American Journal of Sociological Research 2017, 7(5): 123-132 DOI: 10.5923/j.sociology.20170705.01

The Artistic Performance and Social Significance of Nso Incantations

Andrew T. Ngeh1,*, Ngeh Ernestilia Dzekem2

1University of Buea, Cameroon 2University of Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract This paper sets out to investigate whether the incantations performed by the people of Nso in the North West region of Cameroon are relevant in the contemporary society that is mostly characterized by enormous scientific and technological innovations. The study contends that “Lamnso” which is the language spoken by the Nso people of the North West region of Cameroon constitutes a reservoir and cultural quarry for Orature. The culture it houses is rich in oral literature even though it is being threatened by globalization, cultural imperialism, neo-colonialism and modernism. It is for this reason that, this study, considers the examination of Nso oral tradition as an integral global concern. In order to attain the objectives of this study, the ecocritical and sociological readings imposed themselves on these incantations. The study further argues that though most material of Orature comes from the past and was commonly seen to be rooted in the distant past, it can still be used to interpret contemporary and historical realities because it reviews the past, evaluates the present and anticipates the future. Raph Perry notes in the Foreword to African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity that “The past as embodied in contemporary adults is both the bed of reactionaries and springboard of innovations” (110). It is in this light that this study contends that the traditional society and the modern one are mutually inclusive entities with regard to African oral literature. Keywords Performance, Relevance, Incantations, Poetry, Contemporary and Context

both perhaps present in time future, and time future 1. Introduction and Background to the contained in time past.” Study Though oral literature is old, it is shared by everyone in the community since it defines group identity and has values that The main concern of this study is to investigate the manifest in people’s actions. Kashim Ibrahim Tala and contributions of African oral literature in the interpretation of Henry Kah Jick in their article “Lapiro De Mbanga and contemporary realities within the Nso socio-cultural setting. Political Vision in Cameroon” have argued that since oral In this regard, the incantations studied in this paper are a literature is a changing activity, the oral artist “finds that he response to social, economic, cultural and philosophical has to transcend his immediate cultural environment to concerns. This investigation is crucial because of the embrace the concept of a new nation” (34). Seen from this transcendentalism of African oral literature. Given that perspective, this study borrows a leaf from Lupenga African oral literature in a globalised context is a response to Mphande in the introduction to the Encyclopedia of African the social, economic, political and cultural concerns of the Literature, who points out that, contemporary society, it can be used to address societal Despite the ravages of slavery and colonialism on concerns. Jan Vansina in Oral Tradition as History quotes Africa’s political, economic and social systems, the the following Akan proverb from Ghana: “Ancient things continent’s cultures and aesthetic sensibilities remain remain in the ear” (45). The implication of this proverb is independent and vibrant, particularly in the orally based that though it is rooted in the past, it is linked to the present forms of cultural expressions. Although African and can in turn be used to interpret the future. In this regard, societies have developed writing traditions, Africans one of the contentions of this study is that African oral are primarily an oral people, and it is that tradition that literature reviews the past, evaluates the present and has dominated the cultural forms created on the anticipates the future. As Ngugi wa Thiong’o has contented continent. (579) in Homecoming, (1972:39), “Time present and time past are The implication of the above citation is that African oral literature has the sense of being simultaneously old, almost * Corresponding author: [email protected] (Andrew T. Ngeh) timeless in its themes and forms, and new, the latest addition Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/sociology to global literary culture. The same source notes that “forms Copyright © 2017 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved of creative expression developed in Africa outside the orbit

