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Pop Tradition in Nigeria: Transforming Traditional Yorùbá Bàtá Performance into a Worldly Fusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2013

Abstract

The most recent generational shift in the culture of Yorùbá Bàtá performance has provoked frustration in older artists who are worried that their tradition is dying. The generation of artists in its twenties fuses traditional bàtá, with popular musical genres, creating a fusion style I call “pop tradition.” “Pop” signifies the young artists' desires to identify with a pan-Yorùbá and global culture, fueling a particular worldly performance style rooted in both tradition and modernity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2007

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