Browsing by Author "Hakeem Olawale and Afolabi Janet"

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    A Comparative Analysis of the Philosophy of Ebenezer Obey’s Songs and the Yorùbá Ifá Literary Corpus
    (OPANBATA, 2025) Hakeem Olawale and Afolabi Janet
    This paper builds on the existing studies in the philosophical dimension of Ifá literary corpus to provide insights into the philosophical nature of Ebenezer Obey’s songs. This was with a view to exploring the philosophical paradigm in Obey’s songs and the Ifá literary corpus. The study adopts descriptive analysis for its design. The descriptive method engages a comparative content analysis of Ebenezer Obey’s Jùjú music and the Yorùbá Ifá Literary Corpus. Three questions guided the discussions in the study: (i) what is philosophical about Ebenezer Obey’s songs? (ii) how does Ebenezer Obey relay his philosophical messages? and (iii) what are the philosophical import of Jùjú music compared with the Yorùbá Ifá Literary Corpus? The study, which is text-based; analyses ten purposively selected albums of Ebenezer Obey’s Jùjú songs, and through comparison, argues that the narratives of the music play a mediating role in explicating social (re)construction of what homage, destiny, reality, wisdom, love and enmity mean to the Yorùbá people. Ebenezer Obey’s albums give credence to the philosophy of the Yorùbá people about predestination and metaphysical understanding of Yorùbá text within the conceptual framework of Yorùbá Ifá literary corpus. Through storytelling and use of proverbs, Obey’s songs establish questions about existence and ethics of life when compared with Yorùbá Ifá Literary Corpus. The paper draws conclusion in the fact that Jùjú music and the Yorùbá literary corpus have strong philosophical and ethical positions.