Abstract
Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has witnessed incessant violent crises in the last two decades. The conflicts have essentially centred on issues of politics, religion and tussle over claims of land ownership and right of the indigenes namely, Berom, Afizere and Anaguta versus their counterpart, the Hausa/Fulani settlers. Despite the use of many different conflict resolution and peace mediation approaches by the government and other stakeholders, the Jos crises continue to persist. Perhaps, it means that the various conflict mediations and peace building efforts/initiatives may not be effective as expected. This necessitates the exploration of alternative conflict resolution mechanisms. Music is credited to be an effective medium of cultural identity, creative expression and economic/political mobilization and empowerment as it is believed to have potential or real power to mediate conflict situations and engender peace. Thus, the musicals, “Blood on our Hands” is a composition that aims to mediate, mitigate, and possibly heal the wounds inflicted by the protracted and endemic communal crisis in Jos and environs. It uses materials that were obtained from both historical and current sources which reflect the painful realities of the crisis situation from broad and inclusive perspectives of the main actors. It tells the story in a compelling and delightful way using musicals that stimulate, engage and feed the attention of the audience aesthetically. This work, practically achieved from script to stage and finally to screen via a digital medium such as the studio.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Peace building is a serious business requiring the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders for the common good because peace, safety and security are everybody’s business. This is why all legitimate and effective means are usually considered and utilized towards engendering and sustaining lasting peace in most societies. The civil justice system is one of the common ways of resolving conflicts in societies through the process of litigation-a legal system that settles disagreements and conflicts in law courts. That is not all. Mediation, arbitration and negotiation are other options that have been found to be effective in resolving and managing conflicts. They all aim at promoting peace.
The musical, Blood on our Hands is a work that seeks to provide common ground for settling conflicts creatively and artistically while advocating peaceful and amicable ways of resolving human differences in Plateau State which has been ravaged by violent crisis for years. Using this creative work in peace building project will serve multiple purposes of entertainment, mobilization, enlightenment, promotion and preservation of cultural identity and above all conflict resolution. Davou (1997) has traced the historical roots of the protracted conflicts in Jos. According to him:
Long in historical antecedent, the opening up of Plateau and Berom land in particular by the Hausa/Fulani Jihadists during the Islamic revolution in the North for the proselytization on record that Tueraq slave led by Bawa Jangwarzo in 1779 suffered a defeat in the hands of the Berom when he attempted to carry out one of his notorious raids in Beromland. The attempts of incursion into Berom land by the Muslims did not stop with the defeat of the said raiders as other frantic but futile attempts were also made use of by the desperate Hausa/Fulani Jihadists to penetrate the land and convert the Berompeople to Islam between 1843 and 1847 (pp.1-2).
A major form of hostility on Berom people came when colonial authority invaded and annexed their land to explore and exploit tin in commercial quantity. Huge mining fields were opened and
serious mining activities happened at the cost of many lives and lands between 1903 and 1907. The operation for the invasion and subsequent annexation was led by Captain Laws of the Royal Western African Frontier Force (RWAFF). Colonial presence and its mining activities attracted people from different parts of Africa and beyond who settled in Jos alongside their host community, the Berom natives. Though there had been mutual relationship among the diverse ethnic groups that arrived and settled in Jos, but there were also mutual suspicion and rising tensions that eventually erupted into violent clashes.
Musicals, is a serious dramatic play that incorporates instrumental accompaniment, songs, and dance into a well-made story; it is filled with strains of beautiful music, body movement that add meaning and flavour to the story line with actors’ expressing full theatrical experience. In musicals, the dramatic acts play dominant roles than the singing aspect in different genres of popular tune is express in a single act of performance. Musicals depict a developed story with a character development, dramatic structure that express spoken dialogue referred to as libretto. The music in musicals includes incidental music script and scores combining songs with spoken dialogue guided by a creative team of experts such as musical director, choreographers, and sometimes an orchestrator. The technical aspect found in the musical theatre are set design, costumes, stage properties (prop) lighting and sound which generally change form to succeeding productions (Katja, 2016).
