Yoruba Music

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Yoruba music: Information and Much More from Answers.com

The music of the Yoruba people of Nigeria is best known for an extremely advanced drumming tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles. Yorùbá music left an especially important influence on the music used in Lukumi practice and the music of Cuba [1].

Folk music

Ensembles 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 (gudugudu). The leader of a dundun ensemble is the iyalu who uses the drum to "talk" by imitating the tonality of Yoruba. Much of Yoruba music is spiritual in nature, and is devoted to the Orisas of Yoruba mythology. See also: Yoruba folk opera.

Folk instruments

* agbe: a shaker
* ashiko: a cone-shaped drum
* apesi:
* agidibo: a sort of thumb piano
* bata: a well decorated traditional drum of many tones
* dundun: comprising of "iya ilu", main drum and "omele", smaller accompanying drums
* goje: sort of violin like the sahelian kora
* bembe: sort of band drum a la kettle drum
* sekere: a melodic shaker; beads or cowrie shells beautifully wound around a gourd
* saworo: like agogo, but its tone is low-pitched
* omele: a smaller, two-pronged, bata
* kannango:
* gbedu: another name for dundun or iya ilu
* gudugudu: a smaller, melodic bata
* sakara: goat skin is stretched over a clay ring to form a percussive drum
* agogo: a high-pitched tone instrument like a 3-dimensional "tuning fork"
* aro: much like a saworo
* seli: a combination of aro, saworo and hand-clapping

Popular music

Yoruba music has become the most important component of modern Nigerian popular music. Contrary to common assertions, Yoruba music is not influenced by foreign music but evolved and adapted itself, like any other type of music, through contact with foreign instruments. It is true that music genres like the highlife (played by musicians like Rex Lawson, Segun Bucknor) and (King Sunny Ade's) juju are Nigerian/Yoruba adaptations of foreign music. These musical genres have their roots in the big metropolitan cities like Lagos, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt where people and culture mix. The whole thing boils down to rendering African, here Yoruba, musical expression using a mixture of instruments from different horizons. It is a fact that Fela Kuti couldn't have played juju or apala music with his heavy brass section. Other Yoruba musicians derived their influences in Islam. It is senseless to opine that Islam has/had no influence on Yoruba music; most Yoruba singers/musicians, if not all, (with the exceptions of juju; even so, certain Muslim juju musicians such as Tunde Nightingale and Ayinde Bakare predated King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and many popular Christian juju musicians), had their roots or influences in Islam. Take for instance, sakara played by the pioneers such as Ojo Lawale in Ibadan, Abibu Oluwa, Yusuf Olatunji, Sanusi Aka, Saka Layigbade and etc. In fact, many students of history would recall how Yusuf Olatunji had to convert to Islam in order to succeed in his career. What about apala, which was played by Muslim pacesetters such as Haruna Ishola, Sefiu Ayan, Yekini (Y.K.) Ajadi, Kasumu Adio and etc. Also, it will be simplistic and, far-fetched, to say that these musical genres were only "adapted to the practice of the (Islamic) religion." This is true of Fuji, which emerged in the late 60s/early 70s, as an offshoot of were/ajisari music genres, which were made popular by certain Ibadan singers/musicians such as the late Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara and Ganiyu Kuti or "Gani Irefin." It's even laughable to hear that waka music played and popularized by Alhaja Batile Alake and, more recently, Salawa Abeni, Kuburat Alaragbo, Asanat Omo-Aje, Mujidat Ogunfalu, Misitura Akawe, Fatimo Akingbade, Karimot Aduke, and Risikat Abeawo has/had nothing to do with Islam. In both Ibadan (Nigeria's largest city), and Lagos (Nigeria's most populous city), these multicultural traditions were brought together and became the root of Nigerian popular music.

The followings are true traditional Yoruba music and instruments: (1) sekere, a melodic shaker; beads or cowrie shells beautifully wound around a gourd. The gourd is then violently shaken and beaten by fists; occasionally, it's hoisted up in the air to create a festive mood. (2) agogo, a high-pitched tone instrument like a 3-dimensional "tuning fork". (3) saworo, like agogo but, its tone is low-pitched. (4) agidigbo, a piano-like instrument; it's wound round the neck and stabilized by the player's chest. (5) ashiko, a cone-shaped drum. (6) bata, a well decorated traditional drum of many tones. (7) dundun, comprising of "iya ilu", main or "mother" drum and omele, smaller accompanying drums. (8) gudugudu, a smaller, melodic bata. (9) goje, sort of violin like the sahelian kora. (10) omele, a smaller, two-pronged, bata. (11) bembe, sort of band drum a la kettle drum. (12) aro, a low-pitched instrument, much like a saworo. (13) seli, a combination of aro, saworo and hand-clapping.

References

* Article: Yoruba Sacred Music, Old World and New