Binta, Ibrahim2019-10-152019-10-152018-070795-2309http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2481Journal of the Department of EnglishThis article reviews the unambiguous nature of song texts in African oral performances contexts, using selected songs from West African setting as case studies. Many scholars argue that songs in the oral traditional setting are of limited relevance and that appear meaningless. This article using the archetypal approach discusses why and how traditional songs are used in typical African settings to achieve desirable results of peace and sustainable development goals for the communities of their use. The context explains the full participation of the audience who reacts by dancing, singing along with the singer, clapping, rejoicing as it is part and parcel of the performance of its raw culture. The songs are acted out by the performer; the singer in physical actualization based on his her intuitive knowledge. The song composition though written remains spontaneously rendered as a natural phenomenon and this itself is at a super imaginative level.enPERFORMANCEAFRICAARCHETYPESMASQUERADES,AUDIENCECHANTS,CONTEXT.Article