Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso
In response to the question of the relevance of ‘classical’ African Studies to the contemporary need of the continent, this article explores the dynamics of leadership challenge as portrayed in Yorùbá music drama genre, using Duro Ladipo’s most popular folk opera: Ọba Kòso (The king did not hang) a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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LibraryPress@UF
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Yoruba Studies Review |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/130284 |
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| author | Kayode Samuel |
| author_facet | Kayode Samuel |
| author_sort | Kayode Samuel |
| collection | DOAJ |
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In response to the question of the relevance of ‘classical’ African Studies to the contemporary need of the continent, this article explores the dynamics of leadership challenge as portrayed in Yorùbá music drama genre, using Duro Ladipo’s most popular folk opera: Ọba Kòso (The king did not hang) as a case study. Thematic exploration of the opera was carried out to establish the linkages between leaders’ (characters’) traits and styles as portrayed in the play, and Nigeria’s political leaders’ engagement and responses to social contracts with their citizens. By comparing the outcomes of the actions, inactions and (in) decisions of Nigeria’s political leaders and the attendant consequences on their subjects with those found in the opera. I argue that the African political leadership challenge is shaped by a combination of complex factors, including the leaders’ charisma and the quality of citizens’ engagements in the affairs of governance. These are largely occasioned by multiple effects of torrential and irresistible mob pressures on leaders. At the fringes of the debacle is a convergence of human fate and other coincidental elements within the various sites of the divide in the contestation for and utilization of power as a whole.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-668b76b308fc4064a16f4a4886339f77 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2473-4713 2578-692X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | LibraryPress@UF |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Yoruba Studies Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-668b76b308fc4064a16f4a4886339f772025-02-07T13:44:31ZengLibraryPress@UFYoruba Studies Review2473-47132578-692X2022-01-0162Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso Kayode Samuel0University of Ibadan In response to the question of the relevance of ‘classical’ African Studies to the contemporary need of the continent, this article explores the dynamics of leadership challenge as portrayed in Yorùbá music drama genre, using Duro Ladipo’s most popular folk opera: Ọba Kòso (The king did not hang) as a case study. Thematic exploration of the opera was carried out to establish the linkages between leaders’ (characters’) traits and styles as portrayed in the play, and Nigeria’s political leaders’ engagement and responses to social contracts with their citizens. By comparing the outcomes of the actions, inactions and (in) decisions of Nigeria’s political leaders and the attendant consequences on their subjects with those found in the opera. I argue that the African political leadership challenge is shaped by a combination of complex factors, including the leaders’ charisma and the quality of citizens’ engagements in the affairs of governance. These are largely occasioned by multiple effects of torrential and irresistible mob pressures on leaders. At the fringes of the debacle is a convergence of human fate and other coincidental elements within the various sites of the divide in the contestation for and utilization of power as a whole. https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/130284African underdevelopment, Political leadership, Yorùbá folk opera, Duro Ladipo, and Music drama |
| spellingShingle | Kayode Samuel Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso Yoruba Studies Review African underdevelopment, Political leadership, Yorùbá folk opera, Duro Ladipo, and Music drama |
| title | Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso |
| title_full | Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso |
| title_fullStr | Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso |
| title_full_unstemmed | Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso |
| title_short | Viewing the African Political Leadership Challenge through the Lens of Music Drama: Reflections on Duro Ladipo’s Ọba Kòso |
| title_sort | viewing the african political leadership challenge through the lens of music drama reflections on duro ladipo s oba koso |
| topic | African underdevelopment, Political leadership, Yorùbá folk opera, Duro Ladipo, and Music drama |
| url | https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/130284 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kayodesamuel viewingtheafricanpoliticalleadershipchallengethroughthelensofmusicdramareflectionsonduroladiposobakoso |