The Paraphernalia and Symbolism of Uvie Drum as an Idiophone of Traditional Religious Communication among the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria: The Aguleri Experience (Published)
The ritual decoration of the Uvie sacred drum is highly impregnated with its ritual symbologies that are imbued with mystical powers and these nurtures the cosmological Aguleri people’s belief system. In Aguleri culture and tradition, white chalk (nzu), alligator pepper, fowl feathers, blood and kola-nuts are parts of valuable ritual paraphernalia which acts as a power house for the ritual decoration of the sacred drum of the Uvie drum which imbues it with the mystical powers in order for it to speak ritualistically. This paper examines and equally predicates these ritual items from the Aguleri cosmological paradigm in order to bring out its symbologies and ritual implications through an ethnographic method to demonstrate that ritual is part and parcel of decoration of the Uvie sacred drum for it to speak ritualistically in traditional religion of the Igbo people as a study in musicology.
Keywords: Cosmology, Culture, Sacred, Symbolism, decoration, imbues, rituals
Aesthetic Treatment and Symbolism of the Street in Amma Darko’s Faceless (Published)
The problem of street children, as depicted by Amma Darko, is a growing phenomenon in African cities. As evidence, many nongovernmental organizations are concerned with abandoned children’s living conditions, convinced that today’s young girls and boys are the adults of tomorrow. Following in these charitable institutions’ footsteps, Amma Darko in Faceless, looks into the phenomenon in all its aspects. In its form as well as in its content, the novel addresses the issue with a special focus on the word ‘street’ which receives the abandoned children. Basing on new criticism theory, the analyses reveal that, aesthetically, the street is given a special place in the novel. It appears approximately 85 times, that is a little less than half the entire number of pages of the novel (199 pages). It is used directly as parts of speech, sometimes personified, with different grammatical functions. Indirectly, it is presented in alternation with a conventional family the Kabrias, MUTE, an NGO caring for abandoned children and a radio station, Harvest FM. Seen from the point of view of symbolism and put in relation with the stakeholders of the phenomenon of street children, the street turns out to symbolize a space of escape, of survival, of a jungle, of destruction, of violence and crime and of a barracks.
Keywords: Aesthetics, Street, Street Children, Street Girls, Symbolism