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 Yorà¹bà¡ language by European missionaries sung to European tunes, which constituted linguistic distortion of the Yorà¹bà¡ language. Little or no attention has been given to this phenomenon in Yorà¹bà¡ vocal music outside core liturgical settings. Despite the distorted singing of Yorà¹bà¡ words in the church and its influence on Christian and popular Yorà¹bà¡ singers, there remains a school of Yorà¹bà¡ composers and singers, whose music has continued to align with Yorà¹bà¡ speech tone pattern. Anchored on the theory of cultural representation, this study investigates three selected female icons of contemporary Yorà¹bà¡ music – Bukola Elemide, Sola Allyson Obaniyi and Yinka Davies, who have demonstrated strong allegiance to Yorà¹bà¡ 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 Yorà¹bà¡ tonal integrity, thereby promoting appropriateness in Yorà¹bà¡ 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.