Nigeria Christian Music Download

The growth that the urban Christian music scene in Nigeria has witnessed in the past few years has been a delightful one to watch, one for the books and will be in the records for a long time. From chart-topping projects to well-organized shows like that of secular events, the new school music is building an army for itself.

When the protestant Christian missionaries arrived in Nigeria in the 19th century, they disallowed native music as well as the use of musical instruments in the church because of the fear that these would encourage their converts to retain their heathen practices. However, today the solemn congregational hymns they introduced have been either supplemented or replaced with vibrant instrumental music in most churches. The article investigated the reasons why the missionaries banned instrumental music and assessed whether the musical innovations made by Nigerian Christians have hindered or helped the growth of Christianity. Applying the reader-oriented and phenomenological approaches, the article found that phases of musical adaptations in terms of indigenous genres, instruments and traditional and modern dance modes were introduced principally through the youth fellowship groups, indigenous choirs, the Aladura and the Neo-Pentecostal churches. While some critics have argued against these innovations, they have been found to have biblical support, particularly in the psalms. Among other advantages, the indigenous adaptations enhance interest in worship and cater for preferential musical tastes among worshippers. Most churches have come to value the new musical genres so much that they no longer can do without them during worship. Therefore, instrumental music has helped the growth and development of the church in Nigeria in several ways.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research involves both the Old and New Testaments as well as Christian music. It holds that rather than being a hindrance to the Christian faith in Nigeria, instrumental music has helped its growth tremendously.

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One popular definition of music is 'vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony' (Merriam-Webster 2022). But for the purpose of this article, music is understood as the art which 'inspires dance and guides movement to achieve harmony and synchronization' (Aluede, Aiyejina & Ekewenu 2007:80). This definition is considered more suitable for the African context where 'music, dance, drumming, and drama form a complex whole' (Aluede et al. 2007:80). By birth I belong to one of the mainline churches in Nigeria, formerly known as Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), and currently as Evangelical Church Winning All (also ECWA). The author remembers that in his later childhood and teenage years, in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively, the two forms of music during the Sunday morning service in the village church were hymns from the church hymnal and the choir's renditions. Both forms occurred at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the service. Both forms were also very solemn! The choir's song was accompanied with tunes from a guitar and a local drum; no dancing, no clapping of hands. The author noticed the same level of solemnity on a few occasions when visiting the nearby Baptist Church. But the situation was clearly different at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), as we often noticed their loud and frensied singing, drumming and clapping of hands. The author later learnt that the missionaries who brought the mainline protestant churches to Africa had forbidden instrumental music and dancing such as we used to hear from CAC. However, today, even at the village level, the solemnity of worship in the mission-oriented churches has given way to the vibrant instrumental music that characterises the African Initiated Churches (AIC).

The aim of this article is to examine the apprehension of the early missionaries about music in worship in Nigeria and to assess the current state of music in the church in relation to this apprehension. In other words, the article seeks to identify the reasons why the missionaries allowed only solemn singing in the church, and assesses the developments leading to the present state of music in Christian worship in Nigeria. Finally, the work appraises the role of music in the church in the forms introduced by Nigerian Christians. The article employs narrative analysis and the phenomenological approach. Rather than questioning the historical truth of a text, narrative reading treats it in its story form, inviting 'the reader to explore the dimensions of the narrative in its final form' (Oosthuizen 1994:85). According to Cranford (2002:159), a corollary of narrative analysis is the 'reader response' approach, which appraises the impact of the text on the reader. Employing the narrative approach, the article traces the performance of music in the Bible through the history of the church. The phenomenological method of study involves the researcher's personal observation and/or participation in order to describe 'the natural way of appearance of a phenomenon' and to gain insights into its meaning and essence (Qutoshi 2018:215). In doing this, the researcher suspends whatever valued judgement they hold about the topic and takes a neutral stance. Greening (2019:88) opines that the critical step of any phenomenological research is the description; hence many have seen similarities between this approach and the descriptive method which, as defined by Nassaji (2015:130), simply means to 'describe a phenomenon and its characteristics'. Therefore, using the phenomenological approach, the article describes the performance of music in the church in Nigeria, the author having observed and sometimes participated in it over the years.

