Reminiscences of a legendary Nigerian art music composer and scholar, Dan Agu

Abstract

Many individuals have made remarkable contributions to the study of music in Nigeria, with their efforts, resulting in the formulation of theories, studies on African music, manpower production, and music compositions. The role of the music scholar is fraught with challenges which include reporting research findings, that can be very tricky without an in-depth knowledge of the subject; and teaching, which can also be misleading to learners without systematically applying suitable methods. In music, combining research with composition/performance further makes itintricate, since the system in Nigeria, makes it difficult to efficiently fuse scholarship with music practice. In most cases, music graduates are left with the option of electing between being a music scholar and music artiste. These concerns notwithstanding, Professor Dan Agu, was able to efficiently combine both areas, as he excelled in African music theory and practice, composition, performance, music education, and university administration. His research findings in these areas coupled with other experiences garnered in the field of music have been of immense benefit to many a people. The paper attempts to examine these contributions with focus on his personality, research, music composition and development of manpower. In eliciting data, the author relied on descriptive method, interviews and personal experiences garnered through observation of Dan Agu. Firstly, as a teacher where the author had a first-hand experience as an undergraduate student, and later, as a postgraduate candidate. The paper found that Agu’s scholarly works are rich in scope and content. It is recommended that his creative and scholarly works be compiled and published in books of different volumes to enable wider circulation in the academic spaces.