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of colonialism and that continent’s living heritage of oral maize, Irish potatoes, plantains, cocoyams, yellow yams and literature bears witness to this autonomous tradition” (xi). groundnut. The Nso people have coffee as their main cash crop. The Nso oral traditions hold that its dynasty originated 2. The Nso People, Origin, Location, from Tikari, a plain in the region of Mbam River and has Occupation, Beliefs, and occupied the present area since 1370 and are perhaps one of Administration the oldest dynasties in the North West region of Cameroon. The people of Nso believe that the dead who have According to Lamnso-English Dictionary, Nso refers to an stubbornly refused to die regulate the activities of the living. ethnic group which left Rifem in 1370 under the leadership The communication between the living and the dead is done of Ngonso. It also refers to the region inhabited by the Nso through rituals, incantations, the pouring of libation and people. The people from this part of Cameroon have a ancestral worship. In spite of globalization, modernism and passion for their culture and the celebrations of their culture colonialism which find expression in Christianity, the Nso are manifested dance, songs, legends, initiation, incantations man still holds very tight to his cultural values. and even the way the people dress. The Nso people cherish their culture and traditions and In his Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of these institutions are headed by a traditional administrator Literary Form in Xhosa Lupenga Mphande points out that “if known as ‘Fon’. He is assisted by sub-chiefs known in the literature reflects the society which produces it, then Nso land as Shufaáy or Fai. These are quarter heads that understanding the social forces at work in that society is vital assist the Fon in the day to day running of the administration. to appreciating that society’s literature” (viii). Since this In addition to these are the regulatory authorities called the study borrows a leaf from this assertion, it is considered Nwerong and Ngiri that discipline deviants and non pertinent for us to have some knowledge about the Nso conformists in the society and check the excesses of the Fon. society. The fact that these sacred societies are for men only Nso is found in the North West region of Cameroon. Its demonstrates the male dominance of such a society. It is division is Bui which constitutes one of the largest and these titled men (Fon and Shufaáy) who perform these rituals densely populated ethnic groups in Cameroon. More than and incantations in the Nso society. four fifth of the Nso people is farmers. Beans, maize and potatoes are cultivated both for subsistence and commercial purposes. The men mainly preoccupy themselves with 3. Conceptualization farming, hunting expedition and the tapping of raffia wine. For this study to be properly comprehended, it is important Nso is the largest Fondom in the Bamenda grassfield. It to define some key concepts. This is in keeping with Bernard occupies the Eastern region of the North West region of Fonlon’s submission in “The Idea of Literature” that the first Cameroon, lying between latitudes 5.60°N and 6.25N and principle of any scientific discourse is the definition of one’s longitude 10.20°E and 11.50°E. The division is bordered to terms or concepts so as to know “clearly and precisely right the West by the Fondom of Kom, to the East by the Bamum from the start” what these terms or concepts mean (179). dynasty, to the South by the Fondoms of Ndop and to the These terms are “Performance” “Incantations” and North by the Mbum villages of Donga and Mantung division. “Contemporary”. Like many African languages Lamnso (the language spoken The Encyclopedia of African Literature defines by the people of Nso) is not well written and studied. Until Performance as “…a contested concept with no agreed-up recently, the best medium of communication of Nso Orature definition and calls into question conventional understanding has been the spoken word. The various genres of Nso oral of tradition, repetition, mechanical reproduction, and literature before now have been preserved in the people’s ontological definitions of the social order and reality” (582). memories, and it was only during performances that they The Collins English Dictionary defines the same concept as were communicated verbally to their audiences. These trends “the act, process or art of performing an artistic or dramatic are experiencing change since researchers have started production”. Consequently, this paper approaches recording and preserving some of the oral genres in print and performance and text from a balanced perspective that using other equipment of the electronic media. There are avoids projecting incantations as a fossilized artifact, or the literacy centres for the study of Lamnso in most villages of performer and audience as passive, disengaged bystanders. the Nso Fondom. Thus performance is viewed here from the process paradigm The Nso people have a mixed economy. They practice which is temporal, participatory, and interactive. subsistence agriculture. A greater population of Nso is The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary defines involved in farming and cattle rearing due mostly to the incantation as “(the performance of) words that are believed influence of the Fulanis in the area. They rear animals like to have a magical effect when spoken or sung” Nol cows, goats, pigs and also do poultry. A smaller proportion Alembong in Standpoints in African Orature writes that “By of the population is involved in trade and craft alongside their very nature, incantations stem from ritual farming to earn a living. Their main food crops are beans, performance…. Given that rituals are part and parcel of

