IKOLO: AN IGBO IDIOPHONE OF INDIGENOUS RELIGIOUS SACRED SOUND AMONG THE AGULERI PEOPLE OF ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA. BY MADUKASI FRANCIS CHUKS Thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in African Theology SCHOOL OF RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND CLASSICS UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL PIETERMARITZBURG, SOUTH AFRICA JANUARY , 2016. DECLARATION I, Francis Chuks Madukasi, declare that: 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons’ writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a. Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them has been referenced. b. Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the References sections. Signature:............................................. Date:.......................... Student: Francis Chuks Madukasi Signature:............................................... Date:........................... Supervisor: Dr F. G. Settler i DEDICATION TO THE DEITIES AND FALLEN HEROES OF AGULERI. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the Faculty and Staff of the School of Religion Philosophy and Classics, Faculty of Humanities, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. I am most grateful for the positive learning that each Professor fostered. In particular, I wish to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Federico G. Settler, my great teacher, an erudite scholar and mentor, who taught me religion qua religion. He also trained me in the art of research into African Traditional Religion especially the esoteric parts of the religion. I thank him for his patience, dedication, sacrifice of time, words of encouragements in unknotting problems throughout the duration of this thesis and tenacity in “holding my feet to the fire” while I was in the hot seat. His patient advice and camaraderie throughout what seemed to be at times an interminable process – I am sure for both of us – proved most significant, helpful and, in the end, most gratifying. Thank you, Dr. Settler. I thank Dr. [Mrs] Adebola Fawola who proof read and equally edited the entire thesis. I also thank my lovely parents, Chief and Iyiom [Mrs] George. A Madukasi, who have both sacrificed so much for my success. My heartfelt appreciation also goes to my beloved children, they are: Arinzechukwu, Chijindum, and Chukwubuikem respectively. Special thanks go to my wife, Chief Dr. [Mrs] Edith Ifeoma Madukasi, an intelligent, professional- chemist and a disciplinarian. She combined every professional and domestic work while I was a student. She equally gave every moral and financial support to this great work. Most of all, I thank God, the deities and the ancestors of Aguleri community for keeping me and giving me the grace to see the end of this. All things are possible through THEM and to THEM be the glory forever. iii ABSTRACT This study investigates the meaning Aguleri people of South-Eastern Nigeria attribute to the Ikolo as a sacred drum. In the perception of the Aguleri people, the sacred sound of the Ikolo is an aspect of African indigenous religious practice which they engage with through the mediation of its symbolic functions in order to create meaning for life. In this regard, Ikolo sound plays a significant role in nurturing, structuring and shaping their religion and culture. The objective of this work is to investigate the symbolic functions of this indigenous sacred drum as it concerns those aspects of its use in Aguleri society to bring out its religious, cultural, political, ethical and economic significance. The referent point of Ikolo as an instrument of indigenous sacred sound is loaded with the ritual symbolism it evokes, which imbues it with mystical power and a sacredness that is played out in the gendered nature of Aguleri rituals. The Ikolo represents partriarchal privilege. Born out of fieldwork and interviews, I found that in traditional Igbo religion and especially among the Aguleri people, the Ikolo sacred sound has three significant and related functions. The first one is that it enables the indigenous people of Aguleri to bridge the gap between the seen and unseen worlds and thus, bring them into contact with all those forces that are believed to control the destinies of man. Secondly, through its auditory authority the Ikolo makes possible the invocation and possession by ancestral spirits in a highly ritualised contexts. Finally, the sacred sound of the Ikolo upholds and sustains the Aguleri religious system, and a complex traditional religious rituals which uphold the privileges of those men who have been initiated into the ancestral cult. Nonetheless, the Ikolo sacred sound provides a channel through which the indigenous Aguleri community activates and sustains unique religious communication with their deities and ancestors. Ultimately, this thesis points to an understandings of sound as integral to religious identity and practice in African traditional religion. