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NIGERIAN COMPOSERS AND THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL IDENTITY

Arugha Aboyowa O.

ABSTRACT

Art music in Nigeria has its antecedence in the ideals and ideas of Western art music as expressed in the works of the acclaimed composers of that tradition. Colonial music education in Nigeria succeeded in disorienting the beneficiaries and supplanted their natural creative urge with those of the western tradition a process that converted them into mere imitators of the composers of the western tradition. However Nigerian composers soon realized the futility in this blind imitation, and the need to carve a niche and a racial identity in a world that in increasingly becoming westernly global so that their uniqueness as a people is preserved. In the search for identity and relevance they turned to their musical heritage for inspiration and techniques which is evident in the titles of their compositions, the use of Nigerian texts, settings of traditional melodies, and some elements of African music such as tonal constructs, melodic sequencing, pentatonic configurations, antiphony, ostinato, melodic parallelisms, instrumentation and instrumental ensemble formats, bi-partite voice leading techniques. It is from this process that a truly Nigerian art music tradition will evolve.

INTRODUCTION

The contact of Nigerians with western civilization introduced new cultural expressions in music, religion, architecture, dance, and the visual arts, among others. With regards to music church music was the first to be introduced, which was closely followed by western art music, and later popular music. Church music came in the form of hymns, canticles and anthems following the introduction of Christianity in southwestern Nigeria in the early 1840s.i Much later in the 1850s art music was introduced in Lagos via the first concerts held in 1861 by The Academy, a socio-cultural association founded in 1866, to promote European art music. Apart from the Academy, other societies were equally instrumental to the establishing of art music in Nigeria: the Anglo-African, Lagos Grammar School Entertainment Society, (founded 1872), the Philharmonia (founded 1873), the Lagos Espirit de Corps (founded 1876), the Brazilian Dramatic Company, the Methodist Boys Entertainment Society (founded 1880), the Mechanics Dramatic Association (founded 1884). The Sierra Leonian (Saro) and Brazillian (Maro) elite émigré who were mostly civil servants, merchants or trades men were the moving forces in these associations. As these associations were elitist in nature so were their concerts, which were also foreign in concept and repertory. The concerts were taken as a showcase the best in music, which,

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in the sensibilities and cultural theories of the time, European art music epitomized. For racially based and biased theories such as evolutionism had placed European art music higher than any other type of music while African music was rudimentary. In fact it was referred to as primitive music and surviving vestiges of the trappings of the early stages of the development of man. The concert repertoire consisted of mainly works by European composers. The sensibilities of Victorian times did not permit the performance of indigenous materials. According to Omojola (1995:14) ‘Traditional Nigerian pieces were rarely performed even though most of the performers were African’. So in these concerts, African music was not included. The concerts, therefore, could not have had any impact on the generality of the indigenous Lagosians because their traditional music was their main musical menu.

Repertory apart the concerts were also held along social class to the extent that the ordinary Yoruba could not afford the expense of the entry tickets even if they so desired. This was an era where to be or act European was to be civilized. The Saro in an effort to be European aped the European mannerisms and ‘deluded’ themselves in expecting to be treated as ‘black white men’ (Ayandele 1974:9). This social expectation was consequent on the fact that many of them had studied in England and were as qualified as their white counterpart while others has their social status from their position in the civil servant or as wealthy merchants. But this was not to be, for the whites did not accord them the respect they thought they deserved or had earned. For a while there was seething misgivings between the whites and Saro. The ill feelings of the Saro came to the fore when the whites apposed the consecration of Samuel Ajayi Crowther as Bishop because of the racial prejudice of the white missionaries. For the whites felt that is was anathema for a black man to superintend over whites. This issue brought to the fore other misgivings of the black elite class and forged the Saro and the indigenous blacks in a united stand against whites domination. Consequent upon this the Saro began to shed the trappings of European civilization and took pride in their African heritage. The discontent was so severe that by 1881 there was a call for the establishment of an African church which occurred in the 1888, 1981, 1901, 1917 schisms in the Church and the emergence of the Independent African churches in Nigeria.

