Highlife music without alcohol? Interrogating the concept of gospel highlife in Ghana and Nigeria

Emielu, Austin; Donkor, Grace Takyi

doi:10.2989/18121004.2019.1690205

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The powers of music include all of these and more. According to Austin Maro Emielu (2009), the contribution that music makes to youth empowerment is the clearest example of political activism through music. On the grounds that "a professionalized music industry will midwife institutionalization of specialized sectors, which will become the engine for growth, development, and empowerment for youths with interest in the music industry," he argues in support of this claim.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another genre of music that shared the music scene with Apala was the 'Highlife' which was popularized by artists such as Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, Dr. Victor Olaiya and Bobby Benson. Both genre of music were dominant in Nigeria and Africa since the late 1950's till the 1970's (Emielu, 2009). During the 1970's more Nigerian artists started plying their trade in the Nigerian music industry, hence this era witnessed the introduction of various types of music genres such as Disco, Afrobeat, Rock, Fuji, and Juju.…”

Section: Evolution Of Nigerian Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Music as a Tool of Political Activisim in Nigeria: A Case Study of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Journal Eduvest

Fisher

Idowu

2023

Eduvest

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Music has been a significant tool of political activism in the world. Music tends to pass emotions, motivate and inspire political consciousness. This study examines the impact of music on political activism in Nigeria using Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a case study. The secondary method of data collection and analysis is adopted to gather information. The study presents that, indeed, music is a relevant tool of political activism. Music has been used to advocate political ideology and improve consciousness. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is an iconic political activist in Nigeria using music as a tool to lead his political activism

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evolution Of Nigerian Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Music as a Tool of Political Activisim in Nigeria: A Case Study of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Journal Eduvest

Fisher

Idowu

2023

Eduvest

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“…As a social construct, Emielu and Donkor (2019) argue that gospel music serves as an instrument for social control in African societies. Magosvongwe (2015) shows how gospel music is used to correct social, political, cultural and spiritual practices in the same way traditional oral art forms function in Zimbabwe.…”

Section: [Excerpt B]mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars (Adedeji 2004(Adedeji , 2007(Adedeji , 2015Atiemo, 2006;Brennan 2012;Chitando, 2000;Emielu & Donkor, 2019;Ojo 1988 andSanga, 2006) have explored the historical, cultural, religious, social, and musical dimensions of gospel music in Africa. Ojo (1988) describes, though briefly, the origin of Nigerian gospel music and highlights its importance in social construction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating Societal Crises through Eschatological Narratives in Yoruba gospel music: Notes from Evangelist J. A. Adelakun’s “Amona tete maa bo”

Ajose

2022

AMO

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Scholars have discussed how gospel music offers a framework for responding to the religious, social, and economic experiences of people in society. Beyond performing religious and evangelistic purposes, how gospel music illuminates societal crises–politics and ecology–is yet to be known. This study examines the role of gospel music as a tool to facilitate religious experience while articulating social concerns. Specifically, it discusses the approaches employed by Yoruba gospel musicians in evoking spirituality in their discourse on societal problems. Reference is made to the musical performance of a popular Yoruba gospel music album titled “Amona Tete Maa bo” by Evangelist J.A. Adelakun which was accessed on YouTube. Further information is gathered from other internet sites including blogs, social media as well as periodicals which provided the secondary sources of data for the study. Through textual and musical analyses of the first and longest track in the album, and relying on critical discourses from musicology, religion, and cultural studies, this paper demonstrates how gospel musicians deploy musical and theological approaches to reference and negotiate their social, political and environmental ‘salvation’ through eschatological narrative. The article explains the extent to which these approaches in gospel music and by extension Yoruba gospel musicians are evocative of the general spiritual dimension to almost every social, political and ecological crisis in Africa.

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“…Broadly, the extant and burgeoning literature on contemporary Nigerian popular music covers many aspects from context (Oyeleye andGbadegesin 2020, Sylvanus 2020b) to artist careers (Veal 2000, Adegoju 2009, Forchu 2015, multimedia and copyright (Onyeji 2005, Sylvanus 2018, Onanuga 2020, Onyekwelu 2020, conflict and protest (Titus 2017, Akingbe andOnanuga 2020), women and sexism (Oikelome 2013, Onogu and Damian 2015, Eze 2020, Popoola 2020, language (Adedeji 2014, Forchu 2020, genre and styles (Sylvanus 2013, Onwuegbuna 2016, Emielu and Donkor 2019, Adeniyi 2020, identity issues (Gbogi 2016), politics and race relations (Shonekan 2011), and performance (Osiebe 2020). The current article is, however, the first to discuss personality cult formation, dissemination, and sustenance in contemporary Nigerian popular music culture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Are there Marlians in the Buhari government?’ Popular music and personality cult in Nigeria

Sylvanus

Eze

2021

Celebrity Studies

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Today, differences in popular music genres and practices can be attributed to different peoples and cultures of the world in much the same sense as the shared and varied degrees of personality cult traditions. In this respect, Nigeria ranks amongst others with a unique and demonstrable popular music and personality cult culture. Of the available literature, none addresses the relationship between popular music and personality cult in Nigeria. This article is the first to do so. Here, we go beyond a mere analysis of the attributes of an idolised persona in, say, Naira Marley to examining both the ideological and sociological determinants--of literacy, media representation, social class, musical taste, deviancy, and demographic differences--that broadly support Nigerian popular music and personality cult practices. Through synthesising various views of the concept of personality cult with quasi-ethnographic data from some devotees of the Marlian cult, this article provides a critical intervention into how such activities as listening, imitating, and idolising are constructed forms of hero-worship in the Nigerian pop music scene.

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Highlife music without alcohol? Interrogating the concept of gospel highlife in Ghana and Nigeria

Cited by 7 publications

References 10 publications

Music as a Tool of Political Activisim in Nigeria: A Case Study of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Journal Eduvest

Music as a Tool of Political Activisim in Nigeria: A Case Study of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Journal Eduvest

Negotiating Societal Crises through Eschatological Narratives in Yoruba gospel music: Notes from Evangelist J. A. Adelakun’s “Amona tete maa bo”

‘Are there Marlians in the Buhari government?’ Popular music and personality cult in Nigeria

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