ARTICLE
THE CONCEPTUAL EQUIVALENCE OF LITERATURE IN INDIGENOUS AFRICAN SETTING DEVOID OF ANY CONTACT WITH THE WEST: A STUDY OF THE ORAL PERFORMANCE OF OKPOSI, OHAOZARA IN NIGERIA
By
Godswill Chukwuemeka
INTRODUCTION: Is Oral Performance Literature?
Jim
Meyer, in his article, “What is Literature,”
made a brilliant effort to present a definition of literature based on
prototype. In his use of the prototype approach, he focuses on establishing the
meaning of literature via characteristics that are peculiar to it:
I suggest, then, that prototypical literary work:
*are written texts
*are marked by careful use of language, including
features such as creative metaphors, well-turned phrases, elegant syntax,
rhyme, alliteration meter.
*are in a literary genre (poetry, prose fiction, or
drama)
*are read aesthetically
*are intended by the author to be read aesthetically
Contain many implicatures (are deliberately somewhat
open in interpretation)
(http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997meyer.htm)
(http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997meyer.htm)
I do not have problem with the above yardsticks he
outlined for measuring what should be called literature. But the statement that
follows, gives me a headache:
…a good example of a literary text will be written: although we can speak of oral literature, but the fact that we need to use the qualifier ‘oral’ indicates that such texts are not the best examples – not the prototypes of literature.
I strongly disagree with this point. To argue that oral literature is not literature is like
arguing that a yellow leaf is no
leaf simply because the qualifier ‘yellow’ is
attached to it. It is a type of leaf, as a matter of fact. But first and
foremost, it is identified as a leaf before it is classified thus with the
modifier. Therefore, I consider oral literature a type of literature, which,
first of all, is identified as literature before it is classified thus, based on its mode of transmission.
I consider the yardstick for measuring what is, or not literature to be the conformity of such work (written or not written)
with the three generic forms of literature: drama, prose fiction and poetry).
AFRICAN ORAL PERFORMANCE AS LITERATURE
Prior to the appearance of the West
on the shores of Africa, Africa had enjoyed a great deal of literature in the
forms of folktale, dance, wrestling, proverbs, anecdotes, idioms, songs and
wellerism. These forms of literature were self-composed, without even a prior
knowledge of the existence of the West and their literature. They were orally
performed. Some of the performances were far from entertainment; they were
rituals, yet carried literary weight and aesthetics. Their literariness is in
the language of their performers, which was very figurative. For instance, an
elder blessing kola-nut in Igbo community embellishes his language with
proverbs and figurative words that delight the audience and of course give them
the feeling that even the gods are delighted as well. He picks the kola-nut
from a bowl, holds it at the tips of the fingers
of his right hand in a way that makes it visible to the audience and begins to
address the gods, but first the audience:
He who brought kola-nut has brought life.
The kola nut is a symbol
of unity in our land.
Then the gods:
Eke come and eat kola-nut
Orie come and eat kola-nut
Afo come and eat kola-nut
Nkwo come and eat kola-nut
Such is the common introduction of this ritual, then
other words, mostly proverbial, follow. And as it is common with performances
in Africa, the audience participate with occasional response of “ise!”
Apart
from the introduction of this ritual performance, every other word is
extemporaneously composed, not premeditated. Here again is the beauty of oral
performance, besides the figurative form of its language, which is another basis of its literariness.
THE FORMS OF AFRICAN ORAL PERFORMANCE
Literature in indigenous African
setting exists in different forms: chant, speech recitation and song (which are
parallel to poetry); folktales and anecdotes (which are parallel to prose); dance
and wrestling (which are parallel to drama) and also rituals which transcend
the three literary genres. It is noteworthy that each of these forms are hardly
performed alone without weaving it together with another, except in a rare case. For instance, it is hard to narrate
folktales without songs, or songs without dance, or ritual without
chant/recitation, or wrestling without chant (speech). Exceptions are mostly
cases related to proverbs and idioms. And it is obvious that these two are not
performances but devices used to embellish performances like speech,
chant/recitations and folktales.
Nolue Emenanjo has been able to
classify African oral tradition into four generic forms: the narrative, the
poetic, the gnomic and the dramatic forms (Major
Themes in African Literature 40-41). According to him, the narrative
includes folktales, anecdotes and jokes; the poetic form includes songs,chants
and epic; the gnomic includes proverbs, wellerism, tongue twisters and riddles;
while the dramatic form has as part of it all classes of dramatic performances.
