Music of Nigeria
Little of the country's music history prior to European contact has been preserved, although bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments.
[3] Traditional music from Nigeria and throughout Africa is often functional; in other words, it is performed to mark a ritual such as the wedding or funeral and not to achieve artistic goals.
The Igbo also play slit drums, xylophones, flutes, lyres, udus and lutes, and more recently, imported European brass instruments.
Modern styles such as Ayinde Barrister's fuji, Salawa Abeni's waka, and Yusuf Olatunji's sakara are derived primarily from Yoruba traditional music.
Prefiguring, popularized by the famous Nigerian soundtrack producer Stanley Okorie, utilizes motifs and repetitive tunes to foreshadow dialogue and major plot events before they happen on screen.
Cereal stalks bound together and strings supported by two bridges are used to make a kind of raft zither, played with the thumbs, typically for solo entertainment.
Many African countries have seen turbulence and violence during their forced transition from a diverse region of folk cultures to a group of modern nation states.
By the start of the 20th century, Yoruba music had incorporated brass instruments, written notation, Islamic percussion and new Brazilian techniques, resulting in the Lagos-born palm-wine style.
King probably coined the word jùjú — a style of music he helped to create — in reference to the sound of a Brazilian tambourine; alternatively, the term may have developed as an expression of disdain by the colonial leaders (any native tradition was apt to be dismissed as 'mere joujou, French for "nonsense").
Traditional stars included the Hausa Dan Maraya, who was so well known that he was brought to the battlefield during the 1967 Nigerian Civil War to lift the morale of the federal troops.
Following World War II, Tunde Nightingale's s'o wa mbe style made him one of the first jùjú stars, and he introduced more Westernised pop influences to the genre.
The Ghanaian E. T. Mensah, easily the most popular highlife performer of the 1950s, toured Igbo-land frequently, drawing huge crowds of devoted fans.
These included Prince Nico Mbarga and his band Rocafil Jazz, whose "Sweet Mother" was a pan-African hit that sold more than 13 million copies, more than any other African single of any kind.
However, a few performers kept the style alive, such as Yoruba singer and trumpeter Victor Olaiya (the only Nigerian to ever earn a platinum record), Stephen Osita Osadebe, Oliver De Coque, Celestine Ukwu, Oriental Brothers, Sonny Okosun, Victor Uwaifo, and Orlando "Dr. Ganja" Owoh, whose distinctive toye style fused jùjú and highlife.
Ishola, who was one of Nigeria's most consistent hit makers between 1955 and his death in 1983, recorded apala songs, which alternated between slow and emotional, and swift and energetic.
[21] Fuji was a synthesis of apala with the "ornamented, free-rhythmic" vocals of ajisari devotional musicians[22] and was accompanied by the sakara, a tambourine-drum, and Hawaiian guitar.
His rival was King Sunny Adé, who emerged in the same period, forming the Green Spots in 1966 and then achieving some major hits with the African Beats after 1974's Esu Biri Ebo Mi.
Ade and Obey raced to incorporate new influences into jùjú music and to gather new fans; Hawaiian slack-key, keyboards and background vocals were among the innovations added during this rapidly changing period.
In 1982, Ade was signed to Island Records, who hoped to replicate Bob Marley's success, and released Juju Music, which sold far beyond expectations in Europe and the United States.
Ade's brush with international renown brought a lot of attention from mainstream record companies, and helped to inspire the burgeoning world music industry.
After living in London briefly, he moved back to Lagos and opened a club, The Shrine, which was one of the most popular music spots in the city.
[30] With Africa 70, Kuti recorded a series of hits, earning the ire of the government as he tackled such diverse issues as poverty, traffic and skin-bleaching.
Upon release, Kuti continued to criticise the government in his songs, and became known for eccentric behaviour, such as suddenly divorcing all twenty-eight wives because "no man has the right to own a woman's vagina".
Following a surprise appearance in place of his father, Fela, Femi Kuti garnered a large fan base that enabled him to tour across Europe.
[32] The popular singer Salawa Abeni had become nationally renowned after the release of Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed in 1976, which was the first Nigerian recording by a woman to sell more than a million copies.
Like many later Nigerian reggae stars, Fashek was a part of the long-running band The Mandators, who toured and recorded incessantly during the mid to late 1980s and early '90s.
Moreover, mainstream success grew later in the decade, with attention brought by early hits like The Trybesmen's "Trybal Marks" (1999) and the trio The Remedies' "Judile" and "Sakoma".
Afrobeats artists began to rule the game notable acts such as Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Burna Boy, CKay, Fireboy DML, Kiss Daniel, Tekno, Mc Galaxy, Adekunle Gold, Dammy Krane Lil Kesh have over the years gotten great attention for their songs.
While there are many female Afrobeats artists, only a few have been constant over the years like Aṣa Omawumi Megbele, Seyi Shay, Niniola, Tiwa Savage, Teni, Yemi Alade and Simi.
In the 20th century, Nigeria produced a number of classical composers; these include Samuel Akpabot (1932-2000), Ayo Bankole (1935-1976), Lazarus Ekwueme, Akin Euba (1935-2020), Fela Sowande (1905-1987) and Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005).
