Traditional Songs as Catalyst for Integration: A Study of Selected Ìlọrin Songs
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2107
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Abstract
Traditional singers in African societies are like historians in many cases. Themes and allussions in their renditions reveal a lot of facts which in turn proffer solutions to many issues. This is in line with Bọ́láńlé Awẹ́’s opinion cited in Adéẹ̀kọ̀ that: “Historians of non-literate societies should view oral traditions as valuable sources for chronicling the evolution of African social and cultural consciousness, because, in societies without permanent archives, creative oratures do capture the mentalities of their milieu of production and consumption” (2001, p.181). Okafor (2005) locates the authenticity of music as a mirror through which a society is viewed when he says: “ Music is a human activity as part of human existence. This existence comprises and implicates various activities in an environment. The totality is what is closely defined as culture... It is well known that man in his different environment produces different cultures.Consequently, music will have different purposes, characteristics and implications in different cultures and environment. In African culture, music is an entity rather than a mere mental creation or conception. It reflects and interpretes the man in a specific environment and is often the key, which opens the gate to spiritual, mental, emotional, psychological, social and mystic realms (pp.87-88). The above opinion of Okafor refers to the prominent roles African music play in virtually all aspects of the society.Music and society are interwoven because music is all about what has happened and is also presently happening in the society.This is because the interactions of people in the society bring about what artistes compose into songs.