Compositional Techniques in the Sacred Choral Music of Ayo Bankole: A Musicological Study

This study undertakes a focused musicological examination of the compositional techniques employed in the sacred choral works of Ayo Bankole, one of Nigeria's most distinguished art music composers. Bankole's choral output represents a significant body of Nigerian classical music in which Western compositional traditions are synthesised with Yoruba musical idioms, producing works of enduring aesthetic and cultural significance. Despite his importance to Nigerian art music history, systematic analytical treatment of Bankole's compositional language remains limited, particularly for his sacred works intended for liturgical and concert performance. This research selects 10 of Bankole's sacred choral compositions for detailed analysis, employing Schenkerian reduction, motivic analysis, text-music relationship examination, and harmonic language characterisation. The influence of Yoruba tonal patterns, traditional melodic shapes, and modal inflections on the Western harmonic framework is traced and theorised. The study contextualises its findings within the broader tradition of African art music composition and the nationalist compositional movement in post-independence Nigeria. Comparative analysis with selected works by Akin Euba, Sam Akpabot, and Joshua Uzoigwe situates Bankole's unique contributions to Nigerian art music. Findings will enrich scholarship on Nigerian art music and contribute to African musicology. Keywords: Ayo Bankole, choral composition, Nigerian art music, musicological analysis, sacred music.