In general a movement had begun, an African awakening, it was initially a cultural nationalism which practiced and promoted things African expressed in name change from European to African, wearing of African clothes, eating of African food etc. Music was no less important in the cultural renaissance. In the independent churches African music, and musical instruments and dancing, which had hitherto being branded fetish and banned were admitted and used freely. While European hymns, anthems, canticles, were not totally discarded efforts were made to create an African hymnody, an effort that was eventually christened native airs for lack of a better terminology. The native air is a synthesis of Europeans and African idiomatic features. Although the phenomenon initially occurred in

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Lagos it spread across the southern churches and indeed the Nigerian church and this become a veritable legacy from the Nigerian church to Christendom and a precursor to Nigerian literary art music.

Literary art music composition earnestly began with T. K. E. Phillips about the early 1920s followed by the next generation of composers such as Ikoli Harcourt-White and Fela Sowande. In the 1950s, a second generation of Nigerian composers emerged most of who had studied western art music in the United Kingdom in the early 1950s. In 1965 the University of Nigeria, Nsukka produced her first set of music graduates and this was the beginning of the local production of music diplomats and graduates. With other departments of music or programs opened at Universities at Ile-Ife, Lagos, Abraka, Ibadan, Awka, the number of music graduates in Nigeria began to increase. Despite this numerical growth the formal music education establishment is yet to create a musical identity, as is the case in the Nigerian visual art, which has the Nsukka School, Zaria School and Ife School. It is pertinent to note that apart from the close and small circles of music dilettante, Nigerian literary art music is largely unknown to the Nigerian society because of the crucial question of the inability of Nigerian composers to create a musical identity. From hindsight it is widely known that one of the ways through which a composer can create a nationalistic identity is by employing musical elements from the traditional music of his country. Nigerian composers have attempted this with varying levels of success. This is not a mere coincidence but the consequence of a rising nationalism propelled by the need for relevance and a search for identity.

As regards nationalistic elements in their works, which may be stylistic, or /and idiomatic Nigerian composers/music fall into three main groups: Works that

(a) Modeled after European musical forms and structures.

(b) Blend European and African forms and structures.

(c) Based on African forms and structures, style and sensibilities.

The three models above could be regarded as the traditional, the syncretic and the experimental approaches of Nigerian composers. Right from the inception of art music composition in Nigeria, Nigerian composers have in their works been concerned about creating music that reflect their African identity wherein they become innovative resulting in what Akpabot (1986:102) calls ‘new sound’. But how was this done? This paper aims at isolating, through score study, those African compositional techniques and idioms and that the Nigerian literary art music composers have employed in an effort to create an African identity in their works.

These aspects of the topic: ‘African idioms’, ‘Nigerian Composer’, ‘art music’ and ‘composers’, needs clarification. As used here African idioms means those structural and formal features that are inherent in African

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music, while ‘Nigerian art composers’ is a literary creative musician which is not only Nigerian by nationality but grew up in the cultural milieu and had received formal training in western art music. What is art music? Amu as quoted by Omojola (1995:6) defines art music as the music type where ‘a great deal of attention is given to the technical or artistic interest of the piece as a focus of aesthetic enjoyment.’ The paper assumes that Nigerian art composers create from a paradigm that is not African and they have to make a conscious effort to make their music acceptable to the Nigerian society. The issue being that his music is foreign which s/he is trying or struggling to localize.

In a topic such as this the conclusion must derived from the result of analyzing several works by various composers and this raises some attendant problems and questions. How many composers should be used or how many works should be analyzed as to be representative of the general trend? Considering the fact that most of the works of Nigerian composers have remained largely unpublished, how can they be assessed/available? The following criteria have been adopted to circumvent the issues just mentioned: The works should be available in staff notation and published. The issue of statistical representation has been ignored and I have adopted the approach that once a musical feature is identified in a work, that qualifies it for mention no matter the few instances where it is applied. However, it will still be possible in a few cases, to generalize. The methodology used in this study has been determined by the nature of the topic. Data was obtained about Nigerian art composers from the libraries and from the personal collections of scores of music lecturers at Abraka, Awka and Nsukka. The scores were analyzed and what appears here is the result of the study.

