Kwara State University
Hakeem OLAWALE
Designation: Lecturer I
Department: Linguistics African and European Languages
| My Publications | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S/N | Title | Abstract | Authors | Volume Numbers | Publication Type | Publication Date | Link | |
| 1 | Traditional Songs of Ìlọrin: Enacting Identities, History and Cultural Memories |
Abstract Ìlọrin is a distinct community and a melting pot where people of diverse ethnic and cultural identities came together to form a settlement from the 17th century. These ethnic groups include Yorùbá, Haúsá, Fúlàní, Núpé, Kànnìké, Kéńbérí, Bàrùbá, and Malians¸ Arabs among others. However, despite this ethnic and cultural diversities and the fact that Fúlàní hold political authority in Ìlọrin, Yorùbá language is the lingua franca of this community. How these ethnic groups find their voices and articulate their historical and cultural identities within this unified framework becomes a source of concern. As a response to this concern, traditional songs of Ìlọrin like dàdàkúàdà, bàlúù, agbè, wákà, kèǹgbè, orin ọlọ́mọ-ọba Ìlọrin, among others sung in Yorùbá language become a site of contestation of ethnic and cultural identities. The focus of this paper is to analyze Ìlọrin traditional songs as they portray and contest ethnic identities, reconstruct history and revitalize cultural memories of indigenes. The paper argues that given such a diverse ethnic and cultural origins, performance of Ìlọrin traditional songs become a reminder of family histories, origins, political structure, hegemonic influences, myths, legends Islamisation of Ìlọrin and a way of ensuring harmony and bridging generational gaps among the various groups in a state that is dubbed ‘state of harmony’. | Hakeem Ọláwálé (Ph.D) | VOl. 5, No. 1.2 | journal | 2020-01-08 | ||