Abstract
This paper discusses gender as a social reality from the perspective of the Yoruba people of South west, Nigeria. The paper hypothesizes that, the composition of Yoruba musical ensembles and the people’s musical activities, replicate their worldview of gender. Therefore, portray of Yoruba as a patriarchy society may not be adequate in representing the people’s view of the gender concept. The paper employs the practices and conventions in Yoruba traditional music ensembles to navigate the entire gamut of the discourse. Using ethnographic approach, data for the paper were collated from the six Yoruba states of Nigeria using mixed methods of interview, observation and bibliography. It hinges on the theory of gender complementarities, by Olajubu, 2003), the paper establishes the relativity of gender in Yoruba land. Though the Yoruba cultures is gender sensitive, the people, by their practices, see each of the sexes as complimenting the other and not subordinate or subservient. Therefore, sex to the Yoruba people is an expression of human physiology beyond an object for social stratification.
References
ADERINTAN, A.(2001) Subordinated by Culture: Constraints of Women in a Rural Yoruba community, Nigeria. “NORDC” Journal of African Studies. 10(2). Pp. 176–187
AKINTUNDE, A. (2001) The Yorùbá Royal Bards: Their Work and Relevance in the Society. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 10(1). Pp. 90–10
AWOLALU, J. & DOPAMU, P. (1974) West African Traditional Religion. London: Shedon Press. Pp. 124
BERNARD, O. (2023) “Lend Me Your Penis” sex and Sexuality in Yoruba lampooning Songs. Oye Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture. Vol. 3, No. 1. December. Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti
DUNBAR, J. (2021) Women. Music, Culture. An Introduction. Third ed. Routledge NY
ESAN, A. (2012) Gender Dialectics of Yoruba Drum Poetry. Rupkatar Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. Vol 5, No 2
EUBA, A. (1990) Yoruba Drumming: The Dundun Tradition. W. Germany, Bayreuth University
FAMILUSI, O. (2012) African Culture and the Status of Women: The Yoruba Example. The Journal of Pan African Studies. Vol. 5, No. 1. Pp 299–313
IDOWU, W. (2005) Law Morality and the African Cultural Heritage. The jurisprudential Significance of the Ogboni Institution. Nordic Journal of African Studies. Vol. 14, No. 2
KAYODE, S. (2012) Dundun Drumming in Yoruba Land. Journal of Performing Arts. Vol. 4, No. 3. School of performing Art, University of Ghana, Legon Accra
KOSKOFF, E. ed. (1987) Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective. CT, H. Greenwood
MURAINA, O. & AJIMATANRAEJA, A. (2023) Gender Relations in Indigenous Yoruba Culture: Questioning current feminist actions and advocacies. Third World Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 9. 2031-2045
OGUNYEMI, A. (2020) The African Musician as a Social Reformer: A Periscopic Assessment of Òrìsà Oko festival Music of Ókémẹ̀sí-Èkìtì. South West Nigeria. An African Journal of Arts and Humanities and Religious Studies, Department of Philosophy. Tansian University, Umunya, (IAAJAH). Vol. 8, No. 1
OGUNYEMI, A. (2020) A Study of Music Ensembles in Selected Courts in Lagos State, Nigeria. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Lagos, Nigeria
OLAIYA, A. (2021) Iya mi Osoronga. The Lesson and Machinations of Iyami Eleye, the Night Birds According to the analysis of Adeyinka Olaiya. African Cultural Institute
OLANIYAN, O. (2011) Compositional Process of Yoruba Dundun drumming music from Nigeria. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975–2935). Vol. 3, No. 4. Ed. Tirtha Prasad Mukhopadhyay URL of the Issue: http://rupkatha.com/v3n4.php URL of the article: http://rupkatha.com/V3/n4/22_Yoruba_dundun_music_Nigeria.pdf Kolkata, India. © www.rupkatha.
OLUDARE, O. (2018) Masculinity and Femininity in Yoruba Traditional Musical Instruments. Journal of the Association of Nigerian Musicologists. 12. Pp. 98–110
OLUGBOYEGA, A. (2004) Understanding Sexuality in the Yoruba Culture Understanding Human Sexuality Seminar Series, Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre
OYEWUMI, O. (1997) The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourse. Minneapolis, London. University of Minnesota Press
POGOSON, A.(2012) Gender Political Parties and the Reproduction of Patriarchal in Nigeria: A reflection on the Democratization Process, 1999–2011. Journal of African Elections. (1). Pp. 100–122
RUSAK, H. (2004) Women, Music and Leadership. Routledge, New York
SARAH, W. (2019) Ritual Sounding. Women Performers & World Religion. University of Illinois. Chicago
VILLEPASTOUR, A. (2010). Ancient Text Messages of the Yoruba Bata drumming. Ashgate Publishing Limited
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Bayo Ogunyemi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Journal of Gender and Power is an Open Access Journal. Copyright of the article published in the Journal of Gender and Power is retained by the authors with first publication rights granted to the Adam Mickiewicz University Press.