The Yoruba drumming represents a foundational element of West African cultural and spiritual life, which functions as a vital conduit for historical preservation, communal engagement, sociological expression and spirituality. However, some of the Yoruba inherent cultural musical traditions and values are hardly documented except through oral history; which can be easily distorted or totally lost as a result of modernisation and more importantly, due to acculturation which is largely driven by foreignl culture promoted that is predominantly projected by the Western media. Therefore, this study analysed the musical performance of Ayanbirin Aduke's with regards to her lifestyles and cultural themes through Yoruba traditional drumming. Normative expectations of femininity guided the study through visual aesthetics by the concept of subverting an energetic performance style. The study adopted Content analysis research design through selected performance documentaries and key personality interview conducted during the fieldwork documenting audio and video recordings as well as visual materials including photos and vlogs analyse thematically analysed. Findings revealed that Ayanbirin Aduke’s choice of performance costumes were mostly Yoruba traditional and native attires combining of Agbada with Aso-Oke reflecting a challenge to re-defining traditional male-gender norms, also, her ensemble combines a fussion of Yoruba traditional drums; Apala, Sakara, Omele with Western musical instruments; drum-set and keyboard. Lastly, Ayanbirin Aduke's drumming performance and musical narratives depict acts of socio-cultural advocacy and activism through socio-political expression geared towards resistance to corruption, societal moral decadence and grounded in artistic defiance. The study concludes that Ayanbirin Aduke's drumming performance involves strategic use of Yoruba cultural attires of Agbada and Aso-Oke as usual costume that promotes energetic performance style with the use of a deliberate fusion of both traditional and modern musical instruments cum elements of creative cultural work as a nuanced form of activism, that is intertwined with socio-political critique. Hence, the study recommend sustainability of more females in Yoruba cultural drumming field towards promotion and apreservation of the drumming traditions among Yoruba people of Southwest Nigeria.
Dosunmu-Lawal et al. (Thu,) studied this question.