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religious worship and that ritual performance usually contends that, the performance of Nso incantations gives the occasions the rendition of incantations, religious worship is a performer and the audience the channel to respond to social, binary activity consisting of ritual performance and the moral, economic, political and cultural issues of the society. rendition of incantations. (71). He defines incantations with In other words, the social, political, cultural and economic focus on the activity and occasion: concerns of the Nso society find expression in Nso An incantation is a verse form, the words of which incantations. are believed to have a magical effect when spoken or On its part, the word ‘contemporary’ as defined by the chanted during the performance of rituals or any other Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary means “existing occasion that calls for the intervention of the or happening now (325). This study perceives the word supernatural in human affairs. This verse form ‘contemporary’ as an on-going, modern setting, process in a manifests itself in such categories as blessings, curses, society. invocations, prayers and spells. (72) Therefore, the art of chanting incantations is a composite 4. Statement of the Problem activity which combines ritual performance and the production of context-based utterances by a defined live Some scholars are of the opinion that African oral performer in the presence of a defined live audience. traditions are outdated, obsolete and anachronistic. The Alembong identifies four main levels of ritual performance English Literary critic Fredric Jameson, for instance, has which may occasion the rendition of incantations in Africa. argued that “Orature is obsolete and if remnants of it exist at He observes that, “These levels have to do with the all today it will be under marginalized and declining individual or groups of individuals belonging to a guild or conditions” (qtd in Jick and Ngam, 4). But the present study some form of association, the family, secret societies, and the takes a contrary position and argues that Orature is not a community” (72). fossilized form of a primitive past of a people’s culture, but it According to Kashim Ibrahim Tala in Orature in Africa, is a vibrant aspect of a people’s existence that can be used to “Incantations are magically-oriented formulaic expressions. review the past, evaluate the present and anticipate the future. They are saturated with mystical powers and loaded with Ruth Finnegan in Oral Literature in Africa shares this view images that are highly mythopoetic. They are used to ward when she writes that, “oral poetry is not an odd or aberrant off evil, to evoke evil on enemies, to curse offenders, and to phenomenon in human culture, nor a fossilized survival from boast one’s personality” (52). This definition emphasizes the the past, destined to wither away with increasing functionality of incantations. modernization” (3). What is common in these definitions is that both reiterate the fact that they are word imbued with magical powers performed during specific occasions for specific purposes by 5. Research Questions specific individuals in the presence of a specific audience. Tala further points out that “they are used by man to solve Given the above problematic, the following research the spiritual, economic and social problems confronting questions are crucial in the understanding of this paper: him …they constitute a vital force in the survival of men” (a) What is the relationship between oral literature and (52). society? Nso incantations fall within the paradigm of Alembong (b) What is the place of aesthetics in Nso incantations? and Tala’s definitions of incantations and this is the direction (c) Can African oral traditions still be relevant in the adopted by this paper. It is also important to observe that Nso present global dispensation? incantations are believed to have spiritual, religious, political, (d) Can incantations address socio-political, cultural and economic and social functions. This method used in the economic concerns? realization of incantation brings out ritual, performance, audience, performer and occasion as major elements in the production of this oral genre. Ruth Finnegan in the text 6. Hypothesis quoted above defines oral literature with focus on In view of both the statement of problem and questions performance: raised, the argument of this paper is built around the Oral literature is by definition dependent on a hypothetical contention that while Western oral art forms performer who formulates it in words on a specific may have become obsolete, outdated and anachronistic, occasion – there is no other way in which it can be African Orature is alive, dynamic, healthy and sensitive as realized as a literary product…. The significance of they can be used to review the past, evaluate the present and performance in oral literature goes beyond a mere anticipate the future. This art form is elastic and preoccupies matter of definition: for the nature of the performance itself with both public and private matters. David Kerr in itself can make an important contribution to the impact Dance, Media Entertainment and Popular Theatre in South of the particular literary form being exhibited. (2-3) East Africa remarks that, This study closes ranks with Finnegan’s submission and The stereotype of the rural folklore informant cut off

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from the modern world, is no longer valid. That world Branch. impinges on his/her everyday life and needs to be dealt Though ecocriticism has influenced critical perspectives with. What is required is an equal exchange between such as Marxist critical theory, feminism, postmodernism investigators, interacting from different cultural and post colonialism, it has some basic tenets that undergird perspectives so that the folk informant becomes not its discourse. Ecocriticism looks at the relationship that simply the subject of the research but the agent of exists between man and his natural elements that make up his his/her involvement in cultural creativity, environment and how this is presented in literary works. consciousness and cultural transformation. (240) Secondly, it focuses on the attitude of man toward these This study hopes to substantiate this contention with the natural elements and how he is affected by them. This theory use of Nso incantations to argue that though incantations like therefore emphasizes the fact that plants, animals and other other variants of oral literature are mostly rooted in the elements of the ecosystem have and deserve their rightful distant past, they are also relevant because they become place within the environment. Finally, ecocriticism reiterates interpretive tools of the Nso/ African contemporary society. the greening of landscape; thus, there is emphasis on the African oral literature in general sustains, maintains and word “green” wherein one hears of words like green Sahel, preserves the history, culture and identity of individuals at all green cities, green peace, green glass, green revolution, times through performance using components such as shades of green, global green and others. By laying a lot of proverbs, myths, songs, incantations, storytelling and emphasis on “green”, ecocriticism symbolically stresses riddles. originality, peace, birth and rejuvenation. Consequently, the focus is on the natural coexistence between man nature and his environment. 7. Methodology and Theoretical According to Richard Kerridge, Framework The ecocritic wants to tract environmental ideas and representations wherever they appear....Most of all, The incantations we have selected for this study are ecocriticism seeks to evaluate texts and ideas in terms presented as closely as possible to the way they were of their coherence and usefulness as responses to originally performed by the performers who also acted as environmental crises. (qt in Garrard 4) informants. Some of the data was first collected by one of the Kerridge’s submission above is an indication that researchers when she was writing her post graduate ecocriticism lays emphasis on the coexistence between man dissertation titled “The Ideological and Aesthetic and nature as it is incumbent on man to protect and preserve Significance of Incantations: The Example of the Nso his environment because its depletion and degradation Tradition”. Between January 2014 and November 2016, one threaten the very existence of human beings. of these researchers being of Nso origin also recorded other In addition to the above tenets of ecocriticism, this theory incantations during live performances on different occasions also dwells on issues of eco-activism, and looks at the ways in Lamnso (the language spoken by the Nso people) and one literary critics view issues of equity and justice and their of them is on “Numerous Untimely Deaths”. This place in environmental concerns. The Free Library in the incantation was recorded live among others and translated introduction to its “Special Issue Ecocriticism Part 1” states: into English. In order to attain the objectives of this study, the ecocritical and sociological critical criteria were According to Levin (1999:1097) ecocriticism is employed in the interpretation, evaluation and analysis of the marked by a “tremendously ambitious, intellectual, Nso incantations. Consequently, these critical and analytical ethical, political and even (sometimes) spiritual agenda.” tools were employed in order to ascertain the relevance of He (Levin) states that ecocritical dialogue often aims at Nso incantations in modern and contemporary contexts. transforming the human environment and ecological A plethora of literary theories exists in literary criticism; consciousness by guiding the historically egocentric for example, Marxist critical theory, new historicism, post Western imagination towards a newly emerging modernism, psychoanalysis, Black aesthetics and formalism. ecocentric paradigm. (http://.thefreelibrary.com). However, this analysis is informed by both the eco-critical Ecocriticism and the sociological theory are the analytical and sociological theories since the study borders on the Nso tools utilized in this study. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold society and its environment. Fromm define ecocriticism as “the study of the relationship Even though nature writing and studies in nature have between literature and the physical environment” (xviii). existed for some time now, ecocriticism as a literary theory is Jelica Tosic in “Ecocriticism – Interdisciplinary Study of just making its debut in literary discourse. The word Literature and Environment” says that “Ecocriticism is ecocriticism has its origin from the articulations of the concerned with the relationships between literature and American scholar Cheryll Glotfelty who coined it to refer to environment or how man’s relationship with his physical a theory that examines the way nature in general is presented environment is reflected in literature” (qtd in Fondo, 97). in literary works. Also prominent in ecocritical discourse are William Rueckert in “Literature and Ecology” sees names like Harold Fromm, Lawrence Buell and Michael ecocriticism as the application of ecology and ecological

