Music Art and Militarism in the 19th Century Yorubaland

Aboyeji, Adeniyi Justus

Music Art and Militarism in the 19th Century Yorubaland

dc.contributor.author	Aboyeji, Adeniyi Justus
dc.date.accessioned	2023-03-14T07:57:28Z
dc.date.available	2023-03-14T07:57:28Z
dc.date.issued	2019
dc.description.abstract	The need for Africans to unswervingly resist every mechanism put in place to displace and dispel her rich cultural heritage, particularly indigenous music, under whatever guise of euroentricism, be it civilization, Christianity or modernity, is palpable. Extant researches abound which clearly reveal that the indigenous African culture has remained precariously embattled and endangered by Eurocentric bigotry over the years. Indeed, Africans had been copiously described as ‘atheistic’, ‘heathen’, ‘primitive’, ‘pagan’, ‘idolatrous’, ‘savage’, ‘deusremotus’, ‘deusincertus’ or ‘deusabconditus’. These descriptions outside their etymological context, are however, not more than mere errors of terminology. Afrocentric subscription to this indoctrination, is however even more dismal. This paper argues that the chauvinism against indigenous African culture generally and music specifically is only a display of their depth of ignorance and myopic parochialism vis-à-vis the usage and efficacy of indigenous music. This paper therefore brings to limelight the place of music in militarism and/or warfare; revealing among other findings that dance, drums and music function at multifarious levels including warfare and military purposes. The place of music in militarism, as expounded in this paper, included though not limited to: kinaesthetic-dynamo art, innervating and enervating, psychological catharsis, relaying intelligence, mimicry, reinforcement, psycho-spiritual and technical advisory role. It concludes that music, which undoubtedly is an aspect of culture, and a universal phenomenon, played a central and dynamic role in Yoruba militarism, without which the fate of warfare could remain undetermined or precarious. Music could prove to be mightier than Maxim and Gatling guns, igniting incitements reminiscent of the 1994 Rwandan ‘déjà vu’; the dynamism and dynamics of which has been aptly captured in the Yoruba dictum ‘Orin ní ń sáájú ὸtè’, meaning ‘Songs often incite rebellion’.	en_US
dc.description.sponsorship	Self	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Aboyeji, A. J. (2019): Music Art and Militarism in the 19th Century Yorubaland. The Performer: Ilorin Journal of the Performing Arts, (21); 48-60, Published by the Department of the Performing Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1595-0972
dc.identifier.uri	https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/20.500.12484/8803
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Published by the Department of the Performing Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	21;
dc.subject	Music	en_US
dc.subject	Militarism	en_US
dc.subject	Militia	en_US
dc.subject	Yoruba	en_US
dc.title	Music Art and Militarism in the 19th Century Yorubaland	en_US
dc.title.alternative	The Performer: Ilorin Journal of the Performing Arts	en_US
dc.type	Article	en_US