COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES OF YORUBA ISLAMISED GOSPEL MUSIC

Abstract

Yoruba Islamised Gospel Music (YIGM) is a genre that is situated within three main world cultures of Western Europe, Arab and Africa. The multicultural uniqueness and the inherent adventured/ creativity that characterise twenty first century have to an appreciable degree influenced the compositional and performance practice of Yoruba Islamised Gospel Music (YIGM). With a particular attention to Wákà Àpàlà and Fújì gospel, this study was designed to examine couples of compositional techniques/devices encapsulated by this brand of gospel music, with a bid to ascertain the degree of cultural nuances/ postmodernism traits it embodies, as well as the implications of such features in Nigerian gospel music (NGM) scene. Within ethno –musicological approach, this study explored cultural pluralism and social evolution as its theoretical frame works. Relevant data were sourced from text books/journals alongside informant/in depth interviews and documentations of the musicians’ performances on audio tapes. Inferences from the study unfolded diverse compositional techniques contrived by the artists which spanned repetition, variation, hocket, appoggiatura, mellismatic note setting, recitative (heightened speech), harmony, slogan, overlapping and interjection. It was also evident that the compositional techniques harnessed by the artists of YIGM resonate African, Judo-Christian and Arabian- Islamic cultural landscapes. Furthermore, it was deduced from the study that the inherent multicultural nature of YIGM is gratifying in term of its general and musical roles. This paper concluded that Yoruba Islamised gospel music is potential for cultural synergy and dynamism, a stance attested by its compositional techniques and acceptability within the mainstream of Nigerian gospel music.