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concepts to the study of literature, because ecology as a to corresponding African forms just because they science, as a discipline, as the basis for human vision has the happen to be oral. If we do treat them as fundamentally greatest relevance to the present and future of the world” (qtd of a different kind, we deny ourselves of a fruitful in Fondo, 97). Ecocriticism studies the relationship between analytic approach …. We need of course to remember literature (spoken or written) and the natural environment. that oral literature is only one type of literature, a type This study hopes to demonstrate that Nso incantations refer characterized by particular features which have to do to social and cultural distinctions while presenting the fauna, with performance, transmission, and social context flora and the physical surrounding. The main aim of with the various implications these have for its study. ecocriticism in the context of this study is to ascertain a (25) harmonious and symbiotic union between man and the Incantations fall under religious poetry and Finnegan natural environment that surrounds him. Through literary identifies three main ways in which poetry can be regarded ecology, the study hopes to highlight the economic as religious: “Firstly, the content may be religious, as in significance of traditional or indigenous knowledge inherent verse about mythical actions of gods, or direct religious in Nso incantations. instruction or invocation. Secondly, the poetry may be The sociological approach to literary criticism emphasizes recited by those who are regarded as religious specialists. the symbiotic relationship between literature and society. Thirdly, it may be performed on occasions which are Literature taps from society and society in turn influences generally agreed to be religious ones” She clarifies that literature. Given that the Nso incantations emanate from a “These three criteria do not always coincide” (67) Nso particular sociological background which is the Nso cosmic, incantations are considered as religious poetry since they are this study intends to establish the relationship between the about mythical actions of gods. They are invocations Nso oral tradition and its society. Proponents of this critical performed around shrines during specific occasions to approach are: Abiola Irele, E. Emenyonu, Chinweizu, O. invoke the spirit of the ancestors to intervene in a particular Jemie and I. Madubuike. Establishing a relationship between situation especially crisis situations. sociology and literature, these critics affirm that like sociology, literature is basically concerned with man’s social world, his adaptation to it and intention to transform it. Thus, 9. Textual Analysis the incantations studied in this work are essentially meant to According to Finnegan, “oral poetry is not an odd or reshape the Nso cosmic. aberrant phenomenon in human culture, nor a fossilized survival from the past, destined to wither away with increasing modernization. In fact, it is a common occurrence 8. The Social Background and in human society”. (3) Performance Principles of Nso In line with Finnegan’s submission, this paper is Incantations concerned with the application of incantations to demonstrate that they have a legitimate place in the modern The Nso people refer to incantations as ‘Kiŋka’. It is not culture of Cameroon and are relevant to the contemporary easy to trace its origin and historicity, but it is obvious that Cameroonian society, in particular especially if the the act of chanting incantations around shrines is not a recent indigenous knowledge that they harbour can be utilized in all development in Nso history. ‘Kiŋka’ (incantations) among sectors of the economy. The point emphasized here is that the Nso is as old as the Nso history goes. Unlike proverbs, this kind of legitimacy does not only come from its original riddles, folktales and songs, incantations have limited Nso (African) quality and flavour but from its original Nso audience and performers. The kind of occasion or event contemporary existence and it is here that incantations determines the performer and defines the audience. Nso oral performed in Lamnso assume a wider social and cultural culture reveals sufficient evidence that the act of chanting significance. incantations has existed in Nso traditional life in the Andrew T. Ngeh and Nformi Dominic Nganyu in primordial past. Incantations like other elements of oral “Folklore and Commitment in Anglophone Cameroonian tradition come from the past and respond to the changing Poetry: A Study of Bongasu-Tanla Kishani and Nol times. The titles of the three oral poems or incantations under Alembong opine: reference in this study illustrate the fact that they have a The people of Africa, like all other peoples of the contemporary relevance. The poems under study are: world are inseparable from their history and culture, for “Drought” “New Churches” and “Numerous Untimely their history is the record of what they did, thought and Deaths”. These incantations are poetically appealing and said; and their culture is the totality of the ideas, ideologically fulfilling. The three are incantations because concepts and values that characterize their societies. they are performed when the community disagrees with what These cultural elements are manifested in their is observed. Ruth Finnegan in her, Oral literature in Africa literatures (oral as well as written), religions, social, writes that, economic and political institutions, music and dance, There is no good reason to deny the title of literature arts and drama, and their languages- all these have been

