TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND DANCE: AN OVERVIEW AND THEIR ROLE AMONG THE IGBO PEOPLE

BY ONYIA UCHE H, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF UNITY, ENUGU

There is a saying that people without knowledge of their culture are like people without history.

The culture of a people is a reflection of their way of life that gives them their specific cultural identity (Eke: 2007).  Culture is a set of beliefs, practices and symbols that are learned and shared. Together they form an all-encompassing integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldviews and life ways.

Music and dance are human artistic expressions indigenous to every given society. In Africa Music and dance are used for social and ceremonial purposes. Religious songs are performed at rituals. Work songs accompany such activities as hoeing and threshing. They have roots in mythology, legends and folktales, sometimes music and songs are linked to the Gods, ancestors or heroes.

In the Nigerian society and Africa as a whole, the culture of music and dance are inseparable. Sometimes dance serves as accompaniment to music and verse versa. Among the Igbo society, music and dance have been part and parcel of them. In this study, attention will be focused on traditional music and dance especially on their functions and roles on Igbo society.

The Igbo people are one of the major and most culturally diverse ethnic groups in Nigeria and West Africa. As Enemchukuwu (2016) puts it, they stretch across River Niger from the West of Agbor to Cross River, moving from North of Nsukka highlands to some parts of the Atlantic coast. They inhabit mainly in Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu States of Nigeria. Large numbers of them are found in Delta, Kogi, Benue and Akwa Ibom States.

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND DANCE

Various legends and mythical accounts from different environments traced the origin and mythical accounts of music to early endeavor of man to imitate natural sounds including “bird cries” and sometimes spirits who were said to have been watched during their secret performances by hunters, tappers or diviners. In the case of the latter, such seers are usually said to have copied and played their experiences to their human communities who thereafter, develop such artistic experiences within their own cultural and ecological limitations for use.

The history of dance can be traced to ancient human Rock paintings from Paleolithic era (approximately 2.6 million years ago) which depict dance and provide evidence that dance has been part of human culture for a  long time, and the early human incorporated dance into rituals that celebrated births, invoked fertility or acknowledge death.

Although different societies tend to have different ideas about what they regard as music and dance, all the ideas were based on some consensus of opinion regarding the principles of sound and movement which should be organized in distinct formula.

Sound can be considered as music likewise movement as dance, hence meaningful when they have all the required qualities to actualize and realize the goals prescribed by the culture concerned. This is because musical sound and dance in Igbo tradition serve as a communicative media for informing, directing and organizing the society or populace. However, traditional music and dance according to Adedeji (1997) is “the indigenous musical practices of a given society, while traditional dance is a rhythmic movement of the body in indigenous styles as an artistic expression.”

Music and dance in Igbo land can be said to be the systematized progression of patterned combination of tones/sound and movement generated from human and non-human sources. These sounds and movement are sometimes clothed and enhanced with non-phonic and dressing accessories and actions to enhance their meaning and potency in satisfying prescribed and acceptable intention within Igbo cultural environment.

As in many other African traditional societies, music and dance are integral part of the ways and life of the people, an indispensable face of the culture and centre of focus in the total well-being. The traditional music is mainly produced from local instruments: Drums, osha, rattle, wooden xylophone of various sizes and resonance, pots (Udu), gongs and flutes etc.

Ohafia War Dance Group. Photo Credit Exposureworld

                       

ROLES OF DANCE AND MUSIC AMONG THE IGBO PEOPLE

Music is the first major form of communications between the mother and her child in form of lullabies with which she keeps the baby happy and lures him to sleep. The child is made to respond to music around him or within his environment when the mother carries him to music making situations in the society thereby exposing the baby to their culture. This can be regarded as the first way of teaching the child the various aspects of Igbo culture.

As the child grows, music and dance forms a crucial part of his growth and features prominently in all stages of his life to adulthood and death. The child’s mutual association with his peers is filled with musical and dancing experiences as in the game songs which make their daily encounter worthwhile during the moonlight games.

At home in the evenings, they are further nurtured with their cultural morns, more or so, traditions and customs which are enshrined in the folk-tales they enjoy on daily bases. At this stage, the child becomes a useful instrument for the projection and transmission of his community cultural values through communal and personal music and dance making.

Through music and dance an individual or group can attain any height of societal, economic and even political status in life. Today, all over Igbo land, there are itinerant musicians and dancers who go about the villages, town, states and even outside the shores of Nigeria to entertain the public with music and dance.

For example, we have the Atilogwu dance popular among the people of Enugu and Anambra States. Today, the Mkpokiti dance group from Umunze in Anambra State has made the Atilogwu dance a house-hold name. They have participated in many global competitions and have been adopted as a national dance. They have been exhibited as the greatest cultural dance in Africa.

