Music, Political Messaging, and Nigeria's 2015 Presidential Election

The world faces a wide variety of security and violence threats. This is evident from series of international attention it has generated over the last decades. Politic and electioneering is one of the major issues on conflict especially in Nigeria. Election campaigns go with songs which some time results into violence. Music is also a powerful force for political mobilization which can also result into violence due to the textual ability of the songs. This study examines the place of music in mobilising citizens for electioneering and the result of some songs that have resulted into conflicts. It consists of analyses of the content and context of selected songs. The scope of this paper covers some of the songs for presidential aspirants of Goodluck Jonathan of Peoples Democratic Party, Nuhu Ribadu of Action Congress of Nigeria,and Muhamadu Buhari of Congress for Positive Change. This paper also focused on Abiola Ajimobi, Christopher Alao Akala, and Rashidi Ladoja gubernatorial candidates in Oyo State. It will also evaluate one Hausa song that causes violence in northern part of Nigeria. This study is pinned on entertainment-education theory. Findings revealed that music performances during the 2011 general election in Nigeria really helped in mobilizing the citizens, it also causes conflicts and violence in some part of Nigeria because of insulting texts in the songs. The paper recommends that INEC should scrutinize some political jingles and songs before they are aired. Also politicians should know that the songs can cause harm and violence and should avoid such.

Journal of Language and Education, 2019

In linguistics, most studies on rhetoric are approached from the perspective of persuasive ideologies of social actors such as community, religious, and political leaders with a concentration on their speeches and the impacts of the speeches on their followers and society at large. As a result, music as a form of persuasion and political strategy has been under-researched. This paper investigates the rhetoric embedded in politically-motivated musical renditions in the post-2015 elections in Nigeria and identifies ideologies of persuasion, pragmatic choice(s), and implications of the narratives on the Nigerian political landscape. Mey’s pragmatic acts serve as the theoretical base. Two popular and viral musical renditions in (Nigerian pidgin) English from social media were selected for the study. Analysis of the selected songs which critiqued the leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari from two opposing angles was carried out. Both songs exhibited the Pragmemic activity of (in...

2021

The role of Political songs in campaigns and rallies can never be underestimated because of its functional role of educating would be electorates and it could also serve as a deciding factor for some undecided voters. Music performs crucial roles and functions in political terrain world over and this is evident most times in the race to the election. Election provides opportunities for advocates of policies for social change and those who are in favour of social stability to advocate a specific cause. Campaign songs can help in building solidarity for candidates and the party and as well help in the spread of the cardinal points of the party as well as the manifesto of the candidate. This paper focused largely on the political songs deployed by politicians during the 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections. The uncommon way Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola warmed his way into the heart of many with his usual way of singing and dancing at campaign rallies when he contested for the Governorship of Osun State prior to 2010 before his victory at the election tribunal and his re-election in 2014. Observation-participant method was deployed in data collection, the paper is hinged on cultural theory as advanced by Adedeji (2014:111), cultural theory considers cultural contexts and hermeneutics in the understanding and application of musical principles. This paper evidently showed how political songs serves as an educational and orientational tools for the electorates.

Communication and Linguistics Studies, 2020

Discursive strategies are often deployed to create awareness, capture and persuade electorate in political campaign songs. Existing scholarly works on political and electoral issues have examined different aspects of political discourses but have not sufficiently examined the import of political campaign songs in electoral and political discourses. Therefore, this paper examines the use of political campaign songs in southwestern Nigeria with a view to identifying the discursive strategies deployed to persuade the electorate. The YouTube Channel was visited in order to retrieve the transcript of political campaign jingles used during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections in southwestern Nigeria. The selected period comprised the most recent general elections in the region. Guided by relevant aspects of the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, data were subjected to discourse analysis. The analysis uncovers the vital relationship existing between the political campaign songs and the Nigerian socio-cultural spatial setting that produced them. Eight discursive strategies: allusion (historical, religious/biblical, socio-cultural), propaganda, indigenous/native language usage and code alternation, reference to collective ownership, figurative/proverbial expressions, adaptation of common musical tune, and rhythmicity were identified. Politicians use different discursive and rhetorical strategies in their political campaign songs to open the door to the heart of the electorate.

