Music, Sacred Practice, and Social Meaning in the Igogo Festival of Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Music as an integral aspect of the African cultural life is associated with social and sacred ceremonies such as festivals, rituals and religious worship. However; the advent of western civilization, modernization and industrialization has eroded several aspects of the African culture and caused many to suffer neglect and in the danger of becoming obsolete and not appreciated by the people within the culture that produced the music especially the youths. Some of these cultural heritages have however survived and adapted despite the pressure of civilization. Documentation, preservation and publicizing the traditional African musical culture and associated festivals is therefore important so that they do not go into extinction. It is on this premise that this study examines music, sacred practice, and social meaning of Igogo Festival of the Owo people in Ondo State, Nigeria. This study adopts participant observation and descriptive methods to document facts and data on this festival with oral interview tool, and review of related literatures as our secondary source. The study adopts the Cultural Relativism and African Performance theories as a theoretical underpin. It is observed that Igogo festival is a major festival among other festivals of the Owo people with its innate sacred, social and musical intricacies. Further findings also reveal that the proliferation of other foreign religions has not deconstructed the sacred rites of this festival as the sacred nature of this festival is protected, maintained and held high by the people. This study concludes that Igogo festival over the years is a communal festival which has been used for socio-economic and cultural promotion among the Owo people and therefore recommends that the high socio-economic potency and cultural intricacies of the festival should place it on a pedestal for national and global tourist attraction.