Musicking Animal Crisis Narratives and Welfare Threats Occasioned by Drumming in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

This study explores animal crisis narratives and welfare threats triggered by the killing and use of animal body parts for drum-making in Southwest Nigeria. The Yorùbá culture relies heavily on the use of animal body parts for food production and the making of drums. They also use animal parts for medicinal and spiritual fortification purposes. Despite this reality, studies on animal welfare from a musicological perspective are rare. This study, therefore, examines the threats to animal welfare and the destruction of animals as a result of the age-long drumming culture. Ethnographic methods were used to source data, including participant observation, interviews, music analysis, and textual analysis. Secondary data were sourced from books and relevant internet sources. Ecomusicology's theoretical framework was employed to bridge music, wildlife, environment, and culture to expose the hidden human music cruelties against animals. The levels of animal crisis narratives, animal welfare incursions, and animal brutalities were represented with the table of opportunity cost, and the percentage cost in economic terms were shown with multiple bar graphs. Findings further reveal the dangers of animals turned into capital and its attendant effects on human existence. The article argues that cruelty towards ecological features like animals, dismembering their body parts for drum-making, and exhibiting animals for money-making schemes is a danger to the ecosystem. The study seeks strong protection for animals, and an alternative, sustainable strategy for sourcing animal use in drum-making.