EMPIRICAL REVIEW

1. CULTURE

Williams (1976) describes culture as a notorious and slippery concept to apprehend because it defies neat and precise definitions. To appropriate episteme from its Latinate roots colere, cultura and cultus, culture is a term moored in agricultural science. It means to inhabit, till, tend or nurture a land/place hence the word cultivate (Gedalof, 2005). In the biological sciences, it denotes the creation of conditions for growth like that of bacteria. In a spiritual sense, culture is derived from cult, a religious ethic (Culture) which translates to a specialized knowledge available to those who are initiates and who are held by certain rigid and strict tenets directed to the veneration of a figure/thing (Tsaaior,2016).

Cult as a term is neutral or innocuous depending on how it is appropriated and used or abused. It is also the cultivation of the mind or soul; a disciplining of the human body, spirit and intellect so as to overcome the primeval instincts of barbarism and philistinism (Velkey, 2002).

Culture is the sum total of our lives as individuals, groups and societies. It is the antipode of nature; an index of civilization (Greenblatt, 1995). Indeed it is inconceivable to think human civilization without thinking culture. It is what makes us rational and social beings different from creatures. We are born into culture, live in culture and exist within it and transmit it to our progeny. It is a living tissue. It is not static, fixed, frozen or invariant. Rather it is dynamic and in a state of perpetual flux. It is constantly evolving or changing in fidelity to human existential conditions and the historical process (Tsaaior, 2015). Culture can, therefore, be broadly defined as the culmination of the learned behaviour of a group of people that is generally considered to be the tradition of that people and is transmitted from generation to generation (Spencer-Oatey, 2008). It is “a whole way of life, material, intellectual and spiritual” which confers concrete identity on a group or people (Williams, 1961).

Culture is also the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from one another (Hofstede, 1991/1994 and Matsumoto, 2012). This idea is acknowledge by all student of culture: evolutionists, diffusionists, and functionalists (Okpewho, 1992). Whether studied through the diachronic or synchronic axis, culture is the cumulative deposit of meanings, knowledge, values, experience, beliefs, attitudes, , religion, notions of time, hierarchies, roles, concepts of the universe, spatial relations, material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving (Samovar, 2004). Culture also “breathes richness and vitality into our lives; it animates those things that make us human – meaning-making, identity, belonging” (Lebaron, 2013). Indeed, culture has dialectical relations with communication as culture is communication and communication is culture (Hall, 1990).

2. CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Cultural communication is a vital and indispensable aspect of all human societies. Whether in its intra/inter/cross/trans-cultural dimensions, the field of cultural communication is crucially important to/among culture. Cultural communication, however, requires cultural literacy, fluency and intelligence to function optimally and productively. It is an aspect of communication which deals with and draws from the inexhaustible quarry of cultural ideas and knowledge forms embedded in material and non-material, tangible and non-tangible aspect of culture. In cultural communication, cultural forms, verbal and non-verbal, traditional and modern, are mined and mobilized for communicative purposes with the intent of meaning-making.

These cultural forms include but are not limited to folktales, riddles, songs, chants, epics, myths, legends, sagas, dances, music, festivals, costumes, foods, paintings, sculptures, etc. Cultural communication is spoken but also acted/performed. It thrives on (improvisational) speech patterns which invoke cultural knowledge systems but it also benefits from performance practices which articulate distinct messages within specific cultural contexts. Many times, these cultural forms are marked with signs and symbols which are themselves definitive and expressive of such cultures. The cultural forms also interact with other cultures whether they are high or low, official or popular, metropolitan or provincial, core or peripheral, global or local, folk or hybrid, among other oppositional binaries (Bhabha 1994; Said 1993). In a postmodern, post-industrial world which celebrates the virtues of globalization and hybridity, these different cultures form, or are assumed to form an undifferentiated whole in an increasingly multicultural

3. MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Communication mix is the specific methods used by companies to promote their products to targeted customers. This includes a variety of tools as: advertising, direct mail, packaging and sales promotion, sponsorship, public relations, digital marketing and live brand experiences. It has been evolving at a high rate and traditional tools have been replaced by more sophisticated forms of communication, as it is the case of digital media. (Sharma, 2010)

In marketing events prevails the use of marketing communication tools, moreover it is important for the organizers to activate a lot of different mediums to “reign supreme”. (Fehrnstrom, 2009). “The integrated and pervasive character of marketing events is pronounced when reflecting that communication does not take place in a vacuum, but in a wider context incorporating not only traditional media but also other communication efforts, as well as product and service encounters” (Crowther, 2011).

4. PERCEPTION

Perception is a cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our environment. It involves the way we view the world around us and adds meaning to the information gathered via the five senses. The study of how people perceive one another is called social cognition. We all perceive the world around us differently. These perceptions influence our current and future behavior. For instance, running four kilometers in 25 minutes is perceived as a piece of cake for somebody who is used to running marathons, while an untrained person is going to perceive it as a formidable task. To improve our insights in other people’s behavior we need to understand how perceptions operate. Understanding and studying the perceptions of other people improves our ability to understand the meaning of our own behavior.

The characteristics of perceived objects, people and events are of great importance in the formation of perceptions. (Schermerhorn, 1997). When a person looks at other people, objects or events, his interpretation is influenced by the features of the perceived target. For instance, a priest dressed as a biker and driving a Harley Davidson will draw more attention than the regular small-town priest. First impressions about people are influenced in a subtle way by a person’s skin colour, gender, hair colour, weight, clothes, and so on.(Alley, 1988)

For instance, the perception of people is often influenced by the colour of their clothes. An inquiry found that crime suspects were perceived as more violent and aggressive when dressed in black – a colour associated with demonic, evil sects and death –than when they wore lighter clothing. (Vrij, 1997). The answer was that our minds perceive objects, people and ideas as organized and meaningful patterns rather than as separate bundles of data

5. BRAND PERCEPTION

Brand perception has been presented in a multiplicity of ways. Keller (1993) observed that Brand perceptions are attributes in consumer memory linked to the brand name. He argued that developing, changing or reinforcing brand perceptions is an outcome of effective advertising, in that these perceptions and associations can influence the response to subsequent marketing activity.

Extensive literature review suggest two key influences on a person’s propensity to associate a particular brand with a particular attribute. The first is the usage of the brand, which impacts the likelihood of a brand to be associated with (almost) any attribute. Customers are about three times more likely to mention a brand they use than a brand they don’t use (Bird, 1970). Thus, brands that have more users systematically gain more responses than brands that have fewer users. The slight exception to this pattern is for highly descriptive attributes, which describe functional aspects of the levels, regardless of any brand. Here, non-users are also highly likely to mention a brand; however, brand users will still have a higher propensity (Barwise, 1985). Changes in a brand’s usage levels – for example, due to sampling changes, a change in shelf space or distribution – will thus lead to complementary changes in brand response advertising activity. There needs to be control for this during advertising effectiveness analysis, to ensure that the impact of advertising is isolated and correctly attributed. The second influence is the degree to which the attribute defines the category, or its prototypicality (Nedungadi, 1985). The more often an attribute is mentioned across all brands, the more prototypical it is considered to be (Rosch, 1975).

