May

Yoruba songs serve as vital cultural tools for identity, communication, instruction, and spirituality. This paper explores the functional significance of Yoruba songs within the initiation rites of Theatre Arts students at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Abeokuta, with specific attention to the 2023 ceremony. The study adopts a qualitative ethnographic approach which involves participant observation and contextual review of songs used at the initiation ceremony.

This study investigates the degradation of traditional Nigerian musical instruments as a result of environmental factors and fungal infestations, especially by species like aspergillusniger, penicillium chrysogenum, fusarium oxysporum, and cladosporium cladosporioides.

Choirmasters are important musical personnel in the Anglican Church of Nigeria. They are generally tasked with a wide range of responsibilities before, during, and after church services. This study examines the role of choirmasters and the broader dynamics of liturgical music leadership within the Anglican Diocese of Benin. The paper is based on personal observation from many years of service as choirmaster of Anglican Diocese of Benin, and data from interviews.

Palm wine tapping and drinking, and the songs that accompany these practices are deeply embedded in Annang society. The popular Annang palm wine folk melody Atuak UkỌd Mben Inyang was purposively selected, transcribed and explored for this study in contemporary choral arrangement based on variation as compositional technique. The song-text was examined as a subject of cultural metaphor, using qualitative descriptive approach.

Food insecurity in West and Central Africa remains both a humanitarian and socio-political issue. This study explores how music functions as a socio-cultural response to the persistent issue of food insecurity in West and Central Africa. It investigates how musical expressions reflect experiences of hunger, foster communal resilience, and amplify advocacy efforts. Situated within ethnomusicology and cultural studies, the research addresses a critical gap in understanding how indigenous musical narratives engage with socio-political realities of scarcity.

Music is a global phenomenon that is integral to humanity; it is embedded in the cultural life of people as expressed in their norms, values and beliefs. Indigenous music in the church is religiously controlled and normally used to convey important social, moral and spiritual values. This paper focuses on the efficacy of Ukwuani indigenous music in the Anglican Diocese of Ndokwa. It emphasises the relevance and significance of Ukwuani indigenous music in promoting social, moral and spiritual values to congregants.

One of the most prevalent, popular, and indigenous cultural practices of Akwa Ibom people is the Ekpo music festival. It is founded on the belief of life after death and it is regarded as the soul or ghost of ancestors that return to the land of the living in masquerade form to participate with kinsmen. This is usually marked by exciting events during certain periods within each year, such as period of farming and rites of passage. However, the emergence of COVID-19 brought a great negative impact on the yearly cultural display of Ekpo music festival.

This paper explores the role of African musical instruments in contemporary music composition, with specific focus on Nigerian art and popular music styles. The research employs a qualitative approach, combining literature review, interviews, and musical analyses. The paper discusses the historical significance of African musical instruments in Nigerian traditional music, while highlighting their cultural importance and sonic characteristics.

The concept of costume in dance seems be paid less attention by the audience of dance performance. Visual arts that form the costume are seen as normal body adornments associated with dance or a mere cloth for traditional dance code. This misconception needs not to be ignored.

Existing studies have focused on different aspects of traditional drum music among the people of south-western Nigeria. These include studies on bata, dundun, agere and igbin ensembles. However, little has been done on the socio-cultural functions of Sato music among the Egun people of Badagry. This study adopted the ethnographic method, with the use of primary and secondary sources of data. The primary sources include in-depth interviews, which were conducted with five each of purposively selected Sato drummers and prominent traditional chiefs in the Badagry community.