Musicals which can be referred to as musical comedy are genres of music-dramatic art for stage, television or film production making use of popular style of songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. There is synthesis of other arts forms. Britain and the America are credited to have played vital roles in development and transformation of the musical theatre in the 19″ century prior to the long-standing history of opera founded in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance period by a small group of wealthy artists, dramatists called the Florentine Camerata (Kenrick
1996-2003).The musicals which could be staged, filmed or televised have always been confused with other genres such as the opera and the operetta though in reality they distinct as thus.
In vocals and instrumentation, the musical requires the pop-rock helter vocal timbre and the accompanying instruments are far from being classical with just few instruments accompanying the music, unofficial linguistic structure of the locals while in opera, legit voices timbre with full scale classical instruments are required for accompaniment even though opera singers
successfully sing roles in musicals. Musical is more emphatic on actions, character act, light scores not difficult to sing. In opera, there are huge and difficult orchestral scores with music playing primary role. The songs in opera are composed in original language though there are some written in other languages such as English. Opera has being in existence for a long time ago, the practice has been in existence since 1600. It requires usually long period of serious rehearsal before staging because of its complexity and singers uses natural voices. Operas are usually written in the native language of the composer with tragic themes. Musical are more related with operetta yet differ in many ways. Operetta focuses on humour rather than emotions with the use of comic style of music that are less applicable in opera. Operetta is a direct descendant of opera and is a smaller form of opera large opera reduced into a smaller seize. It uses a smaller scale of orchestral instruments than the opera and larger than the musical, and are less vocally demanding than opera and most importantly, they are musical plays for the amateur troops and are performed without supertitles but with clearer dictions than opera (Walder• Biesanz, 2016).
Musicals got its root from America which is why it is often referred to as the American Musicals. Musicals and opera are similar in some ways. For example, they are both dramatic arts that use music, they both express a story though opera uses exclusively vocal music to tell the whole story with no or little spoken dialogue while, musical uses a combination of spoken dialogue and vocal music to express it story. Certain scholars strongly believed that opera, (operetta) and musical are the same depending on the setting and purpose. Musicals are and upshots of opera, with scenery and stage effects which are elaborate or simple with length similar to that of a movie. Musicals also make use of an orchestra though not large in size as that of an Opera; the actors use songs similar to popular songs style and actors make use of vocal amplifiers such as the microphone on stage. More so, most musicals are written in English language with comic stories and themes which often reflect history, culture and the socio-cultural, economic and political realities of the people.
Generally, there is consensus that those with musical knowledge are in better position to interpret and direct the musicals script than their counterparts in other fields of studies; as such, musicologists can be master architect in production without the aid of people from other professions. Most fields of studies use the conventional linguistic vocabularies devoid of un-
interpretational signs of parallel tones of indefinite pitches that can easily be interpreted unlike music that uses an unfamiliar sign of different pitches, melodic fluctuation, accurate vocal interpretation, unfamiliar signs of dance notation. Music is un-arguably an art of motion thus, the most likely factors to determine if a dramatic play with music is a musicals, the listed points below must be considered.
a. Musicals could be acted on stage, it possesses simple or elaborate scenery and stage effects
b. The length could be compared to that of a full movie as most musicals are shot on screens c. The orchestral seize may not be as large as that of the opera orchestra, musicals often employ contemporary instrument such as the Jazz drums and guitar in its
instrumentations.
d. Actors in musicals, use microphones to amplify their voices unlike the traditional opera that strictly uses the actor’s vocals.
e. In musicals, because of its contemporary nature, popular tunes are employed instead of the classical system.
f. Dialogue may be dominant
g. Some call it American opera because it uses English language or language of the immediate community in order word simple language structure.
h. Tunes sang by the soloists are often in a popular song style that is shorter in length.
1. With story line, often funny or dramatic that reflects the societal dealings, contemporary issues that tackle the present menaces (Walter, 1968)
The plot of the musicals Blood on our Hands is based on present predicament of unrest being witnessed in some communities in different parts of Nigeria. Indeed, the national landscape is littered with different forms of violent crisis such as those concerning land disputes; tribal and religious crisis; herdsmen versus farmers’ clashes; terrorism among others. At a time when there are tragic experiences of violent crisis, all seem to agree on the imperative of peaceful coexistence in heterogeneous nation such as Nigeria. The citizens are constantly enjoined to embrace and propagate the message of peace as against beating the drums of war through hate speeches, extremism and bigotry which destroy not only the people but even the corporate existence of the country. As a saying goes, “the tree that provides shade which people enjoy
today was planted yesterday and the tree whose shade we wish to enjoy tomorrow must be planted today”.
The most tasking form of reconciliation is when two faiths are involved, be it in the aspect of cultural or religious belief. Therefore, this musical comedy aims to advance the frontiers of resolving conflict and peace building process. The play largely contains the elements of musicals than operetta. The play could be acted on stage or shot on screen. It is written in plain and ordinary language for easy understanding. The compositional style is contemporary, attached with serious elements of comic or tragic scenarios being part of musicals comedy plays. The musical ‘Blood on our Hands’ is multi-media based show using three production formats namely: script; the score; the stage and the screen.
Over the years, it is observed that a good number of practitioners in other creative fields, particularly the performing arts such as theatre, drama and dance often restrict their production to improvisation, script, stage and screen. Provision for the music score of such productions is often omitted or ignored out of ignorance or absence of professional expertise. This greatly undermines the value, essence and function of music in such works. Leaming music is as good as learning a language that is not yours. It entails accurate pulse assimilation, rising and falling (pitches), creative design of musical notes and the intense memorization and application of rules and principles. Other fields of studies can smoothly be absorbed into music discipline with ease.
The central theme of the play aims to provide a common ground for building bridges of harmony, unity and tolerance among diverse religious groups in Nigeria with particular reference to Christianity and Islam. In the play ‘Blood on our Hands’, the traditional institutions, is portrayed as a binding force to the modem religious diversities. Religious extremism and fundamentalism have been identified as key cause of social tension, sectarian violence and terrorism which also undermines national unity and security. In this regard, the play seeks to promote inter-religious and inter-cultural marriages among the various religious and tribal groups in Nigeria. Yoruba people of western Nigeria are credited to be at the frontline of promoting their rich cultural heritages through various art forms and that the freedom of religious and cultural expression is highly respected.
Some of the sub-themes covered in the play include the following:
1. Theme of love and hatred
2. Theme of unity
3. Theme of diversity; and
4. Theme of inter-religious dialogue
The thematic role of the play is to foster peace-building by projecting love and unity among the diverse ethno-religious groups in Nigeria. The play is set in a local community with the Gbong• Gwom Jos traditional institution serving as a symbol of conflict mediation and resolution (Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict, 2010).
In many ways, music is multi-disciplinary as it shares close alliance with other fields of human endeavour outside the arts. For example, in medicine there is music therapy; in physics there is acoustics; in mathematics there is matrix table; and in engineering there is music technology. That is not all. Music is also associated with the fields of religion, philosophy, politics, economics and social life. Regarding music in relation to other arts and creative forms, Forchu (2012) maintains that:
While music is an art in itself, it is often integrated into other arts such as dance, drama, visual art, the film industry, and others. Through a proper manipulation of musical sounds, it provides the correct mood, emotional background and creates the desired effects in the presentation and production of these arts (p. 216).
Thus, in view of the above synthesis of music with other disciplines, it becomes imperative and a challenge for musicologists to creatively diversify their knowledge, skills, techniques and experiences in ways that they become conversant with and relevant to other fields of human endeavours in the arts, social science and sciences for optimal creative expression and productivity.
