Tradition & Culture

Like many other parts of Igboland in Africa, Obohia community has Ekpe to which music the male population dance gleefully in a very colorful and orderly manner. Among Igbo people, Ekpe music is used to celebrate most solemn cultural festivals. In Obohia, the celebration which features Ekpe music and dance is Eyiri-Eyi Obohia. It takes place annually between 7th and 14th August. Coincidentally, that week usually falls within the seasonal spell of a short period of beautiful dry weather in the rainy season, popularly called August break and translated to Igbo as “Okochi Eyiri-Eyi.”

There are many different traditional/cultural music in Igboland which serve various purposes and functions beyond normal entertainment. For instance, Abigbo (Abu-Igbo) functions as a media critic. The Abigbo vocalist characteristically opens up Abigbo music by announcing to his audience that he has a question that is agitating his mind. In that way, the musician declares his subject or theme. As a typical ballad, Abigbo Mbaise reminds people of the “old good days”, in contrast to nowadays when eagle eyed youths are ever ready to snatch the chicks from the brood like hawks. Consequently, Abigbo attracts both male and female dancers equally, although it was originally male oriented.

Quite different from Abigbo is Agbaraogwa/Ekereavu Mbaise which is essentially a masculine music with significant athletic body movements. Surprisingly, Ekereavu is a music that suits both joyful and mourning occasions. Like Abigbo, in Mbaise women do not feel shy to dance or follow men in dancing Ekereavu. The music and rhythm are actually irresistible. Whereas unlike both Abigbo and Ekereavu which are danced by both men and women; only females dance Agbachaekurunwa. As its name indicates, it is a romance music which is believed to promote pregnancy, among the dancers. An important aspect of Agbachaekurunwa is the dominance of praise songs. Men as well as women patrons are praised. Beauty is admired and outstanding contributions to society are highlighted.

Youths also dance together. Among the most popular youth music and dances are alija, ofenelu (flier) and Ngelenge (wood xylophone). All youth music and dance emphasize acrobatic display. They do not discriminate by sex participation. The different varieties of traditional music mentioned so far combine the use of drums and voices. In some cases, the talking drums combine with singing dancers to produce their musical art. They vary in different components like, dancing style, season, and participation. A common aspect of all of them is clear and strong rhythm. The fastest rhythm is associated with Ekwe ngba-wrestling match music. It is so fast as to be able to stimulate a wrestler who is physically disabled. It has no vocal component.

Ekpe music/dance stands out above all traditional or cultural music in Igboland. It features drumming only without any vocal component. While other forms of music involve groups and segments of the population or interested members participants, Ekpe is a universal enterprise for all people in a community – males and females young and old, hosts and visitors, participants and spectators, rich and poor. Each person or group participant plays a separate role from the others. Males dance, females cheer up the dancers, visitors admire the amusement aspects of the celebration.

As women sing and cheer up the males, they remind the men that the cloth with which they dance belong to women after dancing. This was expected to be so in spite of the truth that some men rented some items of their regalia from their friends who live outside the celebrating community. In older days, a common practice of courtship included young men borrowing silk head ties from their fiancée for dancing Ekpe.

The hallmark of an outstanding Ekpe music and dance is the degree of orderliness shown while dancing it. Ekpe is not danced alone except while dancing to join the existing line for dancing. If five separate villages dance Ekpe together they also dance along five different lines, not together like a jumble. Each dancing line/queue is led by the lead or best dancer, and terminates with the last male toddler at the rear of the line. The line of dancing shows an adhoc clustering of age/social mates, youths and ordinary unassuming folks at different points of Ekpe dance line.

Very young male children at the tail end of Ekpe dance line, are guarded and guided by elderly men. The role of such elders is to prevent such young dancers from straying into other village lines. All villages dance towards and to salute Ekpe drummers in turns and according to their order of seniority in village matters. No mistakes are made about this order which was inherited from tradition. When masquerades come out to dance, they also follow the same order of seniority to perform in front of Ekpe drummers. After all villages have taken their turns, the best masquerade shall perform for a climax entertainment.

Ekpe music and dance contains limited vocal component. Since nobody sings to accompany drumming, there are intervals of “kwenu, kwenu”, “hip hip, hurrah”. Dancing apparels show various styles and colors. Conscious efforts are made by dancers and villages to dress in their best traditional Ekpe attire. All to dress in their best traditional Ekpe attire. All participating parties, present their best performance. Over 80% of the spectators are visitors to Obohia. Those spectators serve as the unofficial on-the-spot judges of how each village performed. Criteria included for assessing the performance of dancing groups include – orderliness, elegance in dancing, drumming, dress; variety of art displayed and degree of wonderful innovations introduced in the culture.

Determination of quality of overall performance is by the spectators. It is assumed that individual and village dancers intentionally perform in order to excel others judgment is usually unbiased because, outsiders are the judges. They know who performed to their most appreciation. Such a realization shows why the community frowns at behavior of any person which is likely to bring shame and negative image to everyone. Moreover, to try to reduce Ekpe music and dance to a child’s play, is the worst blackmail that anybody can make on his or her community. No other event accompanies the display of Ekpe.

Ekpe music and dance provides a singular occasion for any community to show case herself and her most valued traditional art. It has no room for political activities like welcoming even the head of state. Whoever visits the community on the Ekpe dance day is swallowed in the crowd of other tourists.

Ekpe is a music that irresistibly draws the participation of all members of a community. It is therefore the strongest uniting cultural celebration in any community, in Igboland. It is also the most effective image maker for any area where it is performed. These truths underscore the importance of carefully showcasing it whenever it is performed. Long ago, Ekpe was danced every five years. Perhaps that period of half a decade, allowed a community to produce additional male population, capable of taking part in local inter-village battles.

This short description cannot be properly concluded without commenting on the mass array of musical instruments used in Ekpe music. Surely, it would require careful coordination and discipline on the part of Ekpe drummers to produce a single cohesive musical sound. I used to wonder what function some of the instruments served in Ekpe music. Later on, I realized by close observation, that some of the musical instruments helped other drummers to follow and maintain the rhythm. Actually, only three of all the Ekpe drums produce sound that could be heard from far away. They are the big drum (uhie), the male gong (oke ekwe) and the rhythm controller. The last named medium drum, guides all Ekpe dancers to dance with symmetry no matter the varied forms of body movements of every dancer.