Modeling the Total Man in Traditional Farming Practice: A Spartial-Dramatic Analysis of Folkloric Farming Songs (original) (raw)
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Africa Today, Special Issue on Musical Performance in Africa: "Old Music and Dance for New Needs: Local Performative Responses to New African Realities.” 48:4, pp 1-29., 2001
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Musical Labor Performed in Northwest Tanzania
2014
For little more than two months, just after the onset of the first rains that routinely fall from late November to early February, the everyday rural soundscape of the Sukuma region is transformed from a state of stillness and tranquility to one of boisterous, noisy cacophony. For as far as the ear can hear, the rambunctious shouts and songs of farmers meld with the thud and clang of their hoes striking the earth in rhythmic unison. Occasionally, the farmers act on cue and abandon their work all together. One by one or in groups of twos and threes, they throw their hoes into the air and catch them, or they twirl them swiftly to the accompanying drum in choreographed unison over their heads, through their legs, and around their chests and waists.
Music as an embodiment of culture and philosophy: A survey of Nigerian folk songs
The omnipresence of music in the human society and its utilitarian stance in human life make the study of its cultural and philosophical essence a necessity. Though the functionality of music can be ascertained from a myriad of perspectives, it is often in the textual content and performance practices of folk songs that the ways of life and the general world-view of a people are exposed.
History and Anthropology Vol 19:4. , 2008
In the Sukuma region of Western Tanzania, rural life relies upon cooperative social networks which allocate labor in ways which include hunting, farming, and healing. An important nineteenth-century Sukuma association was the bayege (elephant hunters). Bayege songs were humorous and celebratory songs which commended hunters for work well done, boasted of the bravery required for the hunt, encouraged initiates to follow in their footsteps after they have left the world, or poked fun at rival hunting groups with whom they had contact. This article examines the music-related practices of this association, unpacks the inter-textual musical influence of this association on subsequent and current labor associations active in this region, and considers the inter-temporal interpretation of bayege song by contemporary practitioners.
Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: The Case of Odumu Music and Dance Among the Idoma People
Musicologist
Odumu music among the Idoma people in Nigeria has served historical, sociological and entertainment functions. Performed predominantly by male members of the society, female community members are allowed to participate in the dance as a mark of collective cultural identity and responsibility. Communality is a core community ethos among the Idoma which promotes individual expression within a wider communal space. This paper, therefore, examines Odumu musical performance from the angle of its socio-cultural significance as well as its reflection of anthropocentric impact in shaping the environment. In a specific sense, the paper aims to highlight the musical narrative of how the people have encountered and impacted their environment, and how such experience have shaped their cultural expressions using the instrumentality of traditional music and dance. The research adopted observations and interviews as field methods among the Idoma people as well as Odumu performers to obtain data fo...
Oye: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture, 2020
Traditional African music is a heritage that has been passed from one generation to another. It embodies a cultural identity that is expressed in rhythm, drumming and vocality. Regardless of the African society in context, traditional music has the timeless currency of being a major channel through which cultural information is stored and communicated. In the Manguna area of Plateau State, Nigeria, traditional music is valued beyond its rhythmic expressions; it represents a cultural medium through which people learn, are entertained and informed about the past, the present and the future. It also represents an activity that unifies the people and brings the genders and generations together. This paper focuses on the importance of traditional music as a component of the oral tradition that has been used for the transmission of, among other things, moral values, genealogical information and satire. The paper surveys the various ways Manguna traditional songs are used for cultural communication and emphasizes the modalities for the promotion and conservation of traditional music. Keywords: Manguna, traditional music, cultural communication, heritage
The Use of Folk Songs in the Education of Children
2014
Despite the fact that traditional songs are cast by words of mouth, it can easily be forgotten since these traditional songs are not written down. Haven known that the world is changing and Western songs have been documented, the youths now neglect the pure traditional songs but strive to document theirs. Parents at home do not have the time to teach their children the local language and their traditional songs. The people of Etsako Local Government Area of Edo State tend to forget that they can use folk songs in training a child and moreover, the functions of folk songs in the society. They also loose focus of the fact that a child can be taught to respect the elders through folk songs and most especially love for peace. The purpose of this write up is to encourage the documentation of the traditional songs for future learning. It also tells us how traditional songs serve as an effective instructional medium for the pupils and how the lyrics of the songs enhance the teaching of the...
In traditional African society, behavioral coherence and control are achieved through the utilization of several means inclusive of adjudication by the elders which sometimes culminates in the imposition of sanctions on erring individuals as deterrents to others. Adjudication and sanctions are, however, seen as extreme measures employed as a last resort because they are indicative of the breakdown of law and order thus necessitating sanctions which are oftentimes unpalatable. To avoid these and prevent the necessitation of extreme measures, Bakor society has built-in traditional methods for the control of deviant behavior evident in the moral messages drawn from folk narratives. Folk narratives of all kinds become the prime media for education and societal control as well as address to the citizenry. However, folktales and other such narratives do not exercise monopoly of moral rectification. Along with these folktales, maiden songs are found to be very efficacious as traditional means of ethical prescription as is exemplified in their content and thematic thrust which has motivated this research into their symbolic and ethical relevance in Bakor community which seems to recognize and lay much emphasis on their utilization. It is discovered that the artistry and aesthetics, the subtlety of message delivery and the pungency of the songs bear them out as vibrant and dynamic forms of social and ethical rejuvenation in Bakor community. They remain as the artist’s acute observation of human life and interactions. KEY WORDS: Maiden songs, Performance Imperative, Artistry, Societal control, communal cohesion, and ethical rejuvenation.
2014
Music is a specially intended sound that demands mental ingenuity as well as production skill specific to it as a specialized (specie-specific) human activity. The logic, didactics and intention of music must be of some predetermined value or benefit to man to warrant the carving out of special time, creative genius and ingenuity, as well as methods and objects of production. Every music as a human product has a life and logic. Among the Lejja people of South-eastern Nigeria, the logic of some of their music is to evoke fear, awe and other disturbing/provocative emotions in their cultural audience. Some of the music is used in their traditional setting to preserve their ancient iron smelting industry. Iron smelting is an ancient practice of extracting blooms from hematite by subjecting the hematite to intensive heating in a rotund mud structure called furnace. In this study, ethnographic data based on many years of field studies and participant observation would be used in conjunction with materials from relevant literatures. Using two songs and the music of a masked spirit omaba, believed to be the societies' incarnate being, this study would examine how music is used in a traditional Igbo society to preserve and perpetuate the laws associated with iron smelting by serving as media through which verdicts of the community are communicated to those who violated laws relating to the industry and preventing people who may have the same intention with the culprit from performing the same abominable act. The study is anchored on the deterrent theory of punishment as in this community, any time these set of music are performed, it automatically means that an accused person has been excommunicated, banished or ostracized from the community after fair hearing. That marked the culprit's final association with members of the community. The culprit, while exiting the community is made to dance to the tune of the masked spirit dance and that amounted to the judgment being irrevocable. This is because the ancestors, represented by the masked incarnate beings, are assumed to have given a nod to the verdict of the judges. This paper is aimed at eliciting how music is employed as instrument of punishment in an Igbo community in Nigeria with the aim of preserving the sanctity of one of their cherished traditional industry.