FOLK SONGS AS AGENT OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION AND TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR A YORUBA CHILD

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UDC: 784.4(669.1) 
     781.7(=423) 
     
COBISS.SR-ID 109614089  
_________________

Received: Dec 24, 2022
Reviewed: Jan 15, 2023
Accepted: Jan 20, 2023

Folk Songs as an Agent of Cultural Transmission,
​Teaching and Learning for a Yoruba Child

Ikumapayi Abayomi Ayoola
Department of Theater Arts and Music, Lagos State University 
[email protected] 

Citation: Ayoola, A. Ikumapayi. 2023. "Folk Songs as an Agent of Cultural Transmission, Teaching and Learning for a Yoruba Child." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 8:4

Abstract

This study explores the origin, as well as the development and changes that might have occurred in the folk music in the course of time, and to transcribe African music materials into educational materials for school use. Significantly, the objective is to document the identified function and the performance practice, which would give insight into the performance of the music. It also documents and archives musical folk songs for educational purposes, in order to reveal its socio-cultural values within the context in which it is performed. The research design used was historical research method, library search to consult relevant scholarly works, newspapers, theses, books and journals, electronic sources such as the video clip, tape recording and internet were examined, and they provided additional information for the study. The study identifies and provides musical notation of Yoruba folk songs materials that can be interpreted globally in the world of music, and also examines the influence and efficacy of Yoruba folk songs in ways of teaching that would be geared towards supporting learning, inculcating moral standards and cultural transmission.  The findings revealed that folk songs constitute a dynamic forum through which members of a society respond and adapt to the culture of the society.  It therefore recommends that contemporary government should provide better funding to ensure preservation of such cultural institutions and heritage.
Keywords: folk songs, transmission, culture, teaching and learning

Introduction

Music is a significant element in every culture, and virtually all activities of man need one form of music or another.  It is one of the strongest tools for cultural uniqueness and self-identity. Music plays the role of an agent of culture, preserving, sustaining and regulating the various institutions. It reveals a great deal about social norms, habits and ways of life of Africans. Ekwueme (1997) (cited in Adesokan 2009) states that music as part of general education transmits the cultural heritage of people. Through musical activities and experiences, members acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and appreciation of their customs, norms, and aesthetic values.  It is almost impossible to talk about a given society without reference to their music. Music has always been an integral part of Nigerian culture. According to Okafor:

​<...> no study of culture is complete without a close and corresponding study of the music of the people. It is impossible to know enough of other people on other lands, without a corresponding study of their music”. (Okafor 1986)

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Through music, the traditional society controls groups, individuals, and sections within the society. Mbanugo (1990) specified that music controls and regulates social behavior in each ethnic group in Nigeria, by providing either direct warnings to erring members, or by directly indicating what is considered proper behavior to members of the society.

Music is performed in connection with aspects of ethnic life, such as coronations, calendar festival, initiation ceremonies, installation, birth, coronation and other social events. Music is one of the strongest tools for cultural uniqueness and self-identity in the life of any society. It serves as a vehicle for transmitting and perpetuating cultures. Music plays a significant role in educating, admonishing, encouraging, and enlightening the members of the society for purposeful and peaceful societal development. The music portrays the way of life of the individuals within the community. Music is an expression of the culture of the people, that is the costumes, values, traditional musical instruments, and their language. In traditional Nigerian societies, music is conceived as an object of aesthetic contemplation, as well as a socio-cultural phenomenon whose importance transcends musical values. Accordingly, music constitutes an important educational forum through which members of the traditional Nigerian societies learn to live together, as well as cope with the ever-changing challenges of life. 

It is necessary to mention that, despite colonization and its attendant results on the socio-political and educational life of Nigerians, patterns of pre-colonial musical traditions still exist in great abundance in present-day Nigeria, especially in rural areas, although, regrettably, with less significance. Onwueke (2005) observed that “music plays a significant role in society. Music is used to teach morals through proverbial songs, satirical songs, folk tales, work songs, festival songs, popular songs and derisive songs. Songs are used for educating members of the societies about secrets of womanhood, manhood, attendant responsibilities of the society such as puberty or initiation rites.” Ekwueme (op. cit.) noted that “songs are used for passing on information, for condemning evil and praising noble action”. Folk songs are used for regulating social mores and institutions. It helps the behavior of the members of the society and acts as an agent of self-discipline and social control. 

