Akokoland Yam Festival: A Resource for African Musical Arts Education

Ijesu or Yam Festival is an annual event amongst the Akoko people who inhabit Akokoland, which is made up of four local government 
areas in Ondo State, in Southwestern Nigeria. The Ijesu festival which is similar to other African festivals, epitomizes the diverse components of African musical arts which key constituents are music, drama, dance,rituals, fine arts, and prose/poetry. The research objective is to highlight the pedagogic relevance of Ijesu festival, to the delivery of the musical arts curricula content of music programmes in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. The paper is qualitative in nature, employing the ethnographic research methodology of participant observation. The research finding is that Ijesu festival of Akokoland floats a historical medley of performances, art forms, and creative activities, which can be explored experientially and practically in African musical arts classes, for the benefit of music students in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The paper concludes that although exposure to audio-visual evidence of African musical art performances is a useful approach of learning at some level, such approach cannot sufficiently equip indigenous music students who are expected to be well-abreast of the concept of African musical arts. Therefore, the paper recommends experience/practical pathways of excursion and internship as means of musical arts pedagogy, relative to Ijesu festival in particular, and African musical arts in general.