Music from Nigeria

While it is certainly true that percussion percussion instruments are of fundamental importance in African music, it must be realized that there are very important African musical styles which are song unaccompanied—a cappella as it were. And in this program we're going to listen to two different styles of this kind of unaccompanied vocal music.

We listen to the so-called great ceremony of the Idoma people, who live in the southern part of the Benue-Plateau State of Nigeria. The great ceremony is a cycle of funeral songs that are performed at the funerals of very senior people, whether men or women.

This program features selections from Duro Ladipo's "O̧ba Kòso," a Nigerian folk opera.

In the last 10 years we have seen the development of a new style of opera with drums among the young people of Western Nigeria and West Africa. By now almost 20 of these lively works are in the current repertoire of various theatrical companies and the names of the composer/actors are famous in Nigeria.

In the last 10 years we have seen the development of a new style of opera with drums among the young people of Western Nigeria and West Africa. By now almost 20 of these lively works are in the current repertoire of various theatrical companies and the names of the composer/actors are famous in Nigeria.

While it is certainly true that percussion percussion instruments are of fundamental importance in African music, it must be realized that there are very important African musical styles which are song unaccompanied—a cappella as it were. And in this program we're going to listen to two different styles of this kind of unaccompanied vocal music.

We listen to the so-called great ceremony of the Idoma people, who live in the southern part of the Benue-Plateau State of Nigeria. The great ceremony is a cycle of funeral songs that are performed at the funerals of very senior people, whether men or women.

This program features selections from Duro Ladipo's "O̧ba Kòso," a Nigerian folk opera.