Prefiguring as an Indigenous Narrative Tool in Nigerian Cinema

An Ethnomusicological Reading

Bibliographic Data

ID2736600
AuthorsEmaeyak Peter Sylvanus (0000-0002-7502-5523, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume63
Issue2
Pages159-183
Publication date2019-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnomusicology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0014-1836 • E-ISSN: 2156-7417
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/ethnomusicology.63.2.0159
OpenAlexW2952984667
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited30

Prefiguring entails the use of music to predict dialogue and scenes in film. It is prevalent in the cinematic productions of both the ethnic-based film industries in Nigeria and mainstream Nollywood. Theoretically, prefiguring is a function of indigenous storytelling practices, the appropriation of which conjures up layers of meaning for the local practice, practitioners, and audiences. Relying on in-depth textual analyses, composers' accounts, and relevant literature, I argue that prefiguring is a concept of major theoretical importance to the study of music in Nigerian cinema, not least because its existence and efficacy strongly support notions of a localized film music practice

Aesthetics · Appropriation · Art · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Indigenous · Linguistics · Literature · Mainstream · Meaning (existential) · Media studies · Movie theater · Narrative · Political science · Reading (process) · Sociology · Storytelling · Anthropology · Cinema and Media Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy

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