Oral performance as therapy: the example of Perry-Como Okoye

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Oral performance as therapy: the example of Perry-Como Okoye
Author:	Asigbo, Alex
Year:	2009
Periodical:	African Performance Review
Volume:	3
Issue:	1
Pages:	74-85
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Igbo popular music cosmology
About person:	Perry-Como Okoye
Abstract:	This article examines the therapeutical function of music on the basis of the compositions of Igbo musician Perry-Como Okoye. For the Igbo of Nigeria music plays a highly utilitarian role. This is why almost every facet of Igbo life is steeped in music. However, two different categories of music can be distinguished: music that relaxes and orients us socially, and music that connects us to the spiritual world. Okoye's music belongs to both categories, but this article focuses on the latter. It argues that the way in which Okoye represents Igbo cosmology through his music can be compared to what Amos Tutuola and D.O. Fagunwa do in their stories. To fully understand the spiritual dimensions of Okoye's music, the article analyses some of the songs from his album 'Oderigwugwu', distinguishing performance as spiritual awareness, performance as justice and fair play, and performance as competition. In the final analysis, it concludes that Okoye's music is an encapsulation of the Igbo cosmos both as it is and as it should be. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract]