Most communities in African societies had their communal activities accompanied by song and dance. There were songs for every activity, stage and occasion of a person’s life, from the cradle to the grave. There were songs at birth, naming songs and lullabies, singing games, songs in stories, initiation songs, marriage songs, work songs, war songs, praise songs, worship or divination songs, funeral songs and many more.
As opposed to narratives, which are prose, song and recitation are verse. They demand that the composer should arrange his words in such a way that they should sound perfect especially in terms of rhythm and melody. These together with the meaning o f the words enable the poet or the singer to express his feelings with the strongest impact possible.
We distinguish between recitation and song mainly on the basis of musical complexity.
Normally, musical features will be more pronounced in song than in recitation.