Ethical and moral standards are prescribed through folktales, folk stories, lullabies, didactic, proverbial and festival songs. Society members are constantly reminded of their responsibility and duties, respect for elders, norms and values. Emeka (1994) asserted that:

​ <...> children grow up and play together, improving their language and number skills by playing musical and rhythmic games, listening to and participating in the telling of folk tales, wrestling moonlight songs, games songs and in their recitation of rhymes. 

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The song text and the sound of musical instruments inform people of what to do, how to do it and when to do it.  This work gives a documentation of folk songs for perpetuation of the Nigerian/African culture. This will increase the schoolteacher’s knowledge and awareness of folk/indigenous songs.

​Therefore, it will help the up-coming generation sing folk songs in Yoruba dialects. Singing folk songs in Yoruba dialects will bring back unity among the Yoruba people. In addition, it will also promote their culture among other cultures in Nigeria.  The significance of this study is that there is a copious documentation of the performance styles of African folk songs, which serves as a source of archiving African values for educational purposes. 

The Aims of the Research

​The Purpose of the Study
​
The purpose of this study is to:

• identify, notate and analyse textually, some selected Yoruba folk songs,
• examines the influence and efficacy that Yoruba folk songs have in the society over the foreign songs.

​The Research Questions

​The following research questions were formulated in order to guide this study within the context of the research objectives:

1. What are the educational values that are embedded in Yoruba folk songs?
2. What influence does Yoruba folk songs have in the society over the foreign songs?

​The Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is mainly on the development and performance of musical folk songs for educational purposes in Southwest Nigeria. This study location is limited to Abeokuta, one of the major cities in the Yoruba speaking area of southwest Nigeria. 

​Statement of problem

The study of Africa music has really assisted some Nigerian scholars to research into some of the traditional music in Nigeria and documented them for posterity. Numerous Nigerian scholars have extensively researched African traditional music within their cultural existence because of its functional roles. All these and others have served as unique premises for the promotion of scholarship in the areas of essence, utilitarian and symbolic roles of traditional culture. The encroachment and widespread of Christian and Islamic religions and civilization have indeed relegated the use and function of traditional music to the level of disregard in our society in general. The resultant effect of this is the fizzling of folk songs and its replacement by other popular music.

​Recently, the young have not been used to folk songs, nor have they performed them any longer. This is pathetic, because these songs may lose its relevance after the exit of the present generation. This research seeks to fill the gap first in understanding’ how, and ‘why’ these particular folk songs are performed, and their importance to the society they belong to.  It also seeks to document the origin, level of development, significance, performance practice and composition of the music in terms of its cultural and aesthetic values.

​Theoretical Framework 

The theoretical anchorage for this study is derived from two perspectives, namely the Buckland’s document theory and archival theory. The adoption of these theoretical frameworks is situated within the context of relevance of documentation and archival methodologies in the recording, preservation and analysis of folk songs for educational purposes. The document theory as propounded by Michael Buckland is associated with the practice of documentation, therefore, with bibliography, information science, and librarianship. According to Buckland, documents are ordinarily seen as mitigating the effects of time on memory, and of space on communication. He posits further that documents not only allow the preservation and transmission of records over time, they serve memory by preserving, verifying, allowing recognition of what was forgotten, and anticipating future needs. The relevance of document and archival theory in relation to the documentation, analysis and archiving of folk songs for educational purposes, which is the central focus of this study, is seen and obvious in the notion shared or canvassed by proponents of these frameworks, who posit that documents and archival materials are cognitive resources for learning. In other words, the documentation and archiving of folk songs serves educational purposes, as suggested by the proponents of these theories, since such methodologies facilitate cognitive components of learning.

These two theories cover leveraging archival materials in education, preservation and research, thus justifying and supporting the use of the folk songs archives for teaching and learning purposes. In this sense, the archival and document theories establish a very fruitful collaboration between archivists, educators and musicians in the area of preserving, archiving and analyzing folk songs for educational purposes.

