Music as <i>Edae</i>: The Implications for Music Therapy in Nigeria

Abstract

The use of music under social, political, moral, and religious circumstances in Africa is evidenced not just by the quality and quantity of the work done in this area of scholarship but, by the corpus of traditional songs whose texts, when critically examined lead us to important conclusions in forming opinions of their utility. This work examines the use of music in therestoration of good health. In the course of investigation, field work which involves participant observation, library search for relevant literature, interviews and chance talks were employed in eliciting germane information. Interestingly, this paper observes that there is a disconnect between the old use of music in Nigerian societies and its present use. It remarks that this disconnect is possibly the bane of the myriads ofgeneral ill health often experienced by man in contemporary Nigerian societies. It was suggested that if music is to uplift and heal man, then it should be culturally relevant, performed communally, the repertoire carefully selected to suit the target group and above all, have a determined duration of performance within a cultural context.