Community musical arts intervention for socio-economic development of youths in contemporary Nigeria

Available records reveal that different areas of community musical arts have been employed in different countries of the world to engage youth collaboratively and curtail youth misdemeanor with a view to promoting social interactions, cohesion and development. It is however evident from literature, which studies on community music have not been widely explored in Nigeria by researchers and stakeholders in the field. This study therefore, examined community musical arts intervention of “Freedom For All Group” for socioeconomic development of youths in contemporary Nigeria. The study employed ethnographic research design. Thirty Freedom For All Group members were interviewed using the semi-structured key informant interview Guide. The Non-participant Community Musical Group Observation Schedule was also used for data collection, and qualitative approach was used for data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that “Freedom For All Group” was established to engage teenagers and youth to curb youth restiveness, and it is a strong means of individual empowerment. The study concluded that community musical activities remain avenue that engages children, youth and adults in all forms of musical genre and talents for socio-economic development of youth in the locality. The study recommended that community musical activities in form of intervention programmes should be targeted on the growing up youth and funded by the government in the country on local government basis. Also community musical groups should look for means of enlightening and sensitizing the public on the relevance and significance of their group to the social and economic needs of the nation among others