Joseph Kunnuji
Biographic Data
| ID | 1242536 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joseph Kunnuji |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joseph |
| FAMILY NAME | Kunnuji |
| SIGNATURE | KUNNUJI J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Free State |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7355-4608 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Resounding Yorùbá narratives
This article interrogates the historical performance of àlọ́ (Yorùbá folktale/chantefable) as recorded by the ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik in 1963. We studied two recordings from Kubik’s collection by means of collaborative close listening, which leverages our respective research competencies and skills to foster a robust engagement with the archived material. This method, drawing on the Yorùbá concept of àgbájọwọ́ and Nyamnjoh’s idea of convi…
On African Music
Gbokos
In this article, I trace the history and examine the role of gbokos (commercial indigenised wind band formation) in nurturing the jazz sensibilities of members while contributing to the broader social fabric in Lagos State, Nigeria. I employ the method of collaborative autoethnography to construct this account, drawing on the experience I share with five other musicians with roots in the tradition to develop a narrative on gbokos which spans thre…
Performing Affects
Interrogating the nuances of West African melodies
Whereas writings on African melodies have addressed their structures, shapes and forms, the way characteristic traits such as cadential practices aid to nuance the musics of different ethnolinguistic groups remains largely undocumented. Relying on Ogu songs, this article argues that there are group-specific stylistic practices that nuance the melodies of West African peoples. It examines ten songs selected from bands in Badagry (Lagos State, Nige…
Gangbe in Badagry, Nigeria
Before colonialism, Gbe women enjoyed a social status on par with men. However, there has been a shift in the postcolonial social structure of Gbe societies. Modern capitalism, which accompanied colonial structures, privileged men, eroding many woman-empowering practices. This article examines Ogu women's marginality through an ethnographic study of gangbe (a musical genre exclusive to married Ogu women). I argue that the sources of Ogu women's m…
Towards a contextual theology of conviviality
Both Tutu and Bonhoeffer embraced conviviality as an attribute of Christian life, not only as theory, but also in practice. Both also drew from lived experience in an effort to articulate their respective theologies of conviviality. We discuss the experience of music and musical metaphors as a lens through which to explore this relationship between lived experience and an explicit theology of conviviality. Bonhoeffer’s metaphor of the “polyphony …
Banding Together in Cape Town and Lagos
This article discusses reciprocity in research as engaged scholarship and, more specifically, applied ethnomusicology. It draws on two ethnographic studies and their associated activism in Cape Town, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. The article investigates the histories of engaged scholarship and applied ethnomusicology and suggests that each community requires a method of engagement based on its contextual specifics. Hence, the case studies may…
Musical responses from lockdown
(2020). Musical responses from lockdown: adaptations in foregrounding remote performances in Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa: Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 141-144
Guided Syncretism
At the Congress of Berlin (1884–85), the colonial governments created and imposed boundaries on the people of the continent, thereby fragmenting, for example, Gbe ethnolinguistic groups into different west-African countries, under the administrations of Britain, France and Germany. The Badagry-Ogu ethnic group, being the only Gbe ethnolinguistic group in Nigeria, which was colonised by the British government, was marginalized due to its positiona…
Banding Together in Cape Town and Lagos
This article discusses reciprocity in research as engaged scholarship and, more specifically, applied ethnomusicology. It draws on two ethnographic studies and their associated activism in Cape Town, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. The article investigates the histories of engaged scholarship and applied ethnomusicology and suggests that each community requires a method of engagement based on its contextual specifics. Hence, the case studies may…
Guided Syncretism
At the Congress of Berlin (1884–85), the colonial governments created and imposed boundaries on the people of the continent, thereby fragmenting, for example, Gbe ethnolinguistic groups into different west-African countries, under the administrations of Britain, France and Germany. The Badagry-Ogu ethnic group, being the only Gbe ethnolinguistic group in Nigeria, which was colonised by the British government, was marginalized due to its positiona…
Musical responses from lockdown
(2020). Musical responses from lockdown: adaptations in foregrounding remote performances in Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa: Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 141-144
Towards a contextual theology of conviviality
Both Tutu and Bonhoeffer embraced conviviality as an attribute of Christian life, not only as theory, but also in practice. Both also drew from lived experience in an effort to articulate their respective theologies of conviviality. We discuss the experience of music and musical metaphors as a lens through which to explore this relationship between lived experience and an explicit theology of conviviality. Bonhoeffer’s metaphor of the “polyphony …
Banding Together in Cape Town and Lagos
This article discusses reciprocity in research as engaged scholarship and, more specifically, applied ethnomusicology. It draws on two ethnographic studies and their associated activism in Cape Town, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. The article investigates the histories of engaged scholarship and applied ethnomusicology and suggests that each community requires a method of engagement based on its contextual specifics. Hence, the case studies may…
Interrogating the nuances of West African melodies
Whereas writings on African melodies have addressed their structures, shapes and forms, the way characteristic traits such as cadential practices aid to nuance the musics of different ethnolinguistic groups remains largely undocumented. Relying on Ogu songs, this article argues that there are group-specific stylistic practices that nuance the melodies of West African peoples. It examines ten songs selected from bands in Badagry (Lagos State, Nige…
Gangbe in Badagry, Nigeria
Before colonialism, Gbe women enjoyed a social status on par with men. However, there has been a shift in the postcolonial social structure of Gbe societies. Modern capitalism, which accompanied colonial structures, privileged men, eroding many woman-empowering practices. This article examines Ogu women's marginality through an ethnographic study of gangbe (a musical genre exclusive to married Ogu women). I argue that the sources of Ogu women's m…
Gbokos
In this article, I trace the history and examine the role of gbokos (commercial indigenised wind band formation) in nurturing the jazz sensibilities of members while contributing to the broader social fabric in Lagos State, Nigeria. I employ the method of collaborative autoethnography to construct this account, drawing on the experience I share with five other musicians with roots in the tradition to develop a narrative on gbokos which spans thre…
Performing Affects
On African Music
Resounding Yorùbá narratives
This article interrogates the historical performance of àlọ́ (Yorùbá folktale/chantefable) as recorded by the ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik in 1963. We studied two recordings from Kubik’s collection by means of collaborative close listening, which leverages our respective research competencies and skills to foster a robust engagement with the archived material. This method, drawing on the Yorùbá concept of àgbájọwọ́ and Nyamnjoh’s idea of convi…
Art (7 works) · Diverse Musicological Studies (6 works) · Music History and Culture (6 works) · Visual arts (6 works) · Musical (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Anthropology (3 works) · Colonialism (3 works)