MUSIC AS A SPUR FOR MIGRATION AMONG THE AFRICAN YOUTHS: THE YORUBA

Abstract

Quest for migration by African youths especially to the
Western and other part of Europe has been observed to
be a common phenomenon in Africa, especially the poor
and developing countries. This has been argued by
different scholars to be mainly as a result of seeking for
economic or financial opportunities and better living
condition in these developed countries by the youths.
This study focus on the role played by music as a spur
for migration, among the African youths, the Yoruba
people in particular. Oral, discography and bibliography
methods are exploited for data collection for this study.
Findings reveal that parents especially mothers, are the
facilitators of migration interest in the youths right from

childhood through the use of pet-songs and other play-
songs. The texts of these songs are observed to contain

lyrics that eulogizes white-skin individuals, love for
travelling an aircraft, short stories about England; as well
as other travelling fantasies. Result also revealed that

Journal of African and Global Issues Quarterly (JAGIQ) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2022

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lyrics of some popular music also contributes to this
quest. This paper concludes that music is one of the
earliest method use by parents to educate and integrate
children into the societal culture. This is the reason why
it is easy for the children to quickly develop the interest
for migration in order to experience the good adventures
enthralled through the texts of the songs. This paper
therefore, recommends that African youths should be
informed and well educated by educational institutions,
immigration experts and other relevant government
agencies on processes and issues concerning migration
and laws binding on the immigrants.