Based on this classification, I shall
group a few collections I have gathered from Okposi, a
community in Ohaozara, Nigeria.
THE LYRICAL FORM
The Lyric is presented in stanzas. It involves a play on
words and sound,
The delight in richness and sweetness of sound,
even to a faulty excess, if it be evidently original, and not the result of an
easily imitable mechanism, I regard as a highly favourable promise in the
composition of a young man. “The man that hath not music in his soul” can
indeed never be a genuine poet (S.T. Coleridge)
But more importantly, it involves an
articulation of words embellished with metaphor, symbols and other literary
devices. And seeing that the mode of representation in literature is language
properly embellished, we can consider chant and other poetic forms in Okposi.
Consider these collected lines I categorized under song and chant.
SONG:
I would like
to render the songs first in Okposi dialect before translating them into
English language. The reason for this is that as these are songs, their rhythm
are better captured in the language they were originally composed.
Lullaby
Okposi: Ohohoho
O!
onye n’eme enyi m?
O!
nke enyi m n’akwa?
Enyi
m gua kwata isi otikpo
Enyi
m isi aho g’igbo
O!
igbo odida nno
O!
igbo odida okevi
O!
nwata ajara mma
O!
ekwa mebie
O!
iwe n’ ewenu m o
Ohooo…
English: Ohohoho
O!
who is beating my friend?
O!
that my friend is crying?
My
friend if you develop otikpo head from crying
My
friend your head will be as big as a mound
O!
the mound at your father’s swamp
O!
the mound at Okevi’s swamp
O!
a child beautified
O!
crying has made it ugly
O!
I am annoyed
Ohooo…
This is a lullaby sung to calm a crying baby. It
begins with an imitation of the baby’s cry, “Ohohoho” (line 1). Then the
speaker tries to find out from the baby who has beaten it, but seeing that the
baby fails to respond, he changes
tone from line 4 to line 7 and frightens the baby, letting it know that it
would cry until it develops “Otikpo” head, and if that happens the baby’s head
would be as big
as the mound at his father’s and Okevis swamps. Otikpo has no meaning in Okposi
dialect. It is simply onomatopoeic.
The
speaker further reminds the baby, with the effort to stopping it from crying,
that the baby is beautiful but crying has made it ugly, and he (the speaker) is
annoyed. The poem ends with another mimic of the baby’s cry, “Ohooo.”
Childbirth
Okposi: Omuru nwa
turu ugo
A
ha!
Turu
ugo
A
ha!
Isi
awa o
Ngenedikeredi,
uma o!
Omuru
nwa kpo oroo
A
ha!
Kpo
oroo
A
ha!
Isi
awa o
Ngenedikeredi,
uma o!
English: She who is
delivered of a baby should put on the eagle’s feather
A
ha!
Put
on the eagle’s feather
A
ha!
The
head has returned
Ngenedikeredi,
um a!
She
who is delivered of a baby should be grateful
A
ha!
Be
grateful
A
ha!
The
head has returned
Ngenedikeredi,
uma o!
This is a poetic song rendered in celebration of the
birth of a baby. The moment women hear about the birth of a baby they begin to
sing this song in gratitude for, ironically, the life of the mother, instead of
the baby’s, for surviving the ordeals of childbirth, or child labour.
The
poem has got two stanzas. In the first stanza the mother is told to put on the
eagle’s feather. In the Igbo tradition to put on the eagle’s feather is
symbolic of victory and success. In the second stanza, the mother is told to be
grateful for her life – that she has survived child labour. When a woman is in
labour it is believed that she stands, or rather, lies between life and death;
in any case either of them could claim her. The onomatopoeic words
Ngenedikeredi uma o!” (refrain) are emphasis on the war-like nature of
childbirth.
CHANT:
Yam Harvest
Okposi: Se akpo ugbo ji
Oweyege
Se
ji aba n’oba
Oweyege
M’akpo
ugbo ji
Oweywge
Nke
ji a ba n’oba
Oweyege
English: Let’s paddle the canoe of yam
Oweyege
Before
the yam bets into the barn
Owegege
If
no one paddles the canoe of yam
Oweyege
The
yam will not get into the barn
Oweyege
This chant is performed during yam harvest. At this
time, a man who has cultivated plenty of yam tubers invites his sisters, both
the married and the unmarried, to help him store the tubers at the barn. While
his sisters, traditionally known as Umuada, carry the yam tubers to his barn,
they chant this song.
