On staging performance

The masquerade festival of Ìklé Èkìtì

Bibliographic Data

ID2172879
AuthorsWill Rea (0000-0003-0294-5019)
Year2007
Volume19
Issue1
Pages95-112
Publication date2007-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of African Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-6815 • E-ISSN: 1469-9346
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13696810701485959
OpenAlexW2047790308
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

This paper examines the ways in which the official performance of a masquerade festival in an Èkìtì Yorúbà town in Nigeria depends upon the action of participants taking place away from the performances that the public witnesses. In the Èkìtì Yorúbà town of Ìklé the biannual masquerade festival is one of the most dramatic ritual events within the town. It examines the way that the formal presentations of masquerade within the official ritual period are underpinned by the contestations that take place behind the scenes of the festival, that in turn rely upon the differing identities that are established in the performance of differing masquerade types. Thus the paper generates a 'backstage' / 'frontstage' approach to the festival and in so doing it places the performance of the participant observer within the analysis arguing that this, within the conditions of the festival is as much a performance as any other part of the performances called upon during the festival. *This paper is the product of fieldwork in the Èkìtì Yorúbà town of ìklé-Èkìtì. Fieldwork was carried out at various times in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 2006. My thanks to the people of Ìklé, to Professor J Ade Ajayi and Mrs C Ade Ajayi and to many in Nigeria too numerous to mention. Thanks also to the British Academy who sponsored this fieldwork and to the Henry Moore Foundation who provided a generous fellowship at the University of Leeds Notes *This paper is the product of fieldwork in the Èkìtì Yorúbà town of ìklé-Èkìtì. Fieldwork was carried out at various times in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 2006. My thanks to the people of Ìklé, to Professor J Ade Ajayi and Mrs C Ade Ajayi and to many in Nigeria too numerous to mention. Thanks also to the British Academy who sponsored this fieldwork and to the Henry Moore Foundation who provided a generous fellowship at the University of Leeds 1At the end of the masquerade festival the masquerades are said to die. There is indeed something 'dead' about the mask on the floor surrounded by the limp maríwò palm leaves attached to its rim. There is no movement, no noise from the mask; it is 'dead'. 2The precise meaning of r in this instance is not known, but it was suggested by my field assistant that it could mean song. It could also mean that Elùmùtó wants to dance for the festival. 3The Àbòrògí that performed this part of the festival was from Igbale quarter. There are two predominant Àbòrògí in Ìklé, one performed by the Chief lm ́digbál of Igbale and the other by Chief dba of mdowá. Olùmùtó is performed by the lm ́digbál. 4In the instance that I witnessed the songs were so beautiful that people spontaneously began to cry, even those who had no connection with the deceased. 5This is literally bush on the outside of the town, at the bottom of Ilka quarter. 6The shrine at which this sacrifice is made, the 'fount' of power for Egígún, is in fact a pot buried in the grove containing numerous medicines and sacrificial items, about which very little was ever mentioned. It was known as Egun or Eegun and I was variously told that this was; the father of the Egígún, the Egígún or the power of the Egígún, or where the Egígún came from. I was told, 'It is where we make sacrifice and where all sacrifice goes to.' 7Why this day is especially associated with mdowá is not clear. 8See Doris Citation(2005) for the relationship between artefact and thief. In this important article Doris makes the equivalence between the work of making good community and the aesthetic object. He claims that the thief is described as having no face, and that aale (a form of oogun) call individual thieves by name. In the mythic narratives the original Egígún is described as a thief. 931 May in 1991. 10It is said that if a pregnant woman sees the mask her child will be born with an enlarged head, 'like that of the mask.' Once such child was pointed out to me, born to a mother in Ilka quarter who supposedly saw the Àjàlam. The child was probably suffering from cranio-encephalitis. 11This was an area of confusion, some women claimed that they were allowed to see the masquerade, other women that occupied similar structural positions in the town claiming that women never saw the mask. 12This may be a manner of talking, a way of creating an aura around the mask, but it also seems to be a 'reality' to those involved in the masking. Putting the Ajalamo on is to place a dangerous burden on the head. The same response, in this case to the presence of strangers was found in the pá masquerade performance at the festival of Ògún at Ire. While passing the house in which the strangers were present the large pá mask made as if to sink into the ground. 13To, in other words, make its passage 'tasty' or good. 14Literally this seems to mean the fully risen sun. I have witnessed a number of pá performances in the middle of the day – but intriguingly all took place in cloudy weather. 15The relationship between the sacred and the profane is, of course, not this clear cut, elder members of the 'society' would be as involved in making sacrifices as any member of the 'cult'. As I show below, the distinctions between the groups and allegiances are highly flexible, what distinguishes the cult is a set of formal chieftaincy titles. 16The gb is made up of a number of differing structural groups, and certainly not all those that take part in these meetings are actively involved in performing masquerades. The structure and positions of the gb are outlined in detail below. 17Baba Opn has subsequently left Ìklé, accused of stealing sculpture from the palace. The charge remains to be proven. 18Whether this is structural in that it is always Elegíré that dresses in the Owì costume, or whether it is simply coincidence that the title of Elegíré is currently held by a junior (a fourteen year old?) boy is unknown. It is probable that the Owì is always initially performed by a junior. 19The Owì is both the senior masquerade and the masquerade performed by the most junior of boys. Although this reversal occurs in other masquerade societies in West Africa, nobody in Ìklé could give me any explanation of why Owì, when in official capacity i.e.: at the opening of events, was always performed by junior boys. 20This was a problem that I often encountered, in many of the villages that I worked in. There is still a thriving trade in the dealing of Yorúbà Art for the Western markets, often the traders are Yorúbà or Hausa, supplying the demands of the Western art connoisseurs. This made work extremely difficult as often I was accused of stealing things. There is an interesting history to be written, however, about people's awareness of their national / town or lineage cultural inheritance. 21The case was re-rehearsed at a paper I gave at the African Studies centre in Ìbàdàn in 2006. Apparently Dr Olaoba had been conducting research in Ìklé at about the same time and remembered the case well. He confirmed the humour! 22At this point it seemed that my 'initiation' was of no practical use at all. This lies at the crux of the factionalism that exists in masquerade. I was 'initiated' in the first instance by certain members of the cult. When I explained this to certain members of the 'society' they were very annoyed. The point of course is that there is no 'real' initiation in the manner of certain other masquerade societies. There is a certain transmission of knowledge and a certain number of sacrifices that are required to furthering that knowledge, but generally young men of the masquerade society are not required to go through any initiation before masquerading, although there are a set of initiations around the creation of chiefs. 23By this I mean specifically the mask as the object. It is clear that it is the mask and the inherent powers that it holds is what is important in the performance. 24Indeed, little of this dispute had much to do with me as an individual. 25The way in which cultural forms incorporate, modify and are changed by the experience of global modernity is not a simple subject, and in the space that I have here I cannot do justice to its complexity (see however Barber and Waterman 1993 and particularly Enwezor Citation2002). An example might clarify what I am trying to say. One of the main criteria for the election of bas throughout the twentieth century, has been that they have best access to resources that benefit the town, which has generally meant that bas are chosen that have a greater degree of access to state resources, presupposing levels of education etc. While I was in Nigeria it became apparent that a number of towns were in fact electing bas that embraced and encouraged 'traditional' practice, and these may have been elected over more 'educated' candidates. The stories may have been apocryphal, but they do sum up what I am trying to state here, which is that there is a consciousness of 'traditional' practice that is regarded as important. The reasons for this can't be discussed here, but I would suggest that one cause is the decline of Nigeria's vast economic wealth

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