ELEMENTS OF AFRICAN IDENTITY

Titles of Compositions

This is the readily seen evidence of a conscious effort on the part of composers to make their works reflect an African identity. In some cases there is nothing in the body of the work that justifies what the title suggests but for the fact that such a title is used reflect a consciousness to evoke an Africanness. Fela Sowande’s Ka Mura (1954), Obagiji (1955) and Oyigiyigi (1958) for organ respectively are examples. For others the titles is a reflection of the content of the work and often originate from the source of the melody, the main character or subject of the opera/cantata/musical/dance drama. Meki Nzewi’s Amaledo and Akpabot’s Jaja of Opobo come under this category.

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Song text in Nigerian Languages

From 1900 to circa 1950 most of the text of vocal works by Nigerian composers were written in English. Although the adoption of English as the official language was greatly responsible for this, the composers on their part knew that the use of English has the potential of bringing their work to a wider audience at a time when to write in English was indicative of the highly cultured, an image which they craved so most of them wrote in English. From the 1950s there was a gradual change in attitude towards African culture and civilization especially regarding Nigerian languages and composers became more confident and proud to use their languages. By this 1960s it it developed into a trend and several vocal works with text in local languages began to appear. The trend towards the use of local languages was first observed in the Yoruba and Ibo speaking areas of the country before it began to be felt in the other languages. Even at this mostly of the works were arrangements of folk songs by Ibo or Yoruba composers of which Okechuwku Ndubuisi is noted. It will be recalled that Yoruba and Ibo were among the first group of Nigerian languages into which the Bible was translated and this influenced the early composers because they were all Christians, and composed church music. It is note worthy that while the use of African languages does not imply an Africaness in content as was the case in the translation of hymns into local languages; they nevertheless reflect a move towards nationalism in Nigerian art music.

The use of African Languages resulted in the employment of sequences which allows for maintaining the text-tone relationship while and introduction of melodic variety. Some composers such as Laz Ekwueme have become master of the sequence through combining it with pseudo fugal imitation. This is often popular with Nigerian audience because they are able to recognise it as traditional even when it is cluttered in strange garb.

The use of Folk/Traditional melodies

The use of folk melodies is a widespread idiomatic element among Nigerian composers. Vocal music or vocally derived music makes up most of the repertoire of the traditional music of all ethnic groups in Nigeria. Thus folk music provides the composer with a rich source of thematic materials to draw upon. But in what ways have the composers deployed these folk melodies?

Firstly is the use of folk melodies without alteration. This has three presentations:

(a) Settings for solo voice and accompaniment. E.g. Akin Euba’s Six Yoruba folk song for voice and Piano (1959), Three Yoruba folk songs for baritone, Piano and Iyalu.

(b) Settings for two or more voices and accompaniment eg Samuel Ojukwu’s Jemine for S.A.T.B. and piano

(c) Settings for a capella choir Ifionu’s Udala Nwenwe for SATB

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In these presentations the piano is the most preferred instrument for accompaniment in the form of: introductions, interludes or endings, chordal support and percussive drive to the piece. In Akin Euba’s Six Yoruba folk songs arranged for voice and piano, the piano provides an introduction, harmo-rhythmic support and an ending. In some piano accompaniments, the piano is given the response after the soloist has executed the call. In such cases the piano accompaniment is crafted within a call-response rhythmic structure.

Secondly is the use of folk melodies in an arranged form. The term arrangement has come to mean the treatment of an existing melody as the gem from which the work springs. Because of the usual brevity of folk songs there is often repetitive, it is to prevent the monotony that results from over repetition that folk songs are arranged. Furthermore arranging transforms the music into a work of art to be listened to and appreciated in its own terms.

Tonality

African traditional music is decidedly tonal. This means that there is always a tonal center around which the music revolves. According to Ekwueme (2001:23) ‘the African performer and the African audience … prefer to relate to a tonal center – a hombe, around which the tune revolved and to which the scale or mode relates’ Modulation is therefore foreign so also is atonality. The contemporary Nigerian audience is largely averse to frequent changes in tonality. This notwithstanding tonal shift occurs in the course of the performance especially as it intensifies resulting from the inability of the performers to maintenance a tonality. Ekwueme (op cit) notes the preoccupation with a tonal center as ‘inherent in African songs’, and a product of the interface of tonal language and music. During the Nigerian art music night of FESTAC 77, a singer who performed some atonal arrangements of some Nigerian folk songs by Akin Euba, was booed away from the stage by the audience who could not tolerate the atonality and her overtly ‘foreign’ singing style applied to the songs they had always known. According to Sam Akpabot,ii it was on that day that the plain realities of the adoption of the audience-composer relationship dawned on the Nigerian composer. He said that the performance would have been ruined but for his quick intervention by coming on stage to play some well known tunes on the xylophone in a style that the audience could relate with. Had the Nigerian composer taken a cue from tradition that ugly incident would have been avoided.

