Category: Tradition – Ceremonies
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Gele; popular headdress fashion in Nigeria. Gele was for the fashion divas of the 1950s the ultimate head piece. At no other time did the beauty of the gele become more apparent than in 1960 when Nigeria won her independence. Lagos was agog in 1960 after the independence. Nigerian women, especially Lagosians embraced flamboyant head…
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Talking drum called Gangan was invented in Old Oyo Empire at an unknown date. It is mostly used in the Oba’s palace to praise-sing eminent chiefs who come visiting, primarily to extol the virtues of the Oba. When handled with dexterity the talking drum can mimic human voices. Gangan consists of a widely hollow and…
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Dadakuada music traditionally from Kwara State, Nigeria, include varieties like Waka, Alagbe, and Pamupamu. Dadakuada music emerged from different groups of minstrels in the early 18th Century who made songs derived from eulolgy, ijala (ballad), incantation, invocation, and folklore. The music is an admixture of all folkloric genres which serve as imperatives on which the…
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Balogun Kuku was the De facto leader of Ijebu Muslims during the military subjugation of Ijebu by the British in the early 20th Century. His conversion to Islam in 1902 had been a major lost to Christian missionaries, so significant that the news was reported in a British mission magazine. Through his influence, the now…