In order to meaningfully affect the current state of Nigeria’s socio-political and economic realities, there is greater need for creative versatility and flexibility in the approach to and understanding of musical practice. A major challenge in dealing with the Nigerian situation is the issue of a dense population that is in desperate need of good governance and the provision of basic infrastructures. Over the years, bad leadership and corruption have combined to cause severe hardship and suffering to a good number of Nigerians who often remain susceptible to
corru pt pra ctices, violent crisis and low pro ductivity. A ccordingly, Fab Leonard, (as cited in C hukwu ka & Izueke, 2014), has decried the prevalence and im plications of sur ging unemploym ent thus:
The high unem ploym ent ra te m the country regrettably poses great challenge to actu alizing the country ‘s target on M illennium D evel opm ent G oals (M D G s). For instance, part of N igeria’s M D G s requires governm ent to devel op and im plem ent stra tegies that give young people everyw here a real chance to find decent and pro ductive w ork. W ithout real jobs, youths easily fa ll prey to people w ho w ant to use them to fe rm ent tro uble … fo r as long as the unem ploym ent ra te rem ains high and the people live in abject poverty and deprivation, N igeria cannot obtain real devel opm ent (pp. 59-60).
G enera lly, the entertainm ent and creative industries have been adjudged to be a m ajor player in the developm ent of m odem econom ies and societies. A part from being a cultu ra l fo rce, m usic business has becom e a viable econom ic and com m ercial enterp rise attra cting patro nage from corp ora te organizations and investors largely because of the benefits of fa m e and fo rtu nes.
The m usic industry is a m ajor em ployer of labour and revenue earn ers. A lot of people, particularly the youth w ork w ith chur ch bands or secular private bands that perfo rm at social occasions. It is obvious that m usic is m ore of a pra ctical vocation requiring a lot of hard w ork and dedication. U nfo rtu natel y, the academ ic curr iculum and m usic tra ining pro gra m m e over the years have tended to em phasise the pro duction of theory based m usicologist than skilled pro fe ssional m usic pra ctitioners w ho are m ost likely to im pact society and the econom y.
For m usicologists to be m ore relevant in the N igerian creative-econom y and society, they need to be involved in the area of m ovie pro duction/ cinem atography, digital m usic pro duction into their field of stu dies to reduce the high ra te of Jo b seekers am ong m usicologists.
N igeria has a rich history of m usic-dra m a. H ubert O gunde is credited to be the fa ther of N igeria’s contem pora ry pro fe ssional theatre and he w as also the pioneer of m odem opera tic fo rm s in the country . Interestingly, O gunde w as neither a tra ined theatre artist nor a tra ined m usicologist. H e w as a staff of the N igerian police fo rce and a chur ch organist but he developed interest in researching into Y oru ba arts and cultu ra l fo rm s w hich gave birth to w hat has variously
described as “native opera” and “folk opera”. His works contained some elements of musicals such as simple language, singing, dancing which are essential component of most musical plays.
1.2. Purpose of the study
The main aim of this work is to create and produced a music-drama using three media namely, script, score, stage and screen as a tool for conflict resolution. Specifically, the objectives of the work include to:
1. create and design a musical play script with elements as characters plot, settings and symbolisms e.g. script, dialogue, scenes, props, theatre or location, acts, and actors
2. compose musical pieces and their score using different genres of music that interprets action and give fillings to the musicals
3. stage and produce the work using digital recording of the musicals subsequent to all the professional production/ video and voice recording rules followed.
Irrespective of any genre of music practiced in Africa, music in Africa is streamlined as a podium for social and cultural education as well as for moral arbitration, construction, and training for all members of a society. It subtle and piercing quality makes it well adapted to all forms of humanizing education (Onyeji, 2016, p. 22).
This work seeks to create a common ground for lasting reconciliation among diverse religions found on the Plateau as well create bound between the minority tribes of central Nigeria that fills intimidated by the Sultanate rule. By so doing, the musicals will equally open up another medium of understanding, promoting and documenting the historical significance of a mutual coexistence which bonded a peaceful mutuality between the headmen and the farmers on the Plateau. Broadly, this attempt will aid in awakening the African motion picture makers most especially, the Nollywood, to other variant art forms – (African musicals being one) which they can popularize by using them in the transfer of Music/dramatic or filmic ideas, as to achieve class variety in the African Movie industry.
