Beyond Entertainment: Dissecting Indigenous Knowledge Models in Select Nigerian Folksongs

Abstract

The aim of this study is essentially to analyse the folksongs of Esan and Enuani people of Edo and Delta states in order to identify and interpret their potentials as culture carriers and as indigenous knowledge models. While indigenous knowledge system means the totality of a people’s traditional practices and belief system experienced over time, the term ‘indigenous knowledge models of folksongs’ in the context of this essay, refers to the way folksongs represent culture. There have been a lot of studies on folksongs distinct from indigenous knowledge systems, and so it is rare finding any dedicated to establishing the affinity between folksongs and indigenous knowledge systems and analysing them as signifiers which encapsulate cultural practices and belief systems. To achieve its aim, the study adopted the ethno-anthropological approach in data collection as ten folksongs, five from Esan, the other five from Enuani, were subjected to textual analysis based on Risdianto’s three-dimensional model for analyzing folksongs which comprise the contextual, grammatical and semantic dimensions. Amongst others, the study found that folksongs are themselves a custodian of the people’s beliefs, identity and shared values. The study finally affirms that Esan and Enuani folksongs reinforce a deep sense of indigenous knowledge systems and models in terms of their representational function and stylistics and in providing knowledge of some of the cultural beliefs and practices of the people and their cosmogony.