Author: Adetoyese, Oladapo Adeyeye
Journal of Music Composition
Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 55-85, February 2026
Received: 12 Dec. 2025 |
Accepted: 23 Dec. 2025 |
Published: 12 February 2026
Musical Analysis
Ojeje is a compelling expression of Yoruba oral tradition, where music operates simultaneously as narrative, moral instruction, and cultural memory. Rooted in folklore, the piece recounts the tragic story of a young girl betrayed by her stepmother, whose disobedience leads to the child’s death and subsequent spiritual transformation. Her voice, now speaking from beyond the grave, becomes a haunting lament that continues to address the living.
The composition is structured in a cyclical call-and-response form and incorporates African
idiophones, Western melodic instruments, and layered polyrhythms. These musical elements
work together to evoke a communal atmosphere of mourning, justice, and spiritual reckoning.
This analysis examines the work’s formal structure, thematic content, rhythmic organisation,
and improvisational features, illustrating how Yoruba musical practice functions as an archive of ethics, memory, and spirituality. Drawing on the scholarship of Nketia (1974), Chernoff (1979), Agawu (2003), and Okpewho (1992), the discussion highlights how Ojeje blurs the boundaries between performance and ritual, grief and resistance, and sound and story.
The narrative behind Ojeje is deeply embedded in Yoruba folklore. A child conceived through
sacrificial rites is entrusted to her stepmother, who is instructed by a herbalist to feed her only
eggs. Instead, the stepmother consumes the eggs herself and feeds the child water yams, leading to the girl’s premature death. The child’s spirit ascends and perches on a tree along the Ojeje market path, where she calls out to passers-by, recounting her suffering and seeking her mother.
The song thus becomes a moral indictment of greed, disobedience, and cruelty, while
simultaneously conveying themes of tragedy, spiritual transcendence, and cosmic justice.
Copyright © 2025 The author retains the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.
Download Full-Text (PDF)
Agawu, K. (2003). Representing African music: Postcolonial notes, queries, positions.
Routledge.
Chernoff, J. M. (1979). African rhythm and African sensibility: Aesthetics and social action
in African musical idioms. University of Chicago Press
Drewal, H. J., Pemberton, J., & Abiodun, R. (1989). Yoruba: Nine centuries of African art
and thought. The Center for African Art in association with Harry N. Abrams.
Nketia, J. H. K. (1974). The music of Africa. W. W. Norton & Company.
Nzewi, M. (1991). Musical practice and creativity: An African traditional perspective.
Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria.
Okpewho, I. (1992). African oral literature: Backgrounds, character, and continuity. Indiana
University Press.
Author
Adetoyese, Oladapo Adeyeye