MUSICAL MOTIFS IN THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF WỌ LÉ SÓYÍNKÁ AND FẸ́MI Ọ̀SỌ́FISAN

Abstract

Wọ lé Ṣóyínká and Fẹ́mi Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan are two world-class dramatists whose works are creative inventions depicting a wide range of human experiences before an audience. Musical motifs are derived both from the internal structures of composition and the human-environment dialectic. Existing studies have dealt with how music serves as a bridge or an alternative form of expression in the dramatic works of Ṣóyínká and Ọ̀ ṣọ́ fisan. However, there is a dearth of scholarship on how musical motifs are used as dramaturgical aid to enhance the cultural philosophy adopted by the playwrights to communicate their dramatic intentions. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the underlying principles which determined the application and essence of musical motifs in the selected dramatic works. The Ethnomusicological and Cultural Translation theories were used as the framework, while the ethnographic design was adopted. Three plays were purposively selected from each of the two playwrights (Ṣóyínká: Kongi’s Harvest, A Dance of the Forests and Death and the King’s Horseman), and Ọ̀ ṣọ́ fisan (Moróuntodùn, Women of Òwu and Èṣù and the Vagabond Minstrels), based on their full musical motifs contents which portray their Yorùbá cultural background. Key informant interviews were conducted with the two playwrights, while in-depth interviews were conducted with two theatre directors and one choreographer who have directed and participated in either Wọ lé Ṣóyínká’s or Fẹ́mi Ọ̀ ṣọ́ fisan’s dramatic works. The Participant Observation method was used to collect the 83 music pieces used. Annotated documentation method was utilised for the transcription, using the conventional music notation software. Data were subjected to content and musicological analyses. The inspiration for the musical motifs in the dramatic works of both playwrights embodies the subsets of Yorùbá cultural philosophy such as belief system, Ọ mọ lúàbí, gender, and politics. Theatre directors used rote methods to teach the musical motifs during the productions of the selected dramatic works. They also assigned musicians’ roles to professionals who can interpret the musical motifs in the selected dramatic works. The stylistic features of the musical motifs were drawn from popular music and Yoruba traditional music genres. Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan composed music to all his plays, while Ṣóyínká often left the song compositions and productions in his works to the creative imaginations of the theatre directors. Predominant compositional techniques included parody, truncation, elongation, and tonal sequential repetition. The song texts revealed that social and sacred narratives are classified into four broad categories: ritual, ceremonial, social control, and dirges. The songs are structurally in responsorial, strophic, and antiphonal forms. The musical motifs in the dramatic works of Wọ lé Ṣóyínká and Fẹ́mi Ọ̀ṣọ́fisan are identifiable creative units in their rights. They are used as transitional and incidental indices crafted to project the intended mood and the Yoruba cultural values in the selected dramatic works. Therefore, African musicology, theatre, film and media studies scholarship should give more attention to the interpretation of musical motifs in the dramatic works of playwrights in Africa and the diaspora.