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ABSTRACT
This article explores how trends in contemporary Nigerian popular gospel music shape religious pedagogy. By drawing on ethnographic data as well as situating popular music creative and stylistic dispositions within theological discourses, we present evidence of convergence between the sacred and popular culture to reveal both engaging and emerging ways for communicating theological truths in Nigeria. We note that the bearers of religion in Nigeria appropriate ideas within the existing and fragmented religious traditions/authorities and also fuse them up using approaches of appropriation, which are broadly garnered from the country’s popular music practices and industries. Consequently, we argue for a theological renaissance wherein scholars may wish to reappraise the significance of specific approaches to popular gospel music for the purpose of evangelism in the Nigerian churches.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 For a current and engaging historical text on popular music practices/experiences in Nigeria, see Ngobili (Citation2021).
2 Adoration grounds are places where Christians gather in very large numbers for special forms of prayer and worship, usually led by ‘highly gifted’ priests.
3 We note that all respondents provided their informed consent for their names to appear in this article.
4 Augustine Ogwo, interview with authors on 22 April 2018, Nsukka.
5 Amos Ugwu, interview with authors on 15 May, Aba.
6 ‘Orthodox Churches’ is used here to designate such mainstream churches in Nigeria as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and all others with clearly distinct hierarchical and doctrinal designations.
7 Emmanuel Asogwa, Interview with authors, 6 October 2018, Nsukka.
8 George Abba, Interview with authors, 20 October 2018, Port Harcourt.
9 Emmanuel Agujiobi, Interview with authors, 23 November 2018, Onitsha.
11 Remixing is the process of changing an already recorded (pop) song by means of digital recording technologies.
14 Avant-garde theological movement is a new theological school of thought that deviates somewhat from conventional theology, yet exerts a strong influence on the society. https://youtu.be/yyZ_RNJirSU.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Benedict Agbo
Benedict Agbo is a Catholic priest and senior lecturer in music, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds a PhD in Music from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Fr. Agbo’s research focuses on the area of Inculturation of Liturgical Music, and generally on compositional research from an ethnomusicological perspective with a theological bent in Sacred/ Liturgical Music. He has published a number of works in high impact journals and is currently emersed in researches in the area of Pastoral Liturgical Music.
Emaeyak Peter Sylvanus
Emaeyak P. Sylvanus is a senior lecturer and former Head of Music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds a PhD in Music from City, University of London, UK. His research interests straddle popular music, film music, and Ethnomusicology. As the pioneer scholar on Nollywood film music, Dr. Sylvanus has contributed several articles to high-impact journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences. His ongoing projects include film music archives and archiving practices in Nigeria, as well as an extensive study of the interplay of popular music and aspects of public culture in Nigeria. He is presently Associate Editor of the Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa.