Music of Nigeria

The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of folk and popular music, some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments and songs. Little is known about the country's music history prior to European contact, although bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments.

Nigeria has been called "the heart of African music" because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere. Highlife was an important foundation for the development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of United States hip-hop and Jamaican reggae. Nigeria's musical output has achieved international acclaim not only in the fields of folk and popular music, but also Western art music written by composers such as Fela Sowande.

Polyrhythms, in which two or more separate beats are played simultaneously, are a part of much of traditional African music, Nigeria is no exception. The African hemiola style, based on the asymmetric rhythm pattern, is an important rhythmic technique throughout the continent. Nigerian music also uses ostinato rhythms, in which a rhythmic pattern is repeated despite changes in meter.

Nigeria has some of the most advanced recording studio technology in Africa, and provides robust commercial opportunities for music performers. Ronnie Graham, an historian who specializes in West Africa, has attributed the success of the Nigerian music industry to the country's culture—its "thirst for aesthetic and material success and a voracious appetite for life, love and music, [and] a huge domestic market, big enough to sustain artists who sing in regional languages and experiment with indigenous styles". However, political corruption and rampant music piracy in Nigeria has hampered the industry's growth.

Folk music

More than 400 ethnic groups are native to Nigeria, and many more have immigrated there in recent years; the largest ethnic groups are the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba tribes. Traditional music from Nigeria and throughout Africa is almost always functional; that is, performed to mark a ritual such as a wedding or funeral, and not for pure entertainment or artistic enjoyment.

Although some Nigerians, especially children and the elderly play instruments for their own amusement, solo performance is otherwise rare. Music is closely linked to agriculture, and there are restrictions on, for example, which instruments can be played during different parts of the growing season.

Work songs are a common feature of traditional Nigerian music. They help to keep the rhythm of workers in fields, river canoes and other fields. Women use complex rhythms in housekeeping tasks, such as pounding yams to highly ornamented music. In the northern regions, farmers work together on each other's farms and the host is expected to supply musicians for his neighbors.