Music and dance also play important role in the initiation rites of a male child into a masquerade society which also ushers him into adulthood.

In Igbo communities, girls of marriageable age are taught on how to dance and to certain music during their “Igba Nkwu” (traditional marriage).

Traditional music and dance have been known to play very vital role in the social development of the society. Music marks virtually every aspect of social institutions and organizations including the life cycle, puberty, love and marriage, social associations and groups as well as funeral rites. Through some of these traditional music and dance, one can be exposed to a variety of things including physical exercises.

They also play vital role as a means of social expressions, acts as vehicle for the stimulation, expression sharing of emotions and communicating human thoughts. Traditional music played during the wrestling competitions among the villages stimulates the warrior in the wrestles and motivates him to win his opponents by all means possible. Likewise during the coronation of Igwe, the music played (Aku na Eche Enyi) brings out the royalty in the Igwe when performing his dance steps. The presence of music and dance in any traditional occasion often underscores its effective role in settling and maintaining the required atmosphere for the realization of the occasion’s objective. From the aesthetic point of view, music and dance has an inherent potential to satisfy entertainment and recreational demands of the audience.

They can feature effectively in purely religious and therapeutic aspects of man’s life, weapon of political engineer for alerting and mobilizing the people for instance, before the advent of modern information technology, even up till now some villages and ancient towns, royal criers and town criers use different music chants or melodic formulae to communicate important messages to the community members. Each musical melody the make communicate to the people if the meeting is for the elders, a certain age grade, the entire community, the death of prominent person, the call for the start of a festival, to warn when there is danger in the community etc.

Traditional music and dance, have continued to play useful roles in the validation of political institution such as the coronation of an Igwe or other tittle taking as well as in the consolidation of diplomatic relationship where and when need arises. Aku na Eche Enyi is a music when ever played in some Igbo communities, it informs people that a great event is taking place in such community. The Ijele and Ugo Masqurades appear during such ceremonies and they trill the audience with their majestic dance steps while music is played.

Importance role of Music in the area of social control      

Music accompanied with dance contributes as an instrument of discipline and social control among the people. In this case, it serves as a medium through which evil deeds and vices are exposed and condemned.

An example is the Abigbo traditional dance of Mbaise people in Imo State. They employ the use of satirical music and dance to ridicule the recalcitrant and conceited people. Some music and dance are also used by masquerades in some communities to dish out instructions and warnings of any impending dangers, judgments or repercussions of wickedness or evil doing.

Traditionally, music and dance do not only provide viable opportunity for aesthetic enjoyment and entertainment but also serve as potent force for communication and symbolic representation. During the burial ceremony of an “Ozo title holder” in some communities of Anambra State, there are two types of music that are displayed. They are known as Abia” and “Ufie. Both Men and Women dance Ufie but Abia is meant for only men.

During harvesting periods, music and dance play important role as well. As the people move to their farms, they move in groups, work in groups and have particular songs the sing which inspire and ginger them to retain their strength.

The mystical control of natural and even super natural powers is often achieved through music and dance for supplications, magical, mysterious, or miraculous songs for therapeutic purpose and other activities which require supernatural intervention in our land. In Igbo communities there are also songs for spirit and mystical personalities as exhibited in some masquerade groups and dances which often times involves invocations and incantations. These kinds of music and dance are also common with chief’s priest who uses them as tools of praise and worship of the traditional gods (esses). Such practices are also common with herbalists and traditional healers who cure all kinds of ailments such as physical and mental disorders

Abigbo Cultural Music Dance Group. Photo Credit Exposureworld

       

CONCLUSION

Culture they say is the totality of people’s way of life. This is always buttressed in the mixture of richly cultural display of music and dance by the Igbo people. They play very key roles in the life of the Igbo people. They are tools in development, transmission and sustainability of the traditional values of the people. The various roles of traditional music and dance across the various communities in Igbo land is what shapes, reaches out and often control so much of human activities and behavior that defines their people. They are still so much part of Igbo culture and still remain the pride, spirit and culture of Igbo people as elicited as her rich cultural heritage.

 

REFERENCE

Onuora O. E (1991) theories of Dance in Nigeria. Nsukka: Afa Press

Adedeji S.O (1997) “The Role of Music in Ifa Divinition” Journal of Nigeria Language and Literatures. No5.

Enemchukwu  A. (2016) Significance of Yam in Igbo Land. The Gong. Vol 3. No 1.

Ezekwugo M.E (1992) Philosophical Concepts. Enugu: Agatha Series Publication.

Eke O. F (2007) Selected Cultural Festivals and their Tourism Potentials in Mbise Imo State. Unpublished.Development of Archencology and Tourism U.N.N.