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv List of Maps and Figures ix CHAPTER ONE: An Introduction to the Study Introduction to the Study 1 Background and Research Problem 2 Purpose of the Study 4 Statement of the Problem 5 Research Design 6 Key Research Questions 6 Scope and Limitations of the Study 7 Conlusion 8 v CHAPTER TWO : Sacred Sound in the Study of African Traditional Religion A Survey in African Traditional Religion 9 Contemporary Issues in African Traditional Religion 15 Religion and Sacred Sound - Sacred Sound and World Religions 19 - Sacred Sound in African Religion 23 - Sacred Sound in Igbo Religion 26 Sound and Symbols in African Traditional Religion 29 - Idiophone 31 Conclusion 33 CHAPTER THREE: The History of the Ikolo in Aguleri Culture A Brief History of Aguleri (Igbo) Religion 35 - Origin and Migration 35 - Settlement 36 - Ikolo 38 Origin of the Ikolo 39 Onyekomeli Idigo and the rediscovery of the Ikolo 49 Ikolo and Missionary Encounters 50 Religious Inculturation of the Ikolo and its expulsion 51 Conclusion 55 vi CHAPTER FOUR: Methodology Methodological Framework 56 - Ethnomusicology as method 61 Methodological Practice 63 - Data Collection 63 - Sampling 64 - Participant Observation 67 Process and Method of Data Analysis 69 - Reflexivity 71 - Positionality 72 Conclusion 74 CHAPTER FIVE: Aguleri Experiences and Perspectives of the Ikolo The Ikolo in Aguleri Imagination 77 - Social and Ritual Announcement 79 - Sustaining Aguleri Ritual Order 83 - Ritual Festivals and Aguleri Religious Experience 87 - Mediating Social Order and Social Relations 93 Ikolo and Aguleri’s Ovala Festival 96 - Significance of the Ovala festival in Aguleri 97 Conclusion 107 vii CHAPTER SIX: Discusssion and Analysis The Aguleri Religious Worldview - Ikolo and Aguleri Religious Worldview 111 - Religious Symbolism and the ritual Authority of the Ikolo 115 Ikolo Sacred Sound In Spirit Invocation And Possession 119 Ikolo And Patriarchy 130 - Ikolo and the Alienation of Women and Children 132 - Women’s blood as threat to the Ikolo’s Spiritual Potency 134 - More than a Woman: The Exception of the Queen Mother 137 - Ikolo: Bolstering Patriarchy 138 Conculsion 142 CHAPTER SEVEN: Toward a Theory of Sacred Sound in African Traditional Religion Conclusion 146 BIBLIOGRAPY 150 APPENDIX 193 viii LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES 1. Figure 1: Map of Nigeria x 2. Figure 2: Map of Igbo land xi 3. Figure 3: Ikolo (undecorated instrument) 38 4. Figure 4: King Christopher Nwabunwanne Idigo IV (Idigo Dynasty) 100 5. Figure 5: The King Dancing The Royal Dance During Ovala Festival 105 ix MAP OF NIGERIA Source; Fist Bank of Nigeria, 2009. Figure 1: The Map of Anambra State where Aguleri the cradle of the Igbo race is situated. x MAP OF IGBOLAND Source; Ebiem, (2013) Figure 2: The indication on the top is where the town Aguleri is situated in the Nigeria-Igbo Map. It is here –[the confluence of Omambala and Ezu rivers] that Eri the Father of the Igbo race first settled. xi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY This study investigates the meaning Aguleri people of South-Eastern Nigeria attribute to the Ikolo, an idiophone believed to be endowed with sacred qualities. In the perception of the Aguleri people, the sacred sound of the Ikolo is an aspect of African indigenous religious practice which they engage with through the mediation of its symbolic functions in order to create meaning for life and general wellbeing. In this regard, Ikolo sound plays a significant role in nurturing, structuring and shaping their religion and culture. However, as a sacred indigenous instrument, the Ikolo is used during ritual dances which are restricted to only the initiated and as such its sound constitute part of the essential tools through which the people engage in religious practice. In this sense, the Ikolo is central to the Aguleri understanding of who they are and to maintaining