By Ben Sabbathy
The Yoruba people of South Western Nigeria are one of the most socially diverse groups on the African continent.
A major feature that set them apart from other groups in Nigeria is their accomplishments in the arts and entertainment industry, especially music.
Juju, Fuji, Apala, and Sakara 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.
These genres of music have played a significant role in popularizing the cultural values and heritage of the Yoruba people at home and in the diaspora.
Yoruba music is known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition especially using the dundun hourglass-shaped tension drums and the gangan (talking drums).
The talking drum was and still remains one of the most iconic musical instruments used in Yoruba music.
It is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech.
With its ability to ‘talk’ by imitating the tones and rhythms of the Yoruba language, the drum brought with it, an instrumental repertoire of traditional proverbs and praise names that were inserted into juju performances often as commentaries on the song texts.
Call and response choruses and electric guitars were introduced within the next few years, as was additional amplification, to ensure the maintenance of a sonic balance between voices and instruments within the expanding juju ensemble.
Notable musicians such as Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare played key roles in popularizing the juju genre of Yoruba music, through the comingling of Christian congregational singing, Yoruba vocal, and percussion tradition, and assorted African and Western popular genres.
The earliest styles of Nigerian popular music were palm wine music and highlife, which spread in the 1920s among Nigeria and nearby countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.
In Nigeria, palm wine music became the primary basis for juju, a genre that dominated popular music for many years.
During this time, a few other styles such as Apala, derived from traditional Yoruba music, also found a more limited audience.
By the 1960s, Cuban, American, and other styles of imported music were enjoying a large following, and musicians started to incorporate these influences into juju.
The result was a profusion of new styles in the last few decades of the 20th century, including Waka music, Yo-pop (Yoruba pop), and Afrobeat, originated by Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Despite the decades past and the influence of Western-style music, it is often quite surprising that Yoruba music remains rich in religious and traditional values, language and still retains much of its customs and cultural heritage.
A good example of this can be seen in juju, Fuji, and Apala music, which are all blends of the religious and traditional values of the Yoruba people.
Arabic-themed Yoruba music genre known as were (of which Fuji music is an offshoot), is mostly played and popularized by Yoruba Muslim faithful.
Notable Fuji music artists such as King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (KWAM 1), Alhaji Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, and Obesere among others are known for promoting Islamic teachings alongside Yoruba traditional values.
The same is the case with various well-known juju musicians such as King Sunny Ade, Yinka Ayifele, and Chief Ebenezer Obey whose songs are mostly played by Yoruba Christian faithful as they promote Christianity religious beliefs alongside Yoruba traditional values.
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.
These influences stemmed from the importation of brass instruments, sheet music, Islamic percussion, and styles brought by Brazilian merchants.
In both 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.
Modern styles, such as Ayinde Barrister’s Fuji, Salawa Abeni’s Waka and Yusuf Olatunji’s Sakara are derived primarily from Yoruba traditional music.
Yoruba music has now come of age and the new generation of Nigerian music now sings in their native languages.
9ice is one of many that broke into the industry with Gongo Aso and many more notable artists such as D’banj and the late Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun – professionally known as Da Grin, whose anthemic Pon Pon Pon released in 2009 was a jarring experience.
A totemic, undisputed rap banger delivered in the Yoruba language that quixotically mixed with the vernacular of the ghetto with the mindset of a street hustler to produce bare reflections on the state of a struggling, tortured virtuoso.
Thanks to Da Grin’s magnificent run at the turn of the century, Nigerians have continued to see more indigenous rappers and singers such as Terry Apala, Zlatan Ibile, Slimcase, Naira Marley, Adekunle Gold, and many other well-known artists.
UK-based saxophonist, Tunde Akintan, created Yorubeat based on Yoruba rhythms.
Listening to Timi Korus Babe mi Jowo and Flosha denotes artists home and abroad now rap and sing in Yoruba and not forgetting their heritage.
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