such as highlife and jùjú were at the top of the Nigerian charts in the '60s, traditional music remained widespread. [2] Although some Nigerians, especially children and the elderly, play instruments for their own amusement, solo performance is otherwise rare. Ajayi, Omofolambo S. Yoruba Dance: The Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in a Nigerian Culture, 1998. Nigeria's population is multi-ethnic with more than 250 groups having a variety of customs, religions, traditions, and languages. Nigeria has been referred to as "The Giant of Africa," due to the large population and distinct economic achievements in comparison to countries that surround this land. Several people sometimes simultaneously play a single xylophone. The same period saw the rise of new styles like the funky juju pioneered by Dele Taiwo. Meal times may include pie, and other dessert foods for the holidays.[4]. Work songs are a common type of traditional Nigerian music. In many parts of Nigeria, musicians are allowed to say things in their lyrics that would otherwise be perceived as offensive. Hip hop music was brought to Nigeria in the late 1980s, and grew steadily popular throughout the first part of the 1990s. In 1893, the Yoruba kingdoms in Nigeria became part of the Protectorate of Great Britain. 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, and songs. Such notable people of Yoruba ancestry are Cassandra Wilson, Femi Emiola, Glenda Hatchett, Nas, Wale, Donald Faison, Angélique Kidjo, Rockmond Dunbar, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Hakeem Olajuwon, Safiya Songhai, and Adewale Ogunleye. In Nigeria, they are most common in the southern part of the country, and are of the central African model. Pit- and box-resonated xylophones are also found. With Africa 70, Kuti recorded a series of hits, earning the ire of the government as he tackled such diverse issues as poverty, traffic and skin-bleaching. These artists, along with Tunde King, established the core of the style[11] which was called jùjú, and remained one of the most popular genres in Nigeria throughout the 20th century. Ensembles of clay pots beaten with a soft pad are common; they are sometimes filled with water. It emerged in the late 1930s as a means of rousing worshippers after the fasting of Ramadan. The Igala tribes in southeast Benin are related to the Yoruba, as are the Ewe, Fon, and Egun. They are traditionally made from a single piece of wood or spherical calabashes, but have more recently been made from oil drums. 2000. Among the Yoruba, an iron rod may be used as a replacement for a stick. Frame drums are also found in Nigeria, but may be an importation from Brazil. Ade's brush with international renown brought a lot of attention from mainstream record companies, and helped to inspire the burgeoning world music industry. In 1982, Ade was signed to Island Records, who hoped to replicate Bob Marley's success, and released Juju Music, which sold far beyond expectations in Europe and the United States. [13], Apala is a style of vocal and percussive Muslim Yoruba music. Until 1960 Nigeria was a British colony and the Yoruba were British subjects. (n.d.). The British coronavirus variant may also be a relevant factor in … Little is known about the country's music history prior to European contact, although bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments. Afro-juju was a combination of Afrobeat and fuji, and it ignited such fervor among Shina's fans that the phenomenon was dubbed "Shinamania". [24], Afrobeat is a style most closely associated with Nigeria, though practitioners and fans are found throughout West Africa, and Afrobeat recordings are a prominent part of the world music category found throughout the developed world. It is music with elements of highlife, and other styles of West African music. The Yoruba have a drumming tradition, with a characteristic use of the dundun hourglass tension drums. The Yoruba celebrate around 13 important festivals annually. In the 18th Century, the Egba people raised a covert resistance to the Oyo empire, and the 19th Century saw tribal alliances resisting the Oyo expansion. At the same time, apala's Haruna Ishola was becoming one of the country's biggest stars. Although, very popular in Jamaica, this genre well blended genre became well known in the African region around the 19th century because of the Nigerian Reggae musician Majek Fashek who attracted international attention to this fusion. While in terms of Afrobeats there are so many female artists but only a few have been constant over the years like Omawumi Megbele, Yinka Davies, Goldie (correction needed), Seyi Shay, Niniola, Tiwa Savage, Teni, Yemi Alade and Simi.[28]. 589 Graham claims the source of the Brazilian influence was the, Graham, pg. The most popular and well-known performer, indeed the most famous Nigerian musician in history, is undoubtedly Fela Kuti. Among the Hausa, children play a unique instrument in which they beat rhythms on the inflated stomach of a live, irritated pufferfish. The Yoruba people (Yoruba: Ìran Yorùbá) are an ethnic group that inhabits western Africa, mainly the countries of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.The Yoruba constitute around 30 million people in Africa. The ODUNDE festival, whose concept originates from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, West Africa, celebrates the coming of another year for African Americans and … By the 1960s, Cuban, American and other styles of imported music were enjoying a large following, and musicians started to incorporate these influences into jùjú. Traditional Hausa music is used to celebrate births, marriages, circumcisions, and other important life events. In Europe and North America, so-called "world music" acts came from all over the world and played in a multitude of styles. [23] His success opened up the field to newcomers, however, leading to the success of Fabulous Olu Fajemirokun and Adewale Ayuba. He started recording with Africa '70, a huge band featuring drummer Tony Allen, who has since gone on to become a well-known musician in his own right. Sometimes, especially in the north, gourds are placed upside-down in water, with the pitch adjusted by the amount of air underneath it. In the past, both Hubert Ogunde and Ade Love, of blessed memories, produced soundtracks of their movies using very rich Yoruba language. The Yoruba has become scattered across the New World and the Mediterranean as well, particularly during the days of institutionalized slave trade. The Igbo also play slit drums, xylophones, flutes, lyres, udus and lutes, and more recently, imported European brass instruments. For a Yoruban to avoid participation in these ceremonies would be to essentially turn his back on his ancestors, spirits, and gods. Hausa is the most widely spoken and understood language in Nigeria. The Hausa people are the largest ethnic group in Sub-Saharan Africa and Hausa is spoken also by minorities in Cameroon, Ghana and Sudan. Traditional Nigerian theatre includes puppet shows in Borno State and among the Ogoni and Tiv, and the ancient Yoruba Aláàrìnjó tradition, which may be descended from the Egúngún masquerade. 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