Prisoners of Conscience: Music, Trauma, and Memory in Fẹ́mi Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan’s ‘Women of Òwu’

Abstract

Studies have shown that music is an effective therapy in the treatment of traumatised moods and emotions of an individual or a group of people. This becomes very evident in how music artists and others in the performing arts such as theatre practitioners engage music in narrating traumatic experiences in their works. Consequently, this study engages Women of Òwu, a dramatic work by Fẹ́mi Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan, in which music is deployed to express the female gender’s experience of psychological trauma in violent situations, especially war. It interrogates the psychological trauma experienced during such violent situations and the extent to which the affected women experience social justice after such traumatic experiences. Primary data was collected through content analysis of purposively selected compositions in the dramatic work. Secondary data was generated through the existing body of published and unpublished literature. To situate his audience in the emotion of the female characters, Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan employed the medium of music to express their anger, vulnerability, sorrow, pain, hopelessness, reflection and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The play features dirges used to mourn the dead; victory songs used by Erelú, to celebrate perceived justice for the promiscuity of Iyùnloyè, bridal serenade sung to express hope for a good marital experience in the hands of the oppressor that would marry the vulnerable women and songs with which they reflect and express their post-traumatic stress disorder. The study offers fresh perspectives on the global management of trauma.