However, the chant is only performed before the women
step into the man’s barn to heap the yam tubers. The Umuada stand at the door
of the barn, with the tubers still on their heads, and perform the chant. The
moment the man hears the chant, he quickly selects twelve big yam tubers and
drops them at the feet of the women. This is called “to paddle the canoe of
yam” until this is done the women will not step into the barn. The twelve yam
tubers, besides other yam tubers that the man will give them at the end of
their job, will be their reward.
The act of presenting twelve big tubers to Umuada is a
task compared to paddling the canoe– an act done only in the river. Paddling a
canoe in the river, especially a stormy river, is not an easy task; likewise
losing twelve big yam tubers, besides other yam tubers, to Umuada before they
help you store your yam in the barn. And some seasons the harvest may not be
bountiful.
THE
NARRATIVE FORM
Narratives in Okposi are made
up of folktales, anecdotes, jokes and legendary/heroic tales. Like narratives
in other parts of the world, they reveal vices that exist in Okposi
contemporary society, tell stories of things that never happened- “improbable
truth” (Aristotle), and most importantly, entertain and teach moral to the society.
Speaking of the narrator in an African indigenous society, Frida Mbunda
explains that,
The narrator
uses literary devices and artifices to convey meaning and add beauty and
variety. Some of these devices are dramatization, humour, voice modulation,
repetition, allusion, suspense, personification, symbolism, simile, irony,
hyperbole, idiophone and song. The audience has yardsticks, which they use to
distinguish a good tale from a bad one. These are authenticity, clarity,
functionality and originality. A good tale is thus one which besides its
realism, teaches either a moral belief or custom and is interesting; and a good
storyteller is one besides his excellence in composition, is fluent, sociable
and tells tales that teach and make people laugh. (Wonder
tales of Oku and the Aesthetics of Storytelling 12)
Let us now examine a few
collections from Okposi.
Anecdote:
In Okposi,
the elders use anecdotes to illustrate and emphasize points, especially when
they give advice. For instance, the most commonly used anecdote to advise a man
against blowing his own trumpet at the wrong time, that is, announcing his
reputation or achievement when he is not very sure of it, is the story of the
wild fowl (okwa) and the animals. According to
the story,
Once upon a time, the birds informed
the wild fowl, Okwa, that he would be crowned their king the next market day.
Okwa, on hearing this good news became very joyous. And in his happiness,
decided to take it upon himself to make the announcement to all the animals.
Through out the day and evening that preceeded the day he would be crowned king
he kept crying to the hearing of all the birds, “They said I will be king! They
said I will be king! They said I will be king!”
This disturbed greatly the peace
and, comfort of all the birds and they thought among themselves.
“We have not yet made him king and
he would not let us have a good night sleep. If we finally crown him our king
will he still let us live in this land?”
Very early in the morning, the
following day, the elders woke up and crowned the eagle king of the birds. And
by the time okwa woke up there was already a king over him. Hence, his feather
is not used to adorn kings’ heads; the eagle’s is used instead.
When
a story like this is told a man, mostly a young man, who seems to announce to
every one he sees, the achievement he is about to make, when he has not yet
made it, it is not interpreted. He is often left (by the elders) who told him
the story to interpret it himself, or (as an Okposi adage goes) to use his
tongue to count his teeth.
The
same is applicable to proverbs and jokes: the person they are directed to is
left to discern their meanings.
Joke:
In
Okposi, jokes are often used to make satirical remarks. And often they are
ironic. Moreover they are sharp and brief. For instance, if a man boasts of
achieving a feat that the people know he cannot achieve, one of his audience
would remark, “a gbo a gba gbara eze okiri,” which means: “a non-shooter that
shot the king of thrush.” The king of thrush, for the people of Okposi, is
always small in size and cunning. Its size and wit makes it almost impossible
for even the best of hunters to shoot him, not to talk of one who has never
handled a gun in his life. Therefore, when one boasts of achieving an
impossible feat, such joke is cracked among his audience.
Folktale:
Folktales
in Okposi are called ive. They are
often used for entertainment mostly among children. Most times these folktales
are often narrated by an elder, mostly one of the parents of the children, to
keep them from engaging in a mischief after dinner. The folktales, besides
being entertaining are didactic.