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and are still profoundly influenced by their orally transmitted material into global commodities. Thus, environments. (16) the relevance of the study of the performance of Nso The implication here is that man cannot survive without incantations is essentially meant to demonstrate and his past because the short cut to the future is via the past. One ascertain whether they are relevant in a contemporary of the arguments raised in this paper is that the relationship context or are still basking in the euphoria of their distant between the individual, his past and society constitutes the past. This is one of the fundamental questions that this study main focus of oral literature in general and incantations in grapples with. particular. The social, economic, cultural and political Religious poetry in general involves all aspects of society concerns in a society can determine its literature, and that and therefore difficult to understand unless one has a good literature can change the direction of the lives of its knowledge of the society from which it is produced and producers. It is from this perspective that this study becomes performed. In this regard, Finnegan emphasizes that “In any relevant to the performance of Nso (Cameroon) incantations case the religious significance of a poetic product can only be in a contemporary context. assessed with a detailed knowledge of its social and literary In the pre-colonial Africa, oral literature functioned as a background, for only then can one grasp its meaning (or medium of education, entertainment and the revival and meanings) for composer, reciter, and listeners” (200). redemption of society. Our focus in this study rotates around Nso incantations emanate from the background of the Nso these same functions. In the contemporary context, Tala society and incorporate all the ways of the Nso community perceives the oral artist as one operating in “a heterogeneous including its physical, socio-cultural, metaphysical, society with no unified body of norms and with no clear-cut philosophical and political backgrounds. For instance, the expectations from its members” (164) Jick and Ngam in Nso people see children as the future of the community since “Performance and Relevance of Kom (Cameroon) Riddles in their presence symbolizes and ensures continuity. The a Contemporary Context” explain that “this means community feels threatened when they register numerous sensibility and a new medium” (12) In line with this assertion, untimely deaths within a limited period. The general Emmanuel Ngara contends: conception and perception about life is that the children should bury their parents and when the reverse is the case, it The dynamics of political struggles and social becomes a call for concern. change affect the content and form of works of art so In the first incantation in this study, the focus is on the that if we are to understand fully and appreciate the rise, occurrence of a drought which in science may be viewed as development, concerns and styles of the literature of a the vagaries of nature, but within the Nso cosmology, it is not nation, we must see that literature in relation to the a natural occurrence and something has be done to bring it to history and struggle of its people and in relation to the an end. “Kighiy” which is translated as ‘drought’ is various ideologies that issue from socio-economic performed against the backdrop of this misfortune. The conditions. (29) views of the performer are expressed in his invocation which From the foregoing submission, therefore, this study is an appeal to both gods and his ancestors to wake up and makes bold to argue that the traditional artist who was intervene thus: originally limited to the confines of his village now develops “Kighíy” “Drought” (approximate translation) O nyuy mbom, O Nyuy woŋ O God the creator, O God of the universe. O ataàr ver O our fore fathers. Ver yi lem won vin fe ? Where will we keep these children? A wune lo shi ka? What will they eat? ŋgvǝv yini wuna milu’me.ѐ Here are your fowl and palm wine. ŋgwasaŋ biy ne e kibvǝǝr. Maize is cooking in the dust. Kòy ka wuù? What has happened to rain? Dzǝv wir wo kiwo Kfǝ kidzǝn sho Strike he who has a hand in this. Kaŋ mo’ on e kimbu’ ki. Once with a club. O ataàr ver O our fore fathers.