In traditional Africa there is a common understanding between the composer and hid audience especially in respect to the norms of communication and what is culturally acceptable. The composer-performer is very conscious of his role as a communicator and stays within the prescribed ambit. While he stays within this area of understanding he is free to use his creative tools to generate new consciousness and in so doing he strives to carry his audience, who are his patrons, with him. The choice

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of musical tones is an important ways the composer does this; it represents a framework of tonal musical syntax within which he communicates. Music built on atonal structures breaks the vehicle of communication and the composer looses his audience. This explains strong rejection by Nigerian audiences of atonal music. It is gladdening to note that Nigerian composers have remained largely tonal even when he employs discordant tones they are quickly resolved within a tonal framework.

Antiphony

African music is antiphonal. There is a call section, which Ekwueme (2001:19) has aptly referred to as ‘repieno’, followed by the response or chorus. The widespread African musical structure is generally known as call and response antiphony of which the ‘call and response’ and ‘call and refrain’ are variants. Despite the potential monotony that results from its use a regularly recurring refrain becomes a short cut method of maintaining thematic unity in a work’ (Ekwueme 2001:22). The adoption of antiphony in strophic form for a work in a tonal language poses the problems of ensuring

that the tonal inflection of the words is in a systematic agreement at all coinciding points in every stanza, such that little or no variation is made on the melodic line at each while maintaining the integrity of the words in tonal contour … This means that the musical composer has to some extent also to be a poet (Ekwueme 2001:22)

Works with this feature include Rev. T. Ola Olude’s Mayoku (Yoruba Hymn book); Laz Ekwueme’s Elimeli, Obi Dimkpa, Nne n’eku nwa (O Mary, dear Mother); Ayo Bankole’s Orisa bi ofun ko si.

Scale

Investigation on the scalic dimensions of African music has been a major concern of African music scholars. In all their findings there is unanimous agreement that the pentatonic, hermitonic or anhemitonic scales are universal. Phillips (1953) assertion that Yoruba music is built on the pentatonic scale influenced the early Yoruba composers of church music. In Emi o gbe oju mi soke wonni, the melody derives from the pentatonic scale and religiously avoids the subdominant and leading notes even in voice leading. Idolor experimented with this devise in his “Glory Halleluia to his Name, an SATB composition crafted from the anhermitonic pentatonic scale and Ekwueme in Ihe Arima. (Ekwueme 2001:20)

Ostinato

Ostinato is a common feature of African music especially in a call-response alternation. The ostinato has found favour with several Nigerian composers. Ekwueme (2001) discuss this is some details.

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Laz Ekueme’s Hombe uses three different kinds of choral ostinati at different times, in different keys, either on the three lower parts or on all four (SATB) parts to accompany the melody, in order to achieve variety within a thematic unity in the work. Ayo Bankole’s Orisa bi Ofun ko si employs several ostinati during the course of the work. Ayo Bankole, as an organist, indeed exploit the idea of the ostinato and ground bass in a lot of his compositions, such that the passacaglia becomes an important recurring feature in some of his major works ( . . .) Perhaps the most sophisticated employment of the ostinato comes in Bankole’s Ore Ofe. At the point where the three lower parts sing the words ife olorun, the soprano sing a lively sequentially conceived melody to the words Ore Ofe Kristi Oluwa.. The three lower parts sing a curious combination of ostinati. The Bass has a 6 pulse (64) repeated phrase, the Alto has an 8 pulse (44) ostinato, and the Tenor has a 9 pulse (44) one. These go on simultaneously in the various parts for the number of times required by each to accommodate the tune on the soprano line, until all the parts beautifully cadence together, the Bass having repeated it ostinato 15 times, the Alto taking its own for 10 and half times, while the Tenor has a 9 time repeat of its theme, with a little augmentation on the last repeat.

