by
Obododimma Oha
Eke Ukwu 29 November 2009 was Anambra State Day in Ibadan, Oyo State. The celebration which took place at the Cultural Centre, Mokola, Ibadan,on the mandate of Anambra State Forum in Oyo State, witnessed many cultural performances by members of the various Anambra State town unions based in Ibadan. The ancestors were also there, travelling several thousands of miles from the land of the spirits. Emerging from ant holes and dripping with ancient songs and proverbs,Anagharakpo and Ekwusike -- two celebrated okorommuo from Uli --took the ogbo and turned the premises of the Ibadan Cultural Centre to a very lively asaa. The two masked spirits literally became the centre of the celebration that was intended as a fund-raising occasion.They sang, they danced, and sang their dance, the poetry of their spirit bodies casting a spell on the audience that seemed to keep growing every minute. The two okorommuo seemed to have been sent by the spirit world to provide the much-needed rousing for the inhabitants of this city at a time that daily life in Nigeria had almost become empty and punishing. Below are some of the photographs of the two masked spirits entertaining and bringing back life into human experience.
Surely, the ancestors are not inhibited by the boundaries of time and place. Their spirit bodies as transforming texts remain unknowable, unreadable, yet remaining the animation of the spirit of community in a postcolonial African world.
Obododimma Oha
Eke Ukwu 29 November 2009 was Anambra State Day in Ibadan, Oyo State. The celebration which took place at the Cultural Centre, Mokola, Ibadan,on the mandate of Anambra State Forum in Oyo State, witnessed many cultural performances by members of the various Anambra State town unions based in Ibadan. The ancestors were also there, travelling several thousands of miles from the land of the spirits. Emerging from ant holes and dripping with ancient songs and proverbs,Anagharakpo and Ekwusike -- two celebrated okorommuo from Uli --took the ogbo and turned the premises of the Ibadan Cultural Centre to a very lively asaa. The two masked spirits literally became the centre of the celebration that was intended as a fund-raising occasion.They sang, they danced, and sang their dance, the poetry of their spirit bodies casting a spell on the audience that seemed to keep growing every minute. The two okorommuo seemed to have been sent by the spirit world to provide the much-needed rousing for the inhabitants of this city at a time that daily life in Nigeria had almost become empty and punishing. Below are some of the photographs of the two masked spirits entertaining and bringing back life into human experience.
Surely, the ancestors are not inhibited by the boundaries of time and place. Their spirit bodies as transforming texts remain unknowable, unreadable, yet remaining the animation of the spirit of community in a postcolonial African world.
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