1.3. Significance of the Study
Nigerian movies have been criticized for arbitrary use of music. Thus, this work is step in towards correcting and addressing this problem. It is hoped that the work will add value to the
evolving music-drama tradition in Nigerian films as in the days of Hubert Ogunde’s group that performed the ancient Yoruba art forms in music and drama.
The idea of conceiving, creating and producing an African work using mix-media such as script, score, stage and screen aims to advance the frontiers of artistic production in response to the emerging development and challenges in the entertainment industry and technology driven economy. Globally and locally too, complex advances in technology are continually redefining and shaping how performing arts works are to be conceived, produced, packaged, marketed and consumed. Information-communication technology, particularly the internet is playing a greater role on how entertainment practitioners operate. Thus, music is has assumed a greater role in human development as people who have the requisite skill, knowledge experience are better position to play leadership roles in Nigeria’s flourishing entertainment industry.
This project can also be referred to a dramatic musical work created for motion picture or a dramatic works. Its value will add to the economic and creative chart of this nation positively. The play will also add value to the phenomenon of globalisation in the 21century that is rapidly transforming the world through complex technological advances. Most fields of human endeavour have been digitized. Thus, musicologist as agents of social transformation must move with the changing times and trends in order to remain relevant to the modem economy and society. Music, media, and technology are inseparable entities that work together. Technology projects plays outside the wall of the theatre which makes such works and productions more available, accessible and affordable to wide range of consumers across the global digital market. When Musicals are put in CD, Internet or social media it covers a wider reach than the orthodox staging system which confines it to limited physical audience of the theatre. A lot of brilliant non-dramatic musical plays are not known because they are not on screen hence the composers are not accorded due recognition and celebration. Thus, moving the scripts to scores to screen justifies the enormous effort of the composers. It educates faster and brings the world into reality given people of all classes equal opportunity to compete in the world. The unprecedented economic benefits that lie in dramatic musical plays are enormous and there is need to explore the richness and the utilitarian values of such works to the Nigerian theatre and society. There are needs to revive the dramatic musical plays, stimulate interest in the area to encourage research and practical base productions as the area has remain undeveloped and unexploded.
1.4. Scope and limitation of the study
The Elizabethan and Jacobean plays from the time of Shakespeare to the 20″ century were structured in five acts. Acts which form the major division of drama also form the basic structure of a play. A scene refers to the actual actions that take play as well as the smaller component of the acts in a play. The use of acts and scenes in a play is to aid in the separation of performance for easy analysis of the plays; as such, it becomes an optional root to analysing plays. The researcher adopts the queue system (CUE) for the smooth analysis and easy identification of roles by the characters. The musicals “Blood on our Hands” comprises of 300 cues with music scores inclusive. The musicals ‘Blood on our Hands’ is purely performer bound, unlike the Opera which is strictly the composers’ idea. Words of the musicals are transmitted in English language with minor interjections of the Berom, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa Languages to portray glaring characteristics of the genre as well as portray the cultural identity of the location. Visual, Sounds and the sound effects (XFS) shall be digitally achieved with chorale taken to the studio for voice over that will enable the composer achieve a desired sound. The visual recording shall be done off stage with suited location that will aid in the portrayal of the imaginative imagery of the composer. At-last the musicals will be filmed with the aim of addressing the ethno-religious challenges engulfing Plateau State and Nigeria at-large.
1.5. Statement of the problem
Aside the scandalous material found in African musical comedy, African art composers are yet to establish a language which is comparable to that of the African literature. They strongly rely on systematic composition ethics and language of their colonist (Uzoigwe as cited in Onyeji,
2011). It has also been observed that there is tremendous proliferation of artistic works in Nigeria’s music-drama sector. However, there are problems associated with the practice of musicals in Nigeria which undermine the essence of the synthesis of music and drama. The indiscriminate use of music in theatrical performances as observed by Dung (2004) that, “Directors have resorted to very personal use of music in their productions … Close analysis of such usage of music results in interesting discovery. There has been no team work between the script writer, the director, and the composer” (p. 10).