It
must be noted, however, that song constitute part of Okposi folktales sometimes
the song in a tale can suffice for the tale. In other words, the narrator can
sing the song in a tale and the audience would go home satisfied that the tale
has been told. For instance, the tale of The
Farmer and the Sick Bird is rendered as a song. The performer only
occasionally throws in a few narratives to key in the next verse of the
narrative for the sake of a member of the audience who is not familiar with the
narrative.
The Farmer
and the Sick Bird
Once upon a time, a certain farmer
went to her farm to gather garden eggs for lunch. But when she got there she
discovered that birds have eaten up the garden eggs before she arrived. When
she looked around, she quickly noticed a bird that was still perching on one of
the mounds. As she came closer to the bird, she discovered that the bird could
not fly away. She then noticed that it was a sick bird. In her annoyance, she
seized the bird and decided that it would serve as lunch for her since the bird
and its companions had eaten up what she wanted to eat for lunch. But the
moment she seized the bird it started singing.
The woman understood what the bird
was singing, but choose to ignore it. When sho got home and took the knife to
kill the bird it began to sing a second time,
Woman, don’t kill me
kparanuma
don’t kill me
kparanuma
I did not eat your garden eggs
kparanuma
it was my friends
kparanuma
who ate them
kparanuma
I am very sick
kparanuma
I couldn’t eat them
Kparanuma
Still the woman, shocked to hear a
dead bird sing, did not hesitate to roast it. And when she finished roasting it
and it was time to eat it, the bird began to sing once again.
Woman, don’t eat me
kparanuma
don’t eat me
kparanuma
I did not eat your garden eggs
kparanuma
It was my friends
kparanuma
who ate them
kparanuma
I am very sick
kparanuma
I couldn’t eat them
kparanuma
The woman was still not deterred by
the bird’s plea. And when she finished eating the bird the bird ate up her
intestine, opened her stomach and flew away, a healthy bird. And the woman
died.
It is
noteworthy that the refrain, “kparanuma”, has no meaning in Okposi dialect and
therefore cannot be translated. But “numa” means listen (transitive verb).
“Kparanuma” gives the song rhythm and melody, just like every refrain.
THE GNOMIC
Proverbs:
I said
earlier, when discussing anecdotes, that when someone is addressed in proverbs
he is expected to know their meanings; therefore, they are not interpreted to
him. In fact, there is a saying that if proverbs are interpreted to whom they
are addressed, the bride price of the person’s mother would be worthless.
Okposi, like other parts of Igbo land in Nigeria, likes seasoning its
conversations with proverbs and these proverbs are sharp and brief, but bottle
up volumes of meanings. For instance,
1. Efforts are made to hide the ugly child, but he
insists on meeting the visitors.
Application:
This is used to address someone who has made mistakes
or
committed evil, but as his people try to hide such
mistake or evil from outsiders he himself makes it known to them.
1.
A child who pinches his father’s scrotum owes the loss of his eye to a kick
from his father’s knee.
Application:
This is used to address someone who dares his
elders.
Wellerism:
Okposi
wellerisms are similar to their proverbs in the sense that they are sharp and
brief. But wellerisms, unlike proverbs, appear in rhetorical form and, of
course, they are never interpreted to whom they are addressed. For instance,
1.
Child, what killed your mother? Mushroom. What killed your father?
Mushroom. And what do you have in your hands? Mushroom.
Application: This is
used to address someone who keeps repeating the same mistake that others have
made.
2.
Are your eyes your in-laws?
Application:
This is used to address someone who doesn’t seem to
see a point that is being made by others, or who is blindly taking a decision
that would be harmful to either himself or others.
DRAMATIC
FORM
Incidentally,
some dramatic performances that are common in other Igbo communities in Nigeria
do not exist in Okposi. These include dance of masked spirits and wresting
competitions. However, there is a certain performance that I find difficult to
group under the dramatic form because it is absolutely a ritual. This is
performed any time the revered green snake, aka (as it is called in Okposi), is
found dead. The performance takes place at the spot where the snake is found
dead (its death is always accidental because it is an abomination to kill it).
At that moment, the audience who found the snake, starting with the first to
find its body, or who killed it, address the snake thus:
Aka, the gentle walker
Aka, the trouble maker
Go in peace.