​What these theoretical notions suggest therefore is that folk songs can serve significant educational purposes if there is collaboration between archivists, educators and musicians. Thus, applying Buckland document and archival theory to this study suggests that there exist various modes of engaging with music, archiving and presentation. Therefore, there is a trinity of transmission (communicating), recording (documenting), and learning (becoming informed). Lund has stressed that these three activities, which constitute physical (material), cognitive, and social (cultural) dimensions, are always more or less co-present, and that feature he termed “complementarity”. (Lund 2004, 96-97; Skare 2009; Olsen et al. 2012)

​Folk Songs

Folk songs can be defined as a grassroots song of any community. It is the country music that people grow up to adopt by process of inheritance and sung in traditional style. The importance of folk songs in our community could not be stressed enough, because they play important roles in educating people, teaching morals, child rearing, and making our traditional festivals and ceremonies jubilant.

According to Okafor (2017), the Nigerian folk song has always lived because of its relationship with culture, its social statement, fluidity and the kinship between artists and audiences, music and life. Folk song is a song that originates among the people of a community or area transmitted by oral tradition from generation to generation, often existing in several versions and marked generally by simple, modal melody and stanza, narrative verse written by an unknown composer. Okafor (2017) further describes folk songs as such that people consider them to be an integral part of their culture. It is a composition that has grown with a race or nation, or even a community, and whose authorship is enshrined in the mist of antiquity, a song of unknown origin, but which can claim community authorship because of the generations of the race, the community or the nation that has grown with it and added to it. Mao (2013) describes folk song as the one that bears the testimony of the past. Events like war, relationship of the community, seasons, rites and rituals, belief system, moral norms, occupational behavior, leisure times, or the total cultural and social milieu of the people are preserved and kept alive in this genre of oral tradition.

​The Concept of Music in Culture

Throughout the world, every culture has its own tradition. This reflects in their dressing, language structure, work, the way they live, social relationship, education and governance. Culture cannot be divided  from society,  because important stages of an African person’s life are often marked with music. Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying widely between times and places. There are lullabies, children’s game songs, and music for adolescent initiation rites, weddings, title-taking ceremonies, funerals, and ceremonies for the ancestors. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the mother of twins must perform a special repertoire of songs. In Yoruba land, there are songs for teasing bed-wetters, and for celebrating the loss of a child’s first tooth. Music is the expressive voice of a culture, and often that voice is clearest in one particular city, country, or region (Wright and Simms 2006). However, interpretation of music differs from one culture to the other. Willoughby recognizes this fact:

​Music plays a significant role in the lives of most Africans, perhaps more than for Westerners. Their music is not for an audience who sits quietly and listens, whereas westerners generally are spectators or listeners rather than producers. (Willoughby 1996)

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Okafor (2005) spoke generally about the musical life of Africans, that ‘music is more integral with life in Africa and among Africans than it is in most other societies…In this respect, it is central to life in much the same way as is culture’. Titon (2005) and Tagg (2002) identify music as one of the few cultural phenomena, for no nation is known that does not have some kind of music. African, especially Nigerian traditional music has experienced turbulence and violence during the course of transition from the diverse traditional cultures to modern and popular cultural identity.

​This effected a change in the traditional musical orientation of the people by introducing Western religion and education with the practice of European musical idioms in the nineteenth century. However, in spite of the heavy influence of acculturation, civilization and modernization, the roles and functionality of traditional music in African culture in its various contexts have not easily entered the state of oblivion. 

Employing Cultural Activities
​in the Classroom

​“Music is, of course, a cultural expression, and every culture decides for itself what is music or not” (Merriam 1964, Blacking 1976 in Okafor 2005). The strength of music as a cultural tool, which could not be easily weakened, is one of the major focuses that have impeded the growth as a school subject. Most importantly, music in Nigerian tradition is a unified and integrated art. The division of its teaching into different parts could therefore be strange to an average Nigerian. The purpose of utilizing cultural activities in the teaching process is to instinct a long-lasting experience into the learner. By using them as part of instruction in music education,  apart of its educational purposes, will also have the following:

1. Bridge the gap between the illiterate majority and the educated minority.
2. Promote inter-tribal understanding and national unity.
3. Eradicate prejudice and promote cultural harmony.
4. Increase creative ability.
5. In addition, unifies cultural heritage with moral development.

