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,

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 special band drums (ogido). The gangan is another such. The leader of a dundun ensemble is the oniyalu who uses the drum to “talk” by imitating the tonality of Yoruba. Much of Yoruba music is spiritual in nature, and this form is often devoted to Orisas.

Rhythmic structure#

The most commonly used key pattern, or guide pattern in traditional Yoruba drumming is the seven-stroke figure known in ethnomusicology as the standard pattern. The standard pattern is expressed in both a triple-pulse (12/8 or 6/8) and a duple-pulse (4/4 or 2/2) structure. The standard pattern is often sounded on an iron bell. 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 cross rhythm. The following example shows the five-stroke form of the standard pattern (known as clave in Afro-Latin music) on the kagano dundun drum (top line). The dunduns on the second and third lines sound an embellishment of the three-over-four (3:4) cross-rhythm—expressed as three pairs of strokes against four pairs of strokes.

Popular music#

Yorùbá music is a huge part of Nigeria’s popular music today. While the old traditional style stayed original, modern Yorùbá music has changed over time by mixing in foreign instruments and new creative ideas from around the world.This means playing African music—specifically Yorùbá music—using a mix of instruments from all over the world. Yoruba music traditionally centred on folklore and spiritual/deity worship, utilising basic and natural instruments such as clapping of the hands. Alagbe identifies a praise singer often from a family entrusted with sacred music, praise chanting, and ceremonial mediation. 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 and King Sunny Adé’s jùjú 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. Many famous artists helped start Jùjú music, such as Tunde King, Tunde Nightingale, Why Worry in Ondo, Ayinde Bakare, Dr. Orlando Owoh, Dele Ojo, IK Dairo, and Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala). At the same time, Sakara music was led by early players like Ojo Olawale in Ibadan, Abibu Oluwa, Yusuf Olatunji, Sanusi Aka, and Saka Layigbade. Apala is another modern Yoruba style made popular by energetic leaders like Haruna Ishola, Sefiu Ayan, Ligali Mukaiba, Kasumu Adio, and Yekini (Y.K.) Ajadi. Fuji music began in the late 60s and early 70s; it grew out of the “were” and “ajisari” styles and was made famous by Ibadan singers like Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara, and Ganiyu Kuti (Gani Irefin). Waka music is also very popular, thanks to Alhaja Batile Alake and others like Salawa Abeni, Kuburat Alaragbo, Asanat Omo-Aje, Mujidat Ogunfalu, Misitura Akawe, Fatimo Akingbade, Karimot Aduke, and Risikat Abeawo. In the big cities of Ibadan and Lagos, all these different styles came together to create the start of Nigerian popular music.

Musical instruments#

Agbe: a shaker
Ashiko: a cone-shaped drum
Batá drum: 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: 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: 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
aro: much like a saworo, low-pitched
Seli: a combination of aro, saworo and hand-clapping
Agidigbo, a 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