Music, aesthetics and culture in Femi Osofisan’s selected plays

Most of Femi Osofisan’s plays can be described as plays pleasant. This is so because of the judicious use of music in the plays. Culture is the totality of way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenge of living in their environment which give order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic, and religious norms and modes of organisation. Using the aesthetic theory, this essay investigates patterns of music (vocal and instrumental) in Osofisan’s selected plays against the backdrop of the culture the plays dramatize. The essay finds that music encapsulates two rites of passage (marriage and burial), abuse, and ancestral worship of the Yoruba culture represented in these plays. We conclude that music is a means of creating beauty and a veritable tool of culture expression in the dramaturgy of Osofisan.

Keywords : Osofisan, Music, Aesthetics, Culture, Rites.