Harmony

The widely established and acknowledged (Akpabot 1998, Ekwueme 2001) parallelism of traditional African two or three part harmony of the fourths, fifths and thirds has been used by Nigerian art composers to great effect. According to Ekueme (2001) ‘The system of parallel harmony has been adapted by good composers to achieve effective part writing for choral music without sacrificing the meaning of the words or the aesthetic of harmonic progression.’ Example are T. K. E. Phillips Emi o gbe Oju mi, Ayo Bankoles Ore ofe and Orisa bi ofun ko si and Laz Ekueme Ote nkwu and Obi Dimkpa.

An extension of this is the pedal point ‘a feature of traditional harmonic idiom’ (Ekueme 2001:26). The Nigerian art music composers have deployed this to great effects.

Instrumentation and Ensemble Format

Two aspects of instrumentation concern us here: the instruments and how they are utilized. The Nigerian composer perceives musical instruments as either western or African and this has reflected in their instrumentation. Their ensemble formats are

(a) Western instruments (b) Western and African instruments (c) African instruments.

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The first generation of Nigerian composers utilized an ensemble format of western instruments. Their favorite instrument is the organ. Works in this category include

Fela Sowande Ka Mura for organ (1945), Out of Zion for SATB with organ (1955), and Ayo Bankole’s Ya Orule for piano (1957).

(a) Mixed Ensembles

The second-generation composers apart for western instruments also wrote for a ensembles consisting of a mix of western and African instruments. Such works appeared from the early 1960s. In this category are

Samuel Akpabot’s

Ofala festival for wind orchestra plus 5 African instruments (1963), Cynthia’s Lament for Soloists, wind Orchestra and 6 African Instruments (1965), Nigerian in Conflict for wind Orchestra and 8 African Instruments (1973);

Akin Euba’s

Three Yoruba songs for baritone and Iya –ilu, (1963),

Igila for piano and four Yoruba drums (1963),

Four Pieces for African orchestra (1966),

Dirges for speakers, singers and Nigerian instruments (1972),

Two Tortoise folk Tales for speaker and Nigerian instruments (1975),

Morning, Noon and Night a dance drama for Nigerian instruments (1975),

Chaka for soloists, chorus and ensemble of traditional African instruments (1970),

Abiku No II for three-part choir and five Nigerian instruments (1968);

Joshua Uzoigwe’s

Masquerade for Iya –ilu and Piano (1980),

Ritual Procession for African Orchestra (1981).

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(b) African Ensembles

Despite the seemingly seriousness with which African composers desire to create an ‘Africaness’ in their works there is still a scarcity of works for African instruments in spite of the fact that the trend began with very few composers in the 1970s which calls to question the seriousness with which African composers regards African instruments in theirs search for relevance the restrictiveness in melodic and harmonic abilities not withstanding. In this regard Meki Nzewi’s music drama Ordeal for Regeneration (1980) is a pacesetter because the entire work, is orchestrated for traditional Ibo musical instruments. Another worthy experiments is A. K. Achinivu’s Dumararadu and Afebi for SATB and African instruments Elsa Toffolon and Meki Nzewi (1981) Sing ’N’ Clap an anthology of Nigerian folk songs for Nigerian for solo voice, with piano and clap accompaniment. The use of clap accompaniment is significant because despite the prevalence of the clap in African musical practice it is baffling that composers have ignored it even in their quest for relevance or creating an African identity in their works. But for Nzewi’s clap accompaniment there are no works written for this instrument. In this regards the innovativeness in Abel Adeleke’s E See Neko Dara for SATB and twin gong and rattles demands mentions.

In the spirit of experimentation Meki Nzewi has progressed a step further in his use of the Nkom drum row (a set of tuned drums with melodic ability, he has composed for the voice to be accompanied by the Nkom). His pioneering work in this area has opened up the possibilities of deploying African instruments in contemporary composition but sadly his effort is yet to attract a sizeable following.

In writing for western instruments Nigerian composers have in some instances deployed them in a manner that suggest they are traditional African instruments. Like in “Nigerian in Conflict’ by Sam Akpabot, Trumpets (1 & 2) are playing the rhythmic figures not within a melodic phrase as would have been the case in a typical work by a western composer, but isolated or detached as in a traditional percussion orchestra like the Ibibio Uta Horn orchestra. Therefore by assigning the said figures, Akpabot treats the trumpet, horns and trombones as melo-rhythmic instruments instead of the plain melodic instruments that they are. This is in consonance with the role of musical instruments in African musical culture. The voice and the piano are the most utilized medium of expression. The voice performs solo or SATB. The favour that these two media enjoy is in part due to the fact that it stems from African musical tradition where instrumental music is vocally derived.

