Professor Darah turned seventy on Wednesday November 22, 2017 and to celebrate his very productive career, his colleagues and many of those he has mentored thought it appropriate to mark his official exit from the university in a dignified way by commissioning for publication, in the now acceptable festschrift tradition, the highly compelling and outstanding collection of essays titled: Scholarship and Commitment: Essays in Honour of G.G. Darah. The book is a ground-breaking collection of essays; some are couched as tributes to the ebullient celebrant, there are others on more serious discourses in the areas of literary theories and criticism, language and linguistics, popular literature and politics, the African woman, identity and contemporary realities, oral literature, the news media and cultural studies. The essays, on their own, attest to the vivacity and liveliness as well as the encouraging state of health of publishing in the Nigerian academia, which in this collection alone, parades forty-two essays in different fields or discourses.

This book provides international and domestic perspectives on the law of copyright and is led by a foreword on the future of copyright by Dr Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO and a chapter on the lessons for copyright policy in classical Roman law, by Justice Arthur Emmett. The body of this collection covers current perspectives in the digital age, from the application of the Berne Convention, to time shifting and intermediary copyright liability, as well as perspectives from developing and developed countries covering laws, user rights, open access, government use of copyright material and the use of the criminal law to proscribe copyright infringement.

Highlife Music in West Africa is an excursion into the origins and development of an extraordinary music form. Highlife music is essentially an urban music, but unlike dance music performed using Western musical instruments, its dynamism is based less in the aesthetics of form and style than in song-texts. Critics treat highlife as a popular music genre, but this fails to acknowledge the role that the lyrics of highlife music played in the search for political, economic, and national growth and stability in Africa. Highlife musicians' messages, like drama and theater scripts, not only reflect Africa's culture but also highlight her social, economic, and political problems. The involvement of radicals and Pan-Africanists has helped elevate highlife musicians from the status of entertainers to a more serious and responsible one, as modern African town criers, whose song-texts are communal messages, warnings, and counseling.

From soul-stirring melodies of Highlife to the pulsating rhythms of Afrobeat, "Music and Life" embraces the sounds that have shaped Nigeria's cultural identity. The poems dance with the vibrancy of Nigerian music, capturing the joyous spirit of celebration that permeates the air during festivals and gatherings. They delve into the artistry of traditional instruments and the infectious beats that move bodies and souls, revealing the profound impact music has on shaping Nigerian society.In the grand symphony of Nigeria's cultural mosaic, "Music and Life" reminds us that music is not merely an art form but a vibrant thread that weaves together the diverse narratives, emotions, and aspirations of its people. It urges us to listen closely, to engage with the melodies that surround us, and to recognize the profound impact that music has on shaping our individual lives and the collective story of our nation.