Sakara music

Sakara music is a form of popular Nigerian music based in the traditions of Yoruba music. It generally takes the form of praise songs that are accompanied by traditional Yoruba instruments such as the solemn-sounding goje (spike fiddle), and the small round sakara drum, which is similar to a tambourine and is beaten with a stick. Sakara music overlays nasalized, melismatic vocals (which are inspired by the singing of East Africa, as well as by Arabic traditions) on a rhythmic accompaniment provided by the traditional percussion and string instruments. The music is often brooding and philosophical in mood.

One of the first performers of this type of music in Lagos was Abibu Oluwa, who started playing in the 1930s. On his death in 1964 his place in the band was taken by Salami Alabi (Lefty) Balogun (October 1913 - 29 December 1981), a talking drummer, who released over 35 records. Other members of the band included Baba Mukaila, and Joseph (Yussuf) Olatunju. Yusuf Olatunji (alias Baba l’Egba), who died in 1978, did much to popularize the musical genre and released many records on the Phillips Nigeria label. A street in Abeokuta is named after him.

Sakara music had considerable influence on other genres, including jùjú and Nigerian hip hop. Fuji music is a mixture of Muslim traditional Were music with elements drawn from Sakara and Apala music. When talking about style and the type of music that Sakara is similar to, people find it similar to Western country music. The Sakara genre actually derived its name from the predominant instrument, the Sakara, which is a membranophone instrument with only one covered side. Sakara is also mentioned to be pretty similar to soul music. It is also becoming popular on some radio stations, such as Premier FM, Amuludun FM, and Radio OYO. These are among those in south-west Nigeria that provide their listeners with Sakara music. This type of music listeners have confessed to sleeping off while listening to the music, because Sakara is played mostly on the radio late at night.