Musical Mediation, Social Integration and Peace Building in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis of Yemi Alade’s Stand Together.

Abstract:

Nigeria’s complex ethnic and religious landscape continues to produce recurrent tensions that require culturally situated approaches to peacebuilding. Although policy and security-driven interventions dominate national discourse, the mediating capacities of music, particularly its affective, relational, and symbolic functions, remain insufficiently theorised. This article offers a critical analysis of Yemi Alade’s Stand Together, a pan-African collaborative song released during the COVID-19 pandemic, to interrogate how popular music operates as a vehicle for conflict resolution and social integration in Nigeria. Guided by theories of musical mediation, conflict transformation, and African cultural humanism, the study employs qualitative musical analysis enriched by expert interpretive commentary. The analysis demonstrates that Stand Together mobilizes Afrobeat idioms, modal and textural ambiguity, rhythmic interlock, multilingual vocality, and transnational artistic collaboration to construct a sonic narrative of solidarity, resilience, and collective responsibility. The song functions not merely as entertainment but as an informal peace education resource that models inclusive citizenship and pan-African social cohesion. The study advances scholarship in African popular music, peace studies, and music education by evidencing the strategic potential of contemporary musical practices in fostering civic consciousness and promoting sustainable peace.