In using African idioms in the classroom, the following consideration should be considered: 

1. The item(s) chosen must have cultural meaning and practice in the community of the school.
2. Its function in the community.
3. What values it possesses. 
4. The method to employ.

​African Music Education 

Music education provides a basis for moral and character training and development of sound attitudes through the allegorical nature of our folklore, especially in folktales. It also facilitates sharing and exchange of reports in schools among ethnic groups. In attempts to give Africa education an African identity,  Phelps Stokes committee’s report in 1920 reveals the neglect of the British government on African education.

​ <...>  thus from the report, our education system had hitherto not made provision for creating a musically-enlightened public, neither had it catered for the musically-talented. (Omibiyi 1983).  

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According to Falodun (2011), there is a need to revive the appreciation and practice of traditional cultures that are facing the prospect of total elimination and are still outside the formal school curriculum. The National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria 2013) stressed and advocated curricular development, which is Nigerian in orientation, and can promote an appreciation of Nigerian culture. Finally, a cultural policy was approved and formally launched by the president in 1988. Therefore, the period between 1988-1997 witnessed a decade of cultural development. Presently much has been done in other fields, although the area of music is still lagging behind.

The cry for our cultural identity and the attempt to give Nigerian music education indigenous elements led to the merging of the two or more musical cultures (Western, Islamic, and African). The resultant effect of this is what we refer to as biculturalism or multiculturalism. The perspective of biculturalism in Nigeria music education is a crucial one.  Although it is not a new phenomenon, many great scholars had stressed its need in our educational system: Sowande (1972) propounded it, Vidal (2005), Omibiyi (1983), Adeogun (2006), Anri (2007), Nzewi (2007), Okafor (2008) have observed inadequacies and the problems it has faced. Notable among this is the imbalance between these musical cultures, e.g. the dominance of Western elements over Nigerian traditional elements.

​Biculturalism is the fusion of two cultures. Vidal (2008) notes that, when an individual is trained in musical tradition that belongs to two different cultures, they are said to be bi-musical (Ibid., 13). No matter the terminology used in biculturalism, it was based on two things: (1) acknowledgement of diverse ethnic groups and (2) the intent to help new generations understand the world in which they live. Bi-culture arises because of interactions and fusion of two different cultures. In spite of the trend in Western ideologies and civilization, African culture has thrived and developed to global acceptability. 

Notation of Folk Songs

Moral Songs

Omo to Mo Iya re loju and Iya ni Wura are examples of moral folk songs for motherhood, which Yoruba people use to educate the people in the cultural values and ideals about mother. This is a symbol of a precious possession in the life of a child in Yoruba.

​Omo to Mo Iya re loju
​(The child that disobeys his or her mother)

Example 1. Omo to Mo Iya re loju
(source: author)

Lyrics
Omo to mo iya re loju  Osi ni o ta omo na pa/2x
Iya toji ya nitori re/2x 
Omo ti mo iyare loju Osi  ni o ta omo na pa

[The child that disobeys his or her mother will be poor
throughout his lifetime /2x
The mother that suffers because of you /2x
The child that disobeys his/her mother will be poor
​throughout his lifetime /2x]

Iya ni Wura (A Mother is Precious)
The song speaks volume of how precious a mother is to a child. The pains of a mother, who went through the period of pregnancy, delivery, and then  raising of the child, when the mother took care of the child. This affirms that a mother has done so much for the survival of a child. 

Example 2. Iya ni Wura (A Mother is Precious)
(source: author)

Lyrics
Iya ni wura Iyebiye ti a kole f’owo ra
O loyun mi fun osu mesan, O pon mi fun odun meta
Iya ni wura Iyebiye ti a ko le f’owo ra

[Mother is a precious gold that money cannot buy.
She carried my pregnancy for nine months.
And she backed me for three years.
Mother is a precious gold that money cannot buy.]

