An Examination of the Everyday Christian Themes in Ebenezer Obey's Juju Music

Abstract

Ebenezer Obey, one of the most popular Juju music exponents in Nigeria, has contributed immensely to the development and popularization of Yoruba Christian music among Yoruba people both home and abroad. Beyond signposting culture, Yoruba Christian music also contributes to popular culture in Nigeria and offers the space for conversation about the everyday life of people. Ebenezer Obey’s musical repertory covers various Christian themes such as prayer, praise, morality and admonition as well as Yoruba philosophy about marriage, work, relationship, prosperity–spiritual and economic. Despite Obey’s indelible presence and relevance in Nigerian soundscape for over five decades, not much is known about the contributions of his music, particularly the themes to the everyday life, social and religious, in Yoruba popular culture. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore how the themes in Ebenezer Obey’s music help to shape spirituality and inspire wellbeing among his listeners on the one hand, and provide new contents for other Yoruba (Christian) musicians on the other hand. Anchored on the theory of popular culture, this paper examines ways whereby the use of the everyday Yoruba Christian themes is implicated in the music of Ebenezer Obey and its manifestations in everyday life among the Yoruba people. It employs the purposive sampling method to select song tracks of Ebenezer Obey for textual analysis. The Juju music of Ebenezer has continued to feature in the everyday life of Yoruba Christians and has formed part of the childhood experience of Yoruba Christians and those of other faiths, whether they reside in the rural or urban areas. The music of Ebenezer is therefore, part of the elements that make up popular culture among Yoruba Christians, as well as the non-Christian Yoruba.