6. MUSIC FESTIVALS

Brands are consistently using music or other entertainment moments to create a strong relationship with their clients. “Over the past ten years, music festivals have become a very popular venue at which to target young consumers en masse.” (Group., 2008) This is given to the fact that, at this kind of events, there is always an easy-going environment, with thousands of young people with time to kill while waiting for the next band on stage. Nevertheless, many brands are still failing to target young consumers at these festivals, as they do not study hard on the reason to be at the festival and what they want to achieve. (Group., 2008)

Music festivals are appealing to brands for several reasons. First, there are thousands of people in the same place for several days; secondly most of them are within the ages of 18 and 30 years old and some with disposable income; finally it is the best place for a brand to present itself as relevant by being present at a trendy and popular place as a music festival. (Fromm, 2013)

“Brand managers should remember that people at festivals will resent being marketed to constantly unless they see the experience as adding something to their day. It has to enhance the positive mood they are already in rather than distract them from it.” (Group., 2008)

Therefore, the values pursued by brands, should be closely linked to what the attendees expect from the festival they will be present in. The brand should not only be present in a festival but more importantly act with credence and coolness linked to the spirit of the festival’s attendees.

7. MUSIC IN THE TRADITIONAL SOCIETY        

Music is a universal language of mankind. It gives joy and take away sorrows. Music calls for a deep soul searching and reflection. From the above description, one would agree that music allows inspiration to flow and it leads one even when it comes directly from the soul, hence, it touches a lot of souls. (Okorie, 2016)

Music has also been labeled as the soul of life. This statement describes the significance of music to the development of mankind. Africans are generally known for good music and the use of lots of musical instruments. This includes a particular style of singing as well as musical instruments which are identified as part of a given tribe or culture (Okorie, 2016). As Onyeji (2004) noted, some popular music types have gained recognitions both locally and internationally, for instance Afro Beat, High life, Makossa, Kwaito, Calypso, Reggae, Blues, Disco, Rock, to mention a few.

Music is the expression of man’s deepest self and its effect can be tremendously profound only when its scholarship has attained certain elements of originality and nationality. This is to say that concentrating on indigenous music breeds originality because it is what belongs to us which in turn, helps to define us (Agu, 2008). Traditional/cultural music in Nigeria is purely functional, that is; they are used for performing certain functions within the society. Traditional music is used for ceremonial, religious, social and economic purposes and whenever it is used everyone is present but if it is for ritual or sacrificial purposes, it is only those initiated in that particular cult are present (Nnamani, 2014).

In the same vein, Miller (1972) opined that music, like other arts, is always part of a total culture both in time and in place. It is not autonomous. And music making, being a symbolic expression of social and cultural organization, reflects the values and the past and present ways of life of the human beings who create it. On this premise, (Blacking, 1974) stated that it becomes undoubtedly clear that our indigenous music is humanly created and performed. It is positive and delivers enormous social and health values.

For the purpose of this study, the researcher will be focusing strictly on two types of traditional music of which detailed synopsis of them (Fuji and Juju) has been explained in chapter 1. It is therefore important to note that the term “Traditional” goes beyond just the language as it must consider other considerations like folklore, philosophy, local colours, dance etc. and that which belongs to us and is very different from the way others do theirs. Some of the examples of indigenous music according to (Okorie, 2016) which can be fully explored in recent times are as follows:

Kalangu: A pre-Islamic social music of the Hausa speaking people, Kalangu is one of the three popular of Northern Nigeria. The others are Bori and Goje music. Kalangu remains the most popular and the most patronized by the Hausa-speaking Nigerians (Ajirire, 1992).

Apala: Apala (or Akpala) is a musical genre, originally derived from the Yoruba people of Nigeria. It is a percussion-based style that developed in the late 1930s, when it was used to wake worshippers after fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The rhythms of Apala grew more complex over time, influenced by Cuban music and eventually became quite popular in Canada. Special mention must be given to Haruna Ishola who succeeded in bringing the Apala music to the wider younger audience thus breathing new life to the genre and keeping the tradition of his father’s legacy alive.

Ikede Music: This type of music is played and performed by the Akoko Edo people in Edo State. It is a social dance for occasions in the society like festivals and ceremonies. According to (Bello, 2014) one prominent musician who performed this genre of music during the 1990’s is Adekwu. Although, he’s late but before his death, he recorded his genre of Ikede Music on CD (Compact Discs) and tapes.

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