Igbo Ikorodo Dance & Music (videos, information, & selected comments)

Africana Digital Ethnography Project, Jan 12, 2019

Ikorodo is a traditional music ensemble accompanied by a maiden dance, popular among the Nsukka people of Enugu State, Nigeria. It is performed with a set of four horns (Isi opi, Akpoke, Akpanwunye, Mgbe) employing hocket technique and four percussive instruments (okpokolo – wooden slit drum, osha – rattles, alo – metal gong, igba – membrane drum). The instrumentalists are old men while the dancers are young maidens. This performance was recorded at an Igbo traditional wedding ceremony in Obukpa, Nsukka, on January 5, 2019. The singers are chanting the phrase “Egwu a yara ozo”, which means “The music has changed” in the Nsukka dialect of the Igbo language.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases four YouTube