Find who killed you (if the killer is unknown).
This is repeated as many times as possible and
crocodile tears are shed before it is finally buried with some pieces of cloth
at the spot where it was found dead.
From
the above, we can see that the the African indigenous literature exists in
diverse form and is rich in symbols and metaphor, as well as other literary
devices.
HOW ARE THE ORAL PERFORMANCES PRODUCED, BY WHOM AND UNDER WHAT
CIRCUMSTANCES?
African Oral performances are
extemporaneously composed. The performer, many a time, is inspired by the
occasion of the moment. This is very common with the performance of chant,
speech and wellerism. In the case of folktales, it is common to see a performer
extemporaneously modify a known story at the time of performance. He might do
this by embellishing the story with new proverbs, or introducing new actions,
or new sense of humour to thrill his audience and make them want to hear the
same story another day. The songs in the folktales are hardly modified, as such
modification will embarrass his audience, since they are expected to sing
along. The more familiar the song, the more audience participation will be
expected, and the more interesting the story.
The
speech, which is embellished with riddles, idioms, anecdotes and proverbs, is
composed by elders at moments of discussion, either to settle a dispute,
address an issue, give advice, or persuade an audience. Many a time the speech
is not a form used for entertainment, but could very entertaining, especially
if the performer is humorous with his use of proverbs, idioms or riddles. An
instance of this is what we have in Achebe’s Arrow of God in the consistent confrontations between Nwaka and Ezulu. Nwaka’ speeches during the
confrontations are not intended to be entertaining, but confrontational.
However, at the end of his speech his audience beem with smiles and laughter
and hail him “owner of words!” to the provocation of Ezulu who is not much of a
speech maker. This is due to Nwaka’s expertise in blending proverbs, idioms and
irony in his speech. Another form that is used in this manner is anecdotes.
Anecdotes
are short stories used to drive home some points. They are not told to
entertain the audience, but give advice or press further a matter. However,
they can be very entertaining and humorous. Two major differences between it
and folktales is that folktales are longer and are intended to entertain.
Folktales
are performed by griots, or elders, especially mothers to their children. They
are meant to entertain and teach moral lessons.
Chant
is performed during during rituals, war or wrestling, to elevate the spirit of
the individual engaged in any of these activities. For instance, in Death and the King’s Horseman, we see
Iyanoja performing chant for Elisin-oba, the king’s horseman, to elevate his
spirit and enable him to carry out the ritual of dying with the king as custom
demands. As warriors prepare for war a performer chants their praises to lift
their spirits for battle. And the same is done for a wrestler. However,
sometimes it is the wrestler who does the chant to lift his own spirit and scare his opponent. In a community like
Okposi Okwu, in Ohaozara local government area, Nigeria during the burial of a king, a performer skilled in
chant is invited to perform. This is intended to accord final respect to the
king and lead his spirit to a final rest.
Some of these chants are very
narrative, embodying the history of the community.
One
form of African indigenous literature that is highly ritualistic is dance of
masked spirits (mmanwu) which is ignorantly referred to as masquerade. I call
it a four-fold art,comprising dance, chant, song and ritual, and sometimes
tales. The tale part is very rare, but does come in some occasions. In this
case, the chanter who of course moves with
the spirit (mmanwu) narrates the feats the spirit has accomplished in the
spiritual realm. The dance of the spirits is a ritual performed at certain
periods of the year. Some are basically entertaining, while some are devoid of
any sort of entertainment, but instill horror instead. This type of ritual most
times take place at nights, and sometimes it is sacrilegious for women to watch it. In this case, the audience
only make use of their auditory sense. They listen to the voice of the spirit
as it makes incoherent sound, or the voice of its chanter as it sings the
praise of the spirit and warns people to keep away from its path. The ones that
are intended to be entertaining come to the performance ground (sometimes the market
square) with singer(s), or a chanter, and would have to dance round the stage
which is the height of their
performance. Some do not dance, but instead entertain the audience with magical performances that are greatly
amazing.
THE ROLE OF THE ORAL PERFORMANCE IN THE SOCIETY
African
indigenous literature is purely a functional one. Its different forms perform
different roles. Some are entertaining, others are didactic, while some
comprise both roles, like folktales. Some are devoid of both entertainment and
teachings, but are rather ritualistic.
