RELATIVITY OF THE NEGATIVITY: THE YORUBA ALASALATU MUSLIMS AS THE SYMBOL OF MUSICALITY AND RELIGIOUSITY

This study has led the researcher to the following conclusions that, Alasalatu is not only a religious organization but also a precursor or repository of Islamic social and musical ideas. Its music is a sub-stratum of the Yoruba Islamic music which also is a sub-stratum of Yoruba traditional music. Though the virtues as noticed in the music of the Alasalatu is mainly that of the Arab world, the structural, aesthetic and artistic values exhibited in the music are primarily that of the Yoruba. It is a fact that music in the divine worship is not found in Islam, but music has become an integral part of socio-religous life among the Yoruba Muslims. Finally, it can be concluded that the values of innovation experienced in the music of the Alasalatu in the contemporary time which is based on the musical materials it expands and new idiom it establishes have improved the performance of the music and have equally enhanced its stylistic, aesthetics, artistic, social and philosophical values. As long as the values it extols are upheld by the practitioners, the communities for its taste and the percentage of its patronage will continue to be on the increase.