The Yoruba people live predominantly in the western state of Nigeria, but there is also a considerable Yoruba population in the central and southern areas of neighbouring Benin, and a lesser population in Togo. The Yoruba of the western state, who acknowledge Ile-Ife as their ancestral and cultural home, are grouped into the subcultures of Oyo, Egba, Egbado, Ijesha, Ife, Ijebu, Ekiti, Ondo and Akoko. At the height of the Oyo empire in the 18th century, most of these groups owed allegiance to the Oyo, a unity that was broken with the collapse of the empire in the 19th century. A more comprehensive and lasting unity developed under British administration and the term Yoruba, originally used to refer only to the Oyo, became the name for all Yoruba-speaking peoples.
Yoruba traditional music is marked by an impressive variety of genres, forms, styles and instruments. While this variety is partly a result of the diverse subcultures, much of it is common to Yoruba culture as a whole. The dominant music today is that known as dundun, its title being taken from the name of the set of double-headed hourglass tension drums used for its performance. Other important instruments and ensembles are the bata, a set of double-headed conical drums; the koso, a single-headed hourglass tension drum, similar to the Hausa kotso; the bembe, a double-headed cylindrical drum, similar to the Hausa ganga (gเngแแ); the sakara or orunsa, a set of circular frame drums with earthenware bodies; the sekere or aje oba, a set of gourd vessel rattles covered with cowrie nets; the agogo, an externally struck iron bell, which may also be used in sets; the agidigbo, a box-resonated lamellophone; and the goje, a single-string bowed lute, similar to the Hausa goge (g๒๒g่).
Drums are principally used for instrumental performances, but other instruments in addition to those already mentioned are of fair importance. Yoruba is a tonal language, and, as instrumental music has a very strong textual basis, almost every instrumental performance, regardless of the kinds of instruments involved, is based on the tonal patterns of an unverbalized text.
Vocal music distinguishes between orin (song) and oriki (praise-chant). Orin is characterized by its use of discrete pitches, balanced melodic lines, and a preponderance of responsorial forms. Oriki is characterized by its use of a speech-song style of performance, and its division into ijala, iyere, iwi and rara, four types of praise-chant, each identified with a particular voice quality and literary style. Ijala is used by hunters, iyere by Ifa priests concerned with divination, iwi by egungun masqueraders, while rara is a more general type of chant appropriate to a variety of social occasions.
Since 1900 several new types of music have developed from traditional models, among them apala, sakara and waka, in which traditional instruments, styles and forms are used. Apala and sakara are essentially praise-songs, with instrumental accompaniments that are suitable for dancing. Waka takes its name from waka, the Hausa word for song, and was originally a type of semi-religious Muslim song, but it is now a more general song type used increasingly for entertainment. In another prominent new type of music, J๙j๚, the guitar and Western harmonic and melodic patterns are combined with traditional Yoruba instruments and rhythmic idioms. J๙j๚ is popular in night-clubs, and at marriages and on other social occasions among westernized Yoruba.
Music dramas or folk operas first appeared in the 1940s and are an important part of Yoruba musical life. Their style is modelled on that of traditional music, and their dramatic content is often based on historical traditions. The major innovators and exponents of this form have been Hubert Ogunde with Yoruba Ronu, the late Kola Ogunmola with The Palmwine Drunkard and Duro Ladipo with Oba Koso.
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Yoruba Women of the Drum, Original Music OMCD 036 (1995)
Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa, Smithsonian Folkways CD SF 40440 (1996)
AKIN EUBA