In Nso cosmological system, there is nothing like a natural the metaphorical use of language, we can deduce that the occurrence. Just as someone can withhold the rain, so too can performer is trapped by the fever of nothingness. He senses someone unleash drought on the people with its devastating doom and questions his ancestors for he believes that what is consequences. It is against this backdrop that the performer happening is either caused by the negligence of their during his performance appeals to both his gods and the ancestors or induced by wicked spirits. This is not a normal ancestors to intervene. or natural occurrence in a typical Nso society. This belief To reinforce his thematic preoccupation, he uses a series brings out an aspect of the Nso custom where it is believed of literary devices such as metaphors, symbols, rhetorical that nothing negative happens without some supernatural questions and repetition. Through rhetorical questions and forces. Maize is used by the Nso people to produce their

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staple meal, corn flour which is used for the preparation of In the incantation performed against drought, the corn fufu. The Nso people feel uncomfortable when they go performer shows concern for children because among the for some time without this important and special meal. Maize Nso people, children are placed at the heart of all agricultural becomes a symbol of life and its destruction is a threat to activities. The fact that children will go hungry because, their collective survival. ‘maize is cooking in the dust’ is what has triggered the The performer uses the metaphor of maize to decry performance of this incantation regarding the devastating rampant untimely deaths in his community. He compares consequences of drought. What this statement by the oral maize with children. As maize is central to their well being as artist means is that drought announces, misery, hunger, individuals and as a community, so are children. He feels diseases, pain, anguish, famine and malnutrition which are empty without maize and laments, “The compound is serious mishaps in Africa especially in the sub-Saharan deserted”. region. This situation is a call for concern in the modern In addition to the corn fufu which is produced from maize society. Therefore, the performance of Nso incantations has is a locally brewed drink known as nkang. This is the most relevance in a contemporary context. popular drink amongst the Nso people which is used in The people of Nso have a traditional religion that holds the occasions and ceremonies. The scarcity of maize or the spirit of unity in high esteem. The Nso man believes that one absence of it threatens their unity. The Nso man believes that cannot be individualistic in a communalistic society. They the philosophy of the truth resides in the cup of nkang. It share their aspirations, hopes and fears together. That is why represents truth; it symbolizes unity and love amongst the in a crisis situation, the chief priests or the family head Nso denizens. assumes his responsibilities in order to avert it. This lamentation is anchored on the philosophy of the Nso It is believed that the deity or ancestral spirit torments community which is communal and not individualistic. The heirs or relatives because of the need for their timely and Nso people emphasize the importance of a person to another regular performance of the correct rites or sacrifices of and when they lose a member or members due to untimely propitiation since in their opinion spiritual contamination deaths, they are worried. They see the importance of people comes from evil doing, abominable acts, taboos and failure living together as a community till old age and believe that a to adopt the right ritual posture. Ancestral spirits that “deserted compound” symbolizes emptiness as it threatens departed in peace are very sensitive to negative acts of their collective existence as a people. This view is shared by disgrace by the living because defilement renders the other African communities as demonstrated by Uchendu, community vulnerable and susceptible to evil and negative Okonkwo’s uncle in the conclusion to his prayer in Chinua occurrences and requires atonement or purification which is Achebe’s Things Fall Apart when he comments: “An animal necessary to cleanse the land and appease the ancestors or rubs its itchy flank against a tree, a man asks his kinsman to gods. Prayers chanted and sacrifices offered around shrines scratch him”. (67) are common redressive rites practised among the Nso people Culturally, incantatory poetry helps reveal aspects of the to cleanse the effect of spiritual contamination. The Nso customs and tradition. The Nso people appease the gods performance in this context can also be used as a preventive or ancestors when their peace is threatened. The oral measure to check any impending evil force from exerting its performer or chief priest calls the ancestors by their names to ugly influence on the community. They feel dejected when evoke their spirits to fight those who have offended them and their unity is threatened as seen in the incantation performed have unleashed calamity on the land. Such people are seen as against new churches in the third poem. The performance of undesirable elements by the community and the performer this incantation is anchored on the belief that the who acts as the voice of the people wishes that; “The sun proliferation of churches is helping to fragment and should not rise on him tomorrow.” This is a cursed that has disintegrate their families and community in general. been placed on anyone who has a hand in the mishap. Against this background, the performer laments:

“Ye’ey se fiysi” “New Churches” Approximate translation Eh nyuy woŋ, eh nyuy mbom Eh God of the universe, eh God the creator Eh ataàr vem Eh our fore fathers. Haa! Kinyo ji bunri Haa! A strange thing which they say is prayer Dzǝka kin ji ye’eh? What are these doctrines? Kpfǝsi javsin ne Families are divided. Wiiy wum lum, wir wun fǝǝr. Wife against husband, brother against brother Wir wuna fǝǝri yo’ dzǝ sevnin biy. Kins no longer share kola nut Dzǝ lav se cu se le sin? What churches are these? Ver fesi kibvǝ kin bi’ a wune We blow this wood ash against them Ven lokir. Quit the land. Ver meŋ ven We reject your presence Ver meŋ ye’ey sen. We reject your teachings. Eh ataàr vem Eh our fore fathers.

