MUSIC & DANCE IN YORUBA WORSHIP

Music and dance occupy important position in worship in Yoruba Religion. The Yorubas’ are singing people, in their singing, which comprises of songs, lyrics, and minstrels, they tell stories of past, the circumstances of the present and the hope and fear of the future.

Songs are employed in almost every sphere of their lives, in worship, in naming ceremonies, in wedding, in funeral, in wrestling, in cultivating the farm, in working, in going to war, in praising the rulers, in rocking babies to sleep and in many other activities

Songs usually convey sentiments or truth. They express people’s feeling of joy, sorrow or thanksgiving. Songs in worship convey the faith of the worshippers, their beliefs in and about the divinity. The praise names and the attribute of the divinities are revealed through songs used in worship. Songs also enhance emotional and physical participation in the act of worship and often lead to ecstatic experiences

For instance, during worship when the singing and dancing penetrate wholly into every being of the worshipper, spirit possession may follow and the possessed devotee may give message from the divinity.

The music may be quiet, loud, or noisy, that depends on the kind of worship in which it occurs. It may be singing accompanied by clapping or singing accompanied by instruments. The kind of worship decides how full the instrument may be, two piece of bamboo sticks, or metal, held by each member of the congregation, it may be drum, it may be a stick and a gong or sticks and gongs, it may be these together

Hymns occur often on communal worship. Each divinity has his own set of hymns which are connected with the cult. These are sung as occasion demands, either during the sacred day worship or during the annual worship or the time of crisis or at funeral. In the set order of worship, where they are strictly followed there are appropriate traditional point at which hymns are sung. When such a place is reached, the hymns are struck up by the officials, the congregation joining the chorus. The traditional number of the hymns and the point at which they are sung vary with each liturgy

Besides the hymns, lighter songs may occur during the ritual. This may come during the annual worship after a successful casting out of kola-nut, these are songs of rejoicing that the offering have been accepted.

The characteristics of the divinity are also revealed through songs rendered during worship. Although the songs are not recorded, the officiating priests never forget the order in which they should be sung. The belief is that if the songs are not sung accordingly, the sacrifice will not be acceptable to the divinities.

Dancing on the other hand is no less prominent during worship than songs. There is therefore a place for dancing in the rituals especially during the sacred day worship and during the annual festival celebration. The dances take definite form, depending on the divinities to which the offerings are made. The dances which are ritualistic in nature is more emotional responses to the rhythm of music, they are symbolic and revealed as something sacred.

Curled from a write-up by Akinfrewa O.B