The world faces a wide variety of security and violence threats, Politic and electioneering is one of the major issues on conflict especially in Nigeria. Elections campaigns go with songs which some time results into violence. Music is also a powerful force for political mobilization which can also result into violence due to the textual ability of the songs. The scope of this paper is to look into the introduction of music to the adopted political system and the yorubaland in the south western part of Nigeria specifically, , effect of songs on the electioneering and campaign process, role of musicians in party politics, songs as a social phenomenon, songs and political violence This paper recommends that songs in party politics should be scrutinize some political jingles and songs before they are aired. That scholars in the field of music should make credible effort towards bringing about positive effect of music on the Nigeria political scene. Also politicians should know that the songs can cause harm and violence and should avoid such. Likewise musicians should compose political songs in the spirit of sportsmanship and for the development of the country.

This study is a content analysis of radio commercials on the various gubernatorial candidates for the 2015 election in Oyo State, South West, Nigeria. It focuses on the commercials of candidates from the four most prominent parties in the state. Basically, the paper attempts to identify the dominant radio commercial formats and advertising appeals adopted in the selected political radio commercial as compared to traditional product ads. It was then discovered that the contemporary political ads have now taken after the traditional product ads in terms of strategy. Also, when cultural content combines with voters' economic needs in an ad, it becomes very effective. We therefore recommend that political parties and their candidates should combine both cultural content and economic needs of voters in their commercials to be more effective. Further research uptake is recommended on children as vote determinants.

Journal of Creative Communications, 2020

To win the support of the electorates, Nigerian politicians engage diverse resources during electoral campaigns. Some of these resources include political jingles. This study examines political discursive practices and their socio-cognitive functions in the political jingles of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. This is to illuminate the politicians' sociopolitical evaluations of the electorates. The data for this study comprise 50 political jingles of the presidential campaigns of the two major political parties in the country, the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC). This study is anchored on linguistic and literary theoretical perspectives using Critical Discourse Analysis and Sociology of Literature, respectively, to reveal the inherent meanings in, and socio-cultural implications of, the discourse of the sampled political jingles. Data analysis identifies political jingles as face-saving, assertive and educative acts. It also notes that implicatures, names, lexemes, religious allusions, evidentiality and code-switching are ideologically employed in the political jingles to enhance the politicians' personalities and acceptance among the electorates.

Journal of Popular Music Studies, 2023

Music has been a part of US presidential contests since George Washington first campaigned across the newly independent nation. In time, the country grew, the voting public was augmented, and new technologies and industries were invented. In the midst of these changes, both small and profound, music remained constant, but its role and uses underwent transformation. This article examines three advertisements in Presidential campaigns during the mass media age, from 1960 to the present, where music culture was an essential element of the message. These examples, a pro-Civil Rights ad featuring

The Politics of Sound, 2019

Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness, limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popular music to articulate party specific discourses. Leaning on Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and musicology, I analyse the lyrics, visuals and musical sounds of musical advertisements prepared for two Turkish political events: A parliamentary election campaign and a presidential referendum campaign. Through a detailed analysis I reveal the discourses articulated, how these are articulated and the strengths and shortcomings of musical advertisements as a means of communicating party political discourses.

2018

A Rhetorical Analysis of Campaign Songs in Modern Elections Lottie Elizabeth Peterson School of Communications, BYU Master of Arts Since the U.S. presidential election of 1800, candidates have selected campaign songs to underscore their political platforms. The literature on politics and music suggests that in modern campaigns, the significance of music rests not in the song itself but in the artist behind the song and the image associated with that particular artist. This analysis sought to convey how the very process of selecting a campaign song is a profound rhetorical act, and that songs chosen even in modern elections have a specific meaning and purpose tied to the political contexts in which they are embedded. Using an adaptation of Sellnow and Sellnow's "Illusion of Life" rhetorical perspective, which analyzes whether the musical score and lyrics of a single song form a congruent or incongruent relationship, this study analyzed the official campaign songs for bo...