Folktales
in Okposi are often told to instill moral principles in the
society. All African folktales teach moral lessons. For instance in the of The Farmer and the Sick Bird the
audience is made to understand that you do not maltreat a helpless person, or
someone you think you are stronger than. The lesson is often encapsulated in
the beauty of the tale. Even the songs in the tales have their own roles.
Performers use it to capture the attention of their audience. Folktales are
often told at night before bed time, when evening meals have been eaten. At
this time, the audience, though yearn for entertainment, are heavy with food
and are ready to sleep off. The performer keeps them awake with songs. He
compels the audience to join him in singing, especially in echoing the refrain.
Song
also serves as memory refresher. One unique thing about song is that it is not
easily forgotten. Therefore, any time the audience remember the song they also
remember the tale, as well as what they have learned from it. In other words,
song keeps the taste of the tale fresh in the mind and mouth of the audience.
Other
songs, besides folktale songs, perform different roles, depending on the type and
context. Lullaby is used to lure a baby to sleep, or make it stop crying. There
are also songs that announce the birth of a baby and some that are used to lead
a bride to her husband’s home immediately after marriage. Some are used to
announce the approach of a masked spirit, so that the wrong person will not be
on its path, and also to draw audience together for performance. There is
another type of song that is often woven together with a play. In this case,
children (male and female) gather and sit in a circle. Then the lead singer, in
his/her song, calls out to them, one after the other, to tell the gathering the
name of his/her spouse. Whoever is called to do so stands up and dances to whom
he/she admires and brings the person to the middle of the gathering, and the
duo will dance together to the cheers of the rest. The Okposi version is sung
in this manner:
Nkechi
(whatever is the performer’s name) kara m eva nnyo
Awirija!
Kara m eva
nnyo
Awirija!
G’ ako, g’
ako
Chant,
which I consider the highest form of poetry in African indigenous literature,
plays numerous roles. This form of literature can be in form of talk or
incantation, and sometimes it can be narrative. As talk, it can be used to
motivate warriors for battle, wrestlers for performance, and even individuals
engaged in some ritual performances. It can also be used to hail the spirit of
a dead king during burial. As incantation, it is used by native doctors, or
individuals to relate with the gods. In this case, the individual or native
doctor addresses the gods in lofty language and manner, recounts what it has
done in the past and what it can do. As a narrative, it can be used by a
performer to recount the history of the land and the genealogy of a great man
or clan. This is very common in Yoruba land. A typical example of chant is found in Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi:
Asunrara: Impish
demon, gobbler of
Heads,
sole husband of
Mosadiwin.
Have
you ever lacked money
For
gunpowder?
You bulwark of the army’s
Attack-power,
Husband-in-chief
among
Husbands;
take away your
Grit,
and a battle dulls down.
The
okro stiffens with age; the
Garden
egg toughens as it
Rippens.
A trap
stiffens in tension to
Kill a rat;
hook and line
Tense tautly
to catch a fish.
A mountain,
stiffly erect above
Ground,
towering
Masquarade,
a frozen grin
On its face,
a ram in a grim
Duel, the
neck stiffening
Before a
brutal butt.
A high wall
during a fall; tall
Milet stalk
peering into the
Eyes of the
farmer himelf.
The child
would with an
Elder, but
fear wouldn’t let
Him.
And so
instead of eating,
Child
stiffens.
(Act 1,
scene 1)
Anecdotes
are used to illustrate or emphasize points, especially when giving advice. They
are often concise and self-explanatory ( that is, if the person that is being
addressed is not a fool.) Wellerism and jokes are also used in this manner, as
well as proverbs. But proverbs, beyond this, is used to embellish speeches to
make good impact on the audience.
Dance
of masked spirits, which is of the dramatic genre, plays the role of
entertainment during events or occasions; likewise wrestling bouts.
HOW AFRICAN ORAL PERFORMANCE AGREES (CONCEPTUALLY) WITH WHAT WE HAVE ADOPTED FROM THE WESTERN LITERATURE
Western literature is divided into
three generic forms: poetry, prose and drama. Poetry is presented in stanza;
prose in narrative; and drama in dialogue form. Poetry involves play on words
and sound, but more importantly, an articulation of words embellished with
metaphor, symbols with metaphor, symbols and other literary devices. On this
basis we have agreement between the poetry in the Western literature and chant
in African indigenous literature. Consider these lines from Virgil’s The Aeneid and another from
Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi:
Kurunmi
Kujenyo: Aruku, Aruku,
Aruku-gb
‘oku-roja-mata;
The corpse
that was carried to the market
Did not sell
It was
thrown into the bush;
The same was
brought back home
Covered in
shroud
And called
‘egungun.’
