Music

The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of Folk and popular music, some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments, and songs. Bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments.

The Hausa and Fulani people of the North are known for complex percussion instrument music, the one-stringed goje, and a strong praise song vocal tradition. Under Muslim influence since the 14th century, Hausa music uses free-rhythmic improvisation and the Arabic scale, melding them with West African elements such as poly rhythms and call and response vocalisation.

The Igbo people in the south-east play a wide variety of folk instruments. They are known for their most widespread instruments such as the 13-stringed zither, called an obo. The Igbo also play slit drums, xylophones, flutes, lyres, udus and lutes. Courtly music is played among the more traditional Igbo, who maintain their royal traditions. The ufie (slit drum) is used to wake the chief and communicate meal times and other important information to him. Bell and
drum ensembles are used to announce when the chief departs and returns to his village.

The Yoruba have an advanced drumming tradition, with a characteristic use of the dundun hourglass tension drums. Drumming ensembles using the dundun as a centrepiece and Iyalu drum as back bone are the order of music in Yoruba land. These ensembles consist of various sizes of tension drums, along with kettledrums (gudugudu). The leader of a dundun ensemble is sometimes the iyalu, who uses the drum to “talk” by imitating the tonality of Yoruba.
Yoruba music has now come of age and the new generation of Nigerian music now sing in their native language.

In modern times, Nigeria has been called “the heart of African music” because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo for the development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú, highlife, and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of United States hip hop music and Jamaican reggae.
Nigeria’s musical output has achieved international acclaim not only in the fields of folk and popular music, but also Western pop music written by popular composers.

Listed below are links to exponents of Nigerian Music. It barely covers a few nominated artists and is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list.

JUJU ARTISTS
Tunde Nightingale – http://wn.com/Tunde_Nightingale
IK Dairo – http://africanmusic.org/artists/ikdairo.html
King Sunny Ade –http://africanmusic.org/artists/sunnyade.html
Ebenezer Obey – http://africanmusic.org/artists/obey.html
Shina Peters – http://www.myspace.com/shinapeters

HIGHLIFE ARTISTS
Bobby Benson – http://wn.com/Bobby_Benson
Cardinal Rex Lawson – http://wn.com/Cardinal_Rex_Lawson
Dr Victor Olaiya – http://wn.com/Victor_Olaiya
Chief Stephen Osita – http://wn.com/Chief_Stephen_Osita
Onyeka Onwenu –http://www.mytruspot.com/onyekaonwenu/
Sunny Neji – http://www.myspace.com/sunnyneji

APALA ARTISTS
Haruna Ishola –http://www.nigerianevergreenmusic.com/haruna-ishola.html

FUJI ARTISTS

Sikiru Ayinde Barrister –http://africanmusic.org/artists/barrister.html
Kollington Ayinla –http://africanmusic.org/artists/kollington.html
King Wasiu Ayinde –http://www.mytruspot.com/kingwasiuayindemarshal/

WAKA ARTISTE
Queen Salawa Abeni –http://wn.com/QUEEN_SALAWA_ABENI_KADARA_AFRI-
T_PART_

AFRO-BEAT ARTISTS
Fela Kuti – http://www.fela.net/
Femi Kuti – http://www.myspace.com/femikuti
Prince Nico Mbarga – http://wn.com/Prince_Nico_Mbarga

REGGAE ARTISTS
Majek Fashek – http://www.myspace.com/majekfashek

MODERN NIGERIAN ARTISTS
P Square, D’banj, 2Face Idibia, Omotola, Tiwa Savage, Ice Prince, Wiz Kid; Banky W; 9ice