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The Marxist critic and African prolific writer, Ngugi wa perspective of the Kom tradition when they write: Thiong’o has argued in Homecoming (1972) that It is important to note here that every old compound Christianity and colonialism are twin brothers and capitalism in the Kom Fondom has at least a kola nut tree and is their first cousin. If capitalism is the by-product of almost all new compounds today have at least young colonialism and Christianity, then the division and kola nut trees. … Kola nut is sold throughout Kom and individualism which capitalism breeds are clearly evident in neighboring markets of the Fondom. Consequently, its this particular incantation. The Nso society by its very nature economic value cannot be ignored. (14) is communal and it abhors any individualistic tendencies. Among the Nso people like the Kom people, kola nut has This incantation reinforces the social and cultural life of economic, cultural and social values. It is used to entertain the Nso people. Communalism is an essential aspect of their guests. It is shared during sad and happy moments. During life. The new churches and their different doctrines have burials kola nut is shared. It is also shared and eaten during contradicted the communal spirit in that some prevent their marriages or any other occasions where people come members from participating in cultural activities such as together in Nso. The Nso people move about with kola nut so death celebrations and commemorations. This has created a as to share with friends on their way. Thus eating and sharing shacky cultural atmosphere and foundation because the kola nut is one of their cultural practices. It is kept in homes people believe that when there is no unity their cultural by individuals to entertain visitors and this applies to palm strength is weakened. The Nso people believe that unity is wine. Consequently, kola nut and palm wine are used among strength; and this strength fosters and enhances development. the Nso people to maintain cultural continuity since they This performance is relevant to the contemporary context play a key role in all their social gatherings. where new churches with new names and new doctrines crop The third incantation performed against new churches and up every day and bring confusion, conflict and frustration to their conflicting doctrines focuses on the family. The Nso many through their strange beliefs and teachings. people are aware that for any community to develop there The incantations reveal the Nso ecological environment. must be peace, love and understanding among its members. The material used to appease the gods such as goat, palm Pessimism always looms in the air when family members wine, palm oil, rat mole, egusi and fowl paint the picture of disagree. The family is the basic unit and nucleus of any their natural environment and what it produces. They rear society and when it disagrees, it slows down development in goats and fowls and cultivate maize, egusi and plant raffia a nation. The nucleus of any nation is the family and husband palms. They also hunt rat moles for food. This implies that and wife form the basic economic unit of the economy for agriculture, hunting and tapping of raffia wine are some of they represent the earliest division of labour in human their economic activities. Oral literature thus becomes a history. Consequently, disagreement between husband and mirror through which one can view a society and how man wife must be avoided to ensure peace and development in the lives and adapts in it. The titles of the poems under reference community. When a brother stands against a brother just in this paper, “Untimely Deaths”, “Drought” and “New because he belongs to this or that church the community is churches” exemplify the fact that literature is linked to a thrown into chaos. To the Nso man, disunity is a period when people’s collective experience and consciousness, and kin are denied the opportunity to share kola nut. Such a can fully reflect a society both economically, socially, situation steals their joy and makes them hopeless and metaphysically, philosophically and culturally. unhappy. When kola nut is shared and eaten among the The natural environment of the Nso society has a great people, information circulates as people eat and comment, significance in the well being of its elements. The different share their joy and sorrows and talk about the weather and materials used in the performance of these incantations the issues in the community and the nation as a whole. enhance the importance of the physical, metaphysical and Through the rhetorical question, ‘What are these doctrines? ecological environment to a people’s Orature and culture. ‘, the performer who stands on the occasion of the Orature and culture anchor on nature. The performance of performance as the voice of the entire Nso community shows Nso incantations as a tributary of African oral literature disgust and rejection. He is taken aback by the way the offers the Nso elements the education that grows out of their doctrines of the new churches have gained grounds in the natural environment. The people through these performances Nso society and how people’s minds have been fragmented. are encouraged to rear goats, fowls and cultivate palms and The community is in disarray because of this strange produce palm oil and tap palm wine. They do not only use teaching brought by Christianity. The tone in the incantation these items during occasions to offer sacrifices but also sell reveals frustration and confusion among people who are some and use part as food. Thus, their lives are intricately filled with regrets. The rhetorical question further reveals linked to these elements of their physical environment. that they are scared of the prevailing situation and The performance of the incantation against new churches desperately need intervention from their gods and ancestors. reveals kola nut as a symbol of unity among the Nso as the They invoke the spirit of the gods the Creator of the universe performer regrets: ‘Kins no longer share kola nut’. Kola nut as they denounce the situation. Commenting on the Nso is shared by people with the same aspiration and it is one of traditional religious practice Augustine Bame Nsamenang in the cultural practices in Nso. Jick and Ngam in their already Human Development in Cultural Context: A Third World quoted article emphasize the importance of kola nut from the Perspective contends that:

