From the primeval age of Ayanagalu (the Yoruba pioneer-drummer-turned-deity-of-drumming) to the modern era, Yoruba musical traditions have been shaped by individual performers: drummers, dancers, singers, and chanters, who express self-mediated visions of their social and cultural environment. Yoruba Music in the Twentieth Century explores the role of the performer and the performing group in creating these traditions, contributing to the ongoing reorientation of scholarship on African music toward individual creativity within a larger social network. Drawing on extensive field research...

Focusing on ancient and new musical traditions, including modern African art music, and drawing on the methods of ethnography and music analysis, the various chapters of this book discuss the role of music in community life, enculturation and education, political institutions, historical processes, belief systems, and social hierarchies in Nigeria.