Rhythmic Variation in Nigerian Popular Music: Lagbaja’s “who man”

Abstract

Rhythm is the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats. African rhythmic pattern is characterized by improvisation and many other rhythmic techniques. The focus of this paper is to analyze the rhythmic pattern of “who man” and to identify and decode cultural values in Nigerian popular Music by examining this Lagbaja’s music. To achieve this, the paper adopt both primary and secondary sources of data, with a close listening to the music of Lagbaja “Who man”, within the ethno musicological frame work .The paper reveal that in this music, lagbaja used more than one gong which brought about an interlocking rhythmic pattern, the paper further revealed that this popular music brought the younger ones closer to the tradition of using African musical musical instrument which is fast fading away due to the influence of the west and he gave himself a clear identity as an African musician the paper raised the issue of gender inequalities as mention in the music admonishing the men gender to live and treat the female gender appropriately. The paper therefore concludes that with good knowledge of the basic rhythmic pattern or bell pattern in African music, African popular musicians can be more creative and innovative with a clear sense of identity.

DOI: 10.7176/ADS/110-04

Publication date: April 30^th 2024