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Although God looms so large in Nso life and literature of different indigenous groups can still play an psychology, the belief is that human beings can only important role in the development of their communities. reach him through multiple intermediaries – ancestral They arrived at the conclusion that:“La littérature orale a une spirits and various classes of deities associated with fonction importante dans la plupart des sociétés, d’équilibre specific mundane objects, places, and phenomena. politique, de prise de conscience soi et dynamisme créateur”. Hence the ancestor cult - an elaborate set of rituals of They were of the opinion that: “que l’on travaille plus homage and supplication developed around ancestors efficacement à la promotion culturelle, religieuse, ou même (and deities) rather than around the Supreme Being. économique et sociale de l’homme africain, en reconnaissant The ancestor cult seems to be a universal religious et en respectant sa personnalité culturelle fortement marquée phenomenon: … The ancestor cult prescribes jusqu’ ici par l’oralité. (qtd in Jousse, 16) appropriate contacts with ancestors and deities. (90) In conclusion, it could be argued that although Nso The argument here is that the Nso people believe in God incantations have their roots in the distant past, they connect but to them that God cannot be reached directly except with the modern society. They are dynamic and are through ancestors. This belief occasions the act of chanting performed when occasions demand. In other word, they are incantations around shrines. They can only have access to the time-honored performances. They thus provide checks and almighty God through their gods and ancestors. balances in order to ensure responsible behaviour, morality, Incantations are used by the Nso people to address the harmonization of society, commitment, hard work and contemporary issues. There is a vast repertoire of discourage excesses such as dishonesty, laziness and incantations among the Nso people which keeps increasing impatience. Due to its elasticity, incantatory poetry in the due to technological developments and new occurrences. Nso cosmology can be used to review the past, evaluates the New occurrences and new philosophical views that present and anticipates the future In this vein, therefore, this contradict the Nso way of life, especially those that threaten study submits that Nso incantations house Nso culture and their spirit of oneness as in the “new churches” trigger connect the present to the past to build a better future thus occasions of performance. The performance brings out the highlighting the relevance of their religious poetry in a instructive dimension of incantations in the Nso society of modern setting. old and in the modern one. It creates a channel for the In the study of the performance and relevance of Nso performer who is the voice of his community to express the incantations in a modern setting, this paper has highlighted feelings of the people about events around them. the content and functions of three important incantations. Incantatory poetry among the Nso people serves as They instruct and entertain and it is due to this entertainment artifacts produced by the heritage domain, a resource for that they are brought to the literary market place. During local administration, a library for traditionalists and a performance, material plucked out of the performer’s mouths marketable source of value for cultural entrepreneurs. The is developed into global commodities. It is from this angle Orature of a people transports their history, archaeology and that Nso incantations have demonstrated that they provide shows how the life ways of the past were made into capital, a recreation to their audience at all times. Consequently, these shore of authentic knowledge on which political and cultural incantations are relevant in the contemporary Nso society entrepreneurs could draw. For example, when the performer where one social event or the other crops up and occasions calls the names of the departed and reminds them: ‘You put the performance of oral literature. Numerous untimely me here to head this family’, he reveals himself as the link deaths, natural disasters like droughts and new and between the past and present. His wish is for the present to be contradictory doctrines as observed in the three poems under peaceful. The voice in the poem insinuates regret and fear as reference in this paper are exploited by the oral artist and the he laments: ‘The compound is deserted’. He hopes to lead a community to provide entertainment and instruction. life that is as good as that of those who left him “to head this Incantations provide a forum for the promotion of Nso family”. This particular incantation presents the Nso cosmic culture and language. The content of the selected as a mode of political and cultural organization, a means by incantations introduce the audience to various aspects of the which the relics of the past are stored up, reconstructed and Nso cultural life. They have contributed in the enrichment of revalued. the audience’s knowledge of the Nso philosophy, archaeology, history, culture, metaphysics and its natural environment. Through the material used during performance 10. Conclusions the geography, climate and what it produces is revealed and these help to emphasize the specificity of Nso agricultural The concluding part of this paper seeks to answer practices. questions posed by the clergy, university lecturers, The performance preserves the history, geography and researchers, educators and evangelists in a Conference held philosophical views of the people. In this regards, in Mvolyé, Yaoundé from 2nd to 4th September 1975 on the incantations are a very spontaneous responsive and sensitive theme “Herméneutique de la litterature orale”. The art form that cannot only be relevant in the past, but have a participants’ principal worry in the conference was whether lot to do with the present and future. Besides, the present with the invention of writing, in modern time, the oral comes from the past and what is relevant in the past cannot

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