TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE – – – – – – – i
CERTIFICATION – – – – – – – ii
DEDICATION – – – – – – – iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT – – – – – – iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS – – – – – – v
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to study – – – – – 1
1.2 History and Origin of Yakurr – – – – 7
1.3 Territory – – – – – – – 10
1.4 Migration – – – – – – – 11
1.5 Language – – – – – – – 13
1.6 Basic Occupation – – – – – – 14
1.7 Culture and Traditional Institution – – – – 15
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Concept of performance – – – – – 17
2.2 The Oral Artist (Performers) – – – – – 32
2.3 Performer/Audience Relationship. – – – – 35
2.4 Occasion Of Performance – – – – – 39
2.5 Costume – – – – – – – – 40
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Yakurr War Song –OBAM – – – – – 44
3.2 Literary Analysis of Yakurr War Songs – – – 55
3.3 Themes in Yakurr War Songs – – – – – 72
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Social Relevance – – – – – – 74
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary – – – – – – – – 77
5.2 Conclusion – – – – – – – 77
WORKS CITED
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to study
African Oral Literature is a medium through which the African society, culture, customs, norms, belief, communal experiences, and social and religion are sustained. Oral literature as an imaginative realised through words of mouth or actions and individual creative genius mostly during performance situation where there is a conscious structured arrangement of words and ideas and techniques to provide an insight into people experience of life. Nkem Nkoh (2008) asserts that Africa remains the place for song; dance and music activities that not only frequently express the heart of the continent, but are veritable component of traditional life. (96)
Isidore Okpewho (1992) argues that “In the African society there is hardly an occasion or event that is not accompanied with songs, an African child grows up with song because at child birth there is song of praise to God or merriment, a song is used to lure the child to birth, and when it’s time for initiation of any traditional ceremony a song accompanies every occasion” (125). According him songs and chants also accompany the various honest occupations of men and women, work songs to relieve the hours on the farm, in the field, at the fishing traps. Various chants and songs that contain formulae for healing ailments or foretelling the future, or the inspired chants and songs aimed at firing the courage of hunters and warriors before an encounter or to praise them for their feats. As with work so with play a variety of songs are intended to relax young men and women as well as children after hard day work in many areas of life. (126)
Based on performance Helene Chukwuma classifies the African songs into funeral songs, war/warrior songs, children songs, work songs, birth/cradle songs, tale songs and heroic songs.
For the purpose of this research, more emphasis will be on the war song. Therefore A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society’s attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times.
Okpewho states that war songs or songs depicting the fighting spirit feature prominently in the oral tradition mainly because in traditional African society war provided men with the opportunity to put their manhood to test and establish for themselves a pride of place in the society. (128)