(c) The use of the Piano

Percussive instruments occupy a central place in African music because of the primacy of rhythm in African musical arts. It is the percussive instruments, as played by the hands with the fingers and palms ameliorating it in tonal subtleties generate the rhythm. When an African

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plays an instrument that should be percussed as in the piano, he deploys the percussive techniques of drum playing where shades of timbres from a single drum through striking and muting technique. Indeed it is absurd or out of traditional for a player to play without variation. It is for this reason that an African approaches the piano an indeed any struck instrument as a set of tuned drums played within the principle of the time line.

Nonsense words/syllables

Nonsense words/syllables are employed for rhythmic effect and to heighten intensity in African music. It thus constitutes an important aspect of African idiomatic writing. Some composers have utilised nonsense words/syllables to great effects. Prominent among them is Okechukwu Ndubuisi’s Ajama kwara Ngongwo where the technique is put to great effect in the nonsense words Nowiyo and ‘ain yo’ in counter rhythm to the upper parts and a predominance of the vowels a, e, e, i, o, o, u or their variants as is the case in tradition.

Texture

It has been observed that the transparent two-part voice leading as exemplified ink the two-part octave organum texture is the most widespread texture in Nigerian traditional music. For lack of a better terminology, I have utilized slim texture to represent the employment of few voices progressing at the horizontal level excluding the instrumental parts. The slim texture technique has been exploited to maximum advantage in the piano works especially those written from the 1970s e.g. Adeyeye’s Iya for piano (1982) and Uzoigwe’s Iya Ilu.

Conclusion

In the foregoing it has been demonstrated that most Nigerian composers are no longer satisfied with imitating the forms, styles and presentations of western musical traditions but in creating a unique sound that gives them a niche in world music. This they have tried to achieve through creating an African identity in deploying African idiomatic elements as in their works. It is self-evident that the future of Nigerian art music does not lie in the blind imitation of western musical techniques but in creating a unique African sonic matrix through rediscovery and deployment of elements from the African musical heritage in a contemporary and acceptable manner. Much remains to be done in research to unearthed more musical form, techniques and styles that can be utilized in composing music with an identity that is truly Nigerian. Notes i The Wesleyan (now Methodist) and the Church Missionary Society (Anglican) missionaries introduced western education in Badagry in 1841 and 1843 respectively.

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ii Dr Sam. Ekpe Akpabot made this comment during a class on African Music and Dance at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan in 1987. References

Agu, D. C. C. 1999 Form and Analysis in African Music. Enugu: New Generation Books. Akpabot, Samuel Ekpe 1998 Form, Function and Style in African Music. Lagos: Macmillan

Nigeria Publishers Limited. …….1998 Foundation of Nigerian Traditional Musi.: Ibadan: Spectrum Books. Amu, Misonu 1985 Stylistic and Textual Sources of a Contemporary Ghanaian art Music

Composer: A case study of Dr E. Amu. Unpublished M. Phil Thesis, University of Legon.

Ekwueme, Laz E.N. 1974 “Linguistic Determinants of Some Igbo Musical Properties,’ Journal of African Studies 1(3): 335-353

…… (2001) ‘Composing Contemporary African Choral Music: Problems and Prospects’ in: African Art Music in Nigeria Fela Sowande Memorial, M. A. Omibiyi-Obidike (Ed.), pp.18-29. Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd.

Idolor, G. Emurobome. 2001 ‘Formal Education and the Development of African art music in Nigeria’ Prospects’ in: African Art Music in Nigeria Fela Sowande Memorial, M. A. Omibiyi-Obidike (Ed.), pp.18-29. Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd.

Omojola, Bode. 1995 Nigerian Art Music.Ibadan: IFRA. Toffolon, Elsa. 1981 SING ‘N’ CLAP Folk Songs of Nigeria for slo voice and Piano and Clap

Accompaniment Vol. 1 and II. Meki Nzewi (Ed), np:Elka Books.