The OT indicates that certain situations served as specific occasions for musical expression (Bakon 1978:161). Music was employed as 'a celebrative response' to victory over enemies (King 1990:36); or, as expressed by Bakon (1978:161), 'the spontaneous outburst upon the miraculous redemption' from danger. This is best seen in the Israelites' song of victory after the Egyptian army perished in the sea Ex 15). Spontaneously, Moses and the people sang to the Lord for their triumph over 'the horse and its rider' (v. 1). Verses 20-21 depict Miriam and the women singing and dancing with timbrels in their hands. With excitement, they sang to the Lord for 'the horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea' (v. 21, RSV1). Similar songs of victory are those of Jephtah's daughter (Jdg 11:34), Deborah (Jdg 5), and the women who sang after David killed Goliath (1 Sm 18:6-7). Music was also used to induce prophecy. After Saul had been anointed by prophet Samuel, as already told by the prophet, Saul came upon a band of prophets prophesying and playing music, and he too began to prophesy (1 Sm 10:5-6). Also, when King Jehoshaphat consulted prophet Elisha to ask for the word of God at a time of war, Elisha demanded for a musician, and when music was played Elisha prophesied (2 Ki 3:15). Thus, music put prophets 'into the proper frame of mind, perhaps a state of trance, to be able to prophesy' (Bakon 1978:162).

The earliest formal organisation of music is found in the books of Chronicles under the leadership of King David, during which time groups of singers were first organised into the 'form of a choir' (Amponsah-Gyan 2018:76). In 1 Chronicles 13:1-8, the ark of Yahweh had been abandoned in Kiriath-Jearim in the land of Judah, and David led representatives of the Israelites to bring it from there to Jerusalem amidst singing accompanied with the playing of the instruments called harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets (cf. 2 Sm 6:1-5). In 1 Chronicles 15, after moving the ark from the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, in consultation with the leaders of the Levites, David organised that lineage into a guild of 'singers who should play loudly on musical instruments' (v. 16, RSV), appointing Chenaniah as a sort of choirmaster (vv. 16-22). In the 'handing over' narrative of David to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 23, 4000 Levitical musicians are assigned to praise the Lord with various musical instruments (v. 5), standing every morning and evening to praise God, on the Sabbaths and at the festivals (vv. 30-31). At the completion of the temple by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 5, among the dedication activities was the performance by the Levitical singers in white apparel, playing all manners of musical instruments, along with 120 priests blowing trumpeters (vv. 11, 12). That a formal organisation with the role of a skilled conductor is here represented is shown in verse 13 (Bakon 1978:163), which states that 'it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD' (RSV). Lebaka (2014:3) is therefore correct when he states that music became formal in Israel such that 'professional guilds of musicians were employed to form choirs and orchestras', serving at the temples and shrines, and possibly in the palace. Hence, Bakon (1978:163) rightly notes that 'the Temple, serving as the religious-national shrine' was the centre where the art of music reached its height.

There is further evidence in the Book of Psalms of the formal and professional use of music in worship. This is shown in the fact that the psalms are 'set to songs and music [which] encouraged the development of guilds of musicians of a high order' (Bakon 1978:163). Amponsah-Gyan (2018:76) opines that some psalms bear marks indicating tunes (e.g. 57-59; 60; 75; 80), which shows that they 'were performed through chanting or in a recitative-style' at certain occasions of worship. It has been popularly suggested that certain psalms are songs rendered during the great festivals. The so-called Songs of Ascent (Ps 120-134), for instance, were probably sung by pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the agricultural festivals (Matthews 1992:933; cf. Ex 23:17; Dt 16:16). Psalm 68:24-25 is a specific example of psalms as songs: 2351a5e196