INTERROGATING THE RESCUED IDEALS OF TERROR ENDANGERED FOLK MUSICAL ARTS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Folk music endangerment, which resulted from various accumulated forces, with special emphasis on terrorism, has been a serious concern to ethnomusicologists, musicologists, and humanities scholars worldwide. The concern for this endangerment stems from the importance, role, and value of folk music in community life. The recent emergence of terrorism, acts of banditry, and other forms of insurgency, mostly perpetrated by the Boko Haram and herdsmen bandits and other insurgents, has proved to be a threat to the survival of musical arts generally, and specifically the folk music arts in Northern Nigeria. Among other cultural and folk practices in Nigeria, folk music seems to be the most threatened in the recent upsurge of terrorism and banditry. Terrorism has heavily and dangerously impacted the practice of folk music in Northern Nigeria. Apart from the destruction of physical infrastructures and human existence, terrorism also threatens the existence of communities, which ultimately dampens the performance of folk music and further affects its sustenance, survival, and preservation. Underpinned by the sustainability theory, the study is devoted to the discourse on the interaction between the endangerment and rescue, using sustainability theory to interrogate the rescue ideals of folk music. This study employs a qualitative research design to obtain relevant information from appropriate respondents. The study reiterates that to face the endangerment implications of folk music, a multidimensional approach to the rescue of folk music is imperative and inevitable. The study suggests the application of sustainability theory to interrogate the field recording, digitization, archiving, and community inventorying as approaches for the rescue of folk musical arts in Northern Nigeria.