CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE OF KEKU DANCE MUSIC OF THE JUKUN

Abstract

Change is a constant phenomenon in our world, while knowledge is acknowledged as the power that rules the world. The combination of these two words about indigenous music seems to pose a sense of conflict, especially with the ongoing crusade for preserving African indigenous music heritage. Change is inevitable as consistently displayed in recent occurrences of the world; such as climate change, economic change, political change, fashion trends etc. The performance of keku dance of the Jukun has experienced some level of changes over the years, some of which will be discussed in this study. The coherence of the knowing and the change experienced in the performance of this music will also be examined. Through an ethnographic study of the music and the musician in the context of its performance and cultural implications, this study looks at the changes the music has experienced so far and their effects on the cultural posterity of the music. Therefore, this paper concludes that while maintaining the truism of change as an inevitable phenomenon, the knowing (i.e. the knowledge of the principal idioms) of the music are yet to be compromised, this consequently has preserved the music till date.