HOLISTIC NATURE OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND ITS ROLE IN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Among the diverse cultural traditions of Africa, music serves as an effective repository of indigenous knowledge systems, collective memory, and social philosophy. Far beyond its aesthetic function as entertainment or sonic expression, African music operates as an integrated cultural phenomenon, embodying cosmological, historical, social, and ethical dimensions central to the lived experiences and worldviews of its communities. It is deeply linked with ritual, spirituality, dance, oral tradition, and communal organisation, thereby functioning as a holistic art form that sustains and transmits cultural values across generations. This paper critically engages the perspectives of leading scholars including J.H. Kwabena Nketia (1974), Kwadzo Avorgbedor (2001), Kofi Agawu (1995), Modesto Amegago (2011), Kofi Gbolonyo (2009), and Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor ... continue reading->

Keywords: African Music; Holistic Art Form; Identity Construction; Cultural Representation; Decoloniality