It means that, there is need for synergy between the script writer, the director, and the song composer. Again, Omojola, (as cited in Dung, 2004, p. 10) further decried the abuses associated with the use of music in the performing arts, including movie productions. According to him, “a good number of modem Nigerian playwrights and directors … make use of music in their plays (but) the role of music in such plays often lack proper definition”. This is due to limited or a total absence of musicologist in the Nigerian movie industry that grossly affect the quality music need in Nigerian movies. Though the theatre production requires the collaboration of experts such as composers, dramatists, designers, choreographers, directors and critics but where the production is music-based it becomes pertinent for the musicologist to assume greater responsibility. Most dramatists in Nigeria can only script, direct, choreograph or criticise a play but can’t score a song due to technicalities involved so it needs a literate composer to do justice in that aspect.
A peculiar challenge faced in some aspects of music is the scarcity of music literature materials. Okafor (2005) aptly puts it thus:
Another area of vital need is the availability of necessary books, preferably written with the African environment and orientation in mind. They should be scholarly books written from wide range perspective, production of fieldwork and research. The production of these books should be seen as essential service. It is recommended that in areas where there is shortage of information, researchers, and people with deep, practical knowledge should be commissioned or encouraged to write (p. 218).
The Nigerian flicks despite being the most loved African movies globally, its music has widely been criticised for its inability in building up the various kinds of dramatic effects need in a movie. Most music in Nigerian movies often plays a transitional role than realistic role of emphasis and action interpretations (Amell & Day, 1975, p. 88). Nigerian movies have recoded some tremendous success over the years. In 2015 alone, the Nigeria’s movie industry, Nollywood was rated above Hollywood and right behind India’s Bollywood in terms of the total volume of film production with the data of $3billion industry. With the rapid growth in demand, many believed the movie industry could become the country’s economic backbone in years to come. However, critics have decried that the industry lacks production value, and actors have yet to breakout globally (Emaeyak, 2012). Unfortunately, of all the Nigerian best movies that have received African Movie Academic Award from 1992 to 2015 only two have received the
nomination for best movie soundtracks, they are Inele by Jeta Amata which was released in 2010 and Journey to Self by Tope Oshin Ogun in 2012. Though this result is quit poor but it can be improved if trained and professional composers venture into movies soundtrack for proper interpretation of sound in movies. Thus this work becomes timely as it advocates and encourages music composers on the need to salvage the industry. Most dramatic music composed by Nigerian music composer merely exist in scrolls alone with history of none have hit the movie industry they script non-dramatic musical works which are works that was not created for use in motion picture or dramatic work. This suggests that, music composers should not bury their heads on scores alone but should also explore other aspects of theatre, the arts especially in the area of film and media arts.
1.6. Methodology
This work is the visual representation of non-dramatic work of literature into musicals. With massive growth in the African film industry, professionalism is highly required to handle the different specialized aspects of artistic productions in order to promote excellence, quality and standard best practices. Materials are primarily sourced from the ancestral epics coin fully scripted, scored, staged and filmed. Other reliable information is also sourced secondarily from some published/unpublished materials and non-dramatic works of some composers. In other words, library research that will involve analysis of historical records/analysis of documents on the origin/the cause of the ethno-religious crisis that eloped plateau state since the pre-colonial, colonial and the post-colonial era to be used in the formation of the researcher’s storyline.
Another research type that as deployed in this research is the field type-participant observation or a direct method in a direct contact with victims of the sectarian crisis in order to write a script largely based on reality. Some basic research techniques deployed are content analysis of recorded events by journalist and articles on Jos conflict resolutions and the direct use of survey techniques for gathering of information. The procedures followed a creative, descriptive, analytical and practical demonstrative procedures and the exclusive use of the audio-visual recording systems plus electronic systems for visual and audio recordings.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
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