Asa, Allyson, and Davies: Three Amazons of Tonal Integrity in Yoruba Vocal Music

Abstract

The existing body of literature has engaged the translation of English hymns to the Yorùbá language by European missionaries sung to European tunes, which constituted linguistic distortion of the Yorùbá language. Little or no attention has been given to this phenomenon in Yorùbá vocal music outside core liturgical settings. Despite the distorted singing of Yorùbá words in the church and its influence on Christian and popular Yorùbá singers, there remains a school of Yorùbá composers and singers, whose music has continued to align with Yorùbá speech tone pattern. Anchored on the theory of cultural representation, this study investigates three selected female icons of contemporary Yorùbá music – Bukola Elemide, Sola Allyson Obaniyi and Yinka Davies, who have demonstrated strong allegiance to Yorùbá tonal integrity in their musical vocalisations. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting two songs from each of the artists and subjected to content analysis. The music of the three selected singers conforms to Yorùbá tonal integrity, thereby promoting appropriateness in Yorùbá vocal music composition and performance. Their music has continued to create awareness, serving as an avenue for advocacy in the proper approach to composing and singing Yoruba music.