Folklores

Folklores are songs which Yoruba uses to educate the people in the cultural values and ideals of society. The intended values are taught through stories presented as folktales. The storyteller, often the one older than the audience, teaches related songs that are easy to learn by the listeners.  The songs are represented below.

Oluronbi

Example 3. Oluronbi
(source: author)

Lyrics
Call: Oni kaluku n jeje ewure
Response: Ewure ewure
Call: Oni kaluku n jeje agutan
Response: Agutan bolojo
Call: Oluronbi n jeje omo re
Response: Omo re apon bi epo
Call: Olurombi o
Response: Jain-jain, Iroko jain-jain

[Everyone was promising goat and well-fed sheep
(to the Iroko goddess)
But Olurombi promised her son -
a fair- complexioned, handsome youth,
(She was, of course, obliged to sacrifice him to the goddess).]

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Babalawo mo wa bebe

Example 4. Babalawo
(source: author)

Lyrics
Call: Babalawo mo wa  bebe    
Response: Alugbinrin 
Call: Oogun to se fun mi lere kan
Response: Alugbinrin
Call: To ni n ma ma fowo kan ‘nu
Response: Alugbinrin
Call: To ni n ma ma f’ese kan ‘nu
Response: Alugbinrin
Call: Gbongbo lo ye se mi gere
Response:  Alugbinrin
Call: Mo f’owo ba’le mo fi ba ‘nu
Response: Alugbinrin
Call: Mo bo ‘ju wo kun, o  ri tanda,
Response: Alugbinrin
Call: Babalawo mo wa bebe
Response: Alugbinrin

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Game Song (Eye Meta)

Example 5. Eye Meta
(source: author)

Lyrics
​Call: Eye meta tolongo w’aye
Response: Tolongo
Call: Okan dudu aro
Response: Tonlogo
Call: Okan rere osun
Response: Tolongo
Call: So so so f’iru ba le
Response: Tolongo
Call: So, so, so f’iru bale so
Response: Tolongo

[Three (mysterious) birds hurry to earth
One is as black as aro (local dye)
The second is as red as osun (local cosmetic red cream)
The third one has a long tail.
**Note: “Tolongo“ (the refrain) refers to a dashing and uneasy speed of the bird ]

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Lullaby (Omo Mi )

Example 6. Omo Mi
(source: author)

Lyrics
Omo mi o, akurubete kube
Omo mi o, akurubete kube
Ki me e ku o, ma a r’aso i o
Ki me e ku o ma r’ogba okun
Ogba okun lo a mu s’eye a ko o
Egbon re o la pon o a ka
 Akurubete kube, akurubete kube

[Oh my short child, short as grass
While I am yet alive, I will buy you clothes,
And beads which you will use as fashion 
Around town.
Your sister will back you all over town
Oh, short as grass.]

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Conclusion

Musical performances often reflect the general values of society, ranging from day-to-day human activities to fundamental thoughts and beliefs crucial to the derivation of a people's culture. Musical performances also constitute a dynamic forum through which members of a society respond and adapt to new conditions through the retention of relevant elements of existing tradition and assimilation of new ideas. In addition, it provides an effective acculturative medium through which new members acquire community-shared skills and values. The educational significance of musical performances in traditional Nigerian societies can therefore not be overemphasized, since "education is the vehicle by means of which the cultural heritage of a given society is transmitted to the younger generation" in order to "produce an individual who is... cooperative and conforming to the social order of the day" (Fafunwa 1983, 48).

Recommendation 

1. Schools should fully integrate folk songs, instruments and folk danced in the curriculum.
2. Singing development should be observed. Vocal exercises that enhance vocal development from within students’ musical culture should be encouraged and promoted.
3. Wealthy individuals in the Nigerian society should assist in the provision of music rooms, music halls for concerts, for successful teaching and learning of music in our schools. 
4. Balancing between African and Western music is quite necessary. There should be an urge that the study of African music should provide a sound foundation of musical literacy for Nigerian children, rather than foreign music.
5. Parents and the government should not underestimate the educational and cultural values of music schools. The Nigerian traditions, norms, values and cultures should be promoted through the teaching and learning of music secondary school level. 

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