Thus
declared the oracle
To Owori,
him of Isanyin,
Who died and
whose children
Did not have
the money
To bury his
dead body.
Aruku, the
elder,
Brother to
Aruku, the younger,
Who was
himself brother to Aruku, the younger.
He became
head of Aruku the family,
And took
himself a wife, Iya Mose,
Daughter of
Igbori.
But the
union was cursed.
Time fled,
years passed,
Age piled
upon age,
But the
marriage stood still
Barren.
The spirit
of the dead body that was not sold in the
Market was
angry.
Aruku, Aruku
Strange
things happen.
Iya Mose,
the woman, took her water pot.
She went to
the river to get water:
Life must drink
water.
Aruku, Aruku
Strange
things must happen
At the
river, Iya Mose, wife of Aruku the elder,
As she
leaned forward to get water,
There she
became pregnant.
Grabbed
By a
Gorilla.
(Act 3,
Scene 7)
The Aeneid
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
Had made him fugitive; he was the first
To journey from the coast of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
Beneath the violence of High Ones, for
The savage Juno’s unforgetting anger;
And many sufferings were his in war-
Until he brought a city into being and carried in his gods to Latium;
From this have come the Latin race, the lords
Of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.
Tell me the reason, Muse: what was the wound
To her divinity, so hurting her
That she, the queen of gods, compelled a man
Remarkable for goodness to endure so many crises, meet so many trials?
Can such resentment hold the minds of gods?
(Book 1, lines 1-12)
The above lines from both works are figuratively embellished; yet they were
produced from different cultural and traditional backgrounds: African and
Western.
Folktale
in traditional African literature is not different from narratives in Western
literature, except that the later is often documented, while the former exists mostly in verbal form. But both have considerable
length, contain characters (humans and animals), reveal vices that exist in
their contemporary human societies and also contain language language that is
figuratively embellished. Most importantly, the are both stories of things that
did not happen- “improbable truth” (Aristotle).
Wrestling
and dance of masked spirits conceptually agree with Western plays on the basis
that the both deal with men acting on stage before an audience. They are
designed to to entertain the audience. Although all masked spirits do not
entertain. It is noteworthy that even though Western plays are often in written
form, they are better appreciated when the are acted on stage, before an
audience. An imagination of the ancient Greek actors performing on stage with
masks, creates a picture of African masked spirits performing before their
audience. One major difference is that whereas Western plays thrive on
dialogue, those of African indigenous literature thrive on action.
CONCLUSION
African indigenous literature exists
in oral form mostly. Only few have been documented. In its oral form, it cannot
get to a wider audience, or be properly preserved like the Western literature.
Scholarly learning bases mostly on documented materials, and if African
indigenous literature must surrender itself to scholarly learning it has to
grow from being
transmitted from “mouth to
mouth” to being transmitted from “book to book.”
Understandably,
in its oral state, African indigenous literature has a touch of originality
and, as a matter of fact, awesomeness. But all these are marred by the
inconsistency in its oral performances. Often, stories and folksongs are
watered down or changed as different performers perform them. It sometimes
makes the audience wonder which of the stories or songs is in its original
state of composition. And of course, the level of literary embellishments the
work carries at its moment of composition is dependent on the performer’s
knowledge and expertise in the use of the embellishments. Some performers are
not properly grounded in the art, while some seem to be the originators of the
art; yet they both perform the same work before the same audience, and at times different
audiences.
Therefore,
I put forward that one major area that has to be looked into in the study of African indigenous literature is with
regard to changing it from its oral state to a written
state.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Arrow
of God. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1974.
Allen Mandelbaum (Translator) The
Aeneid of Virgil. San Francisco: Bantam Books, 1970
http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997meyer.htm
Mbunda, Frida Menkan. Wonder Tales of
Oku (Cameroon) and the Aesthetics of Storytelling. Enugu: Kenny and
Brothers Enterprises, 2002.
Opata, D.U and Ohaegbu, A.U. (ed.) Major Themes in African Literature.Nsukka: AP Express Publishers, 2000.
Soyinka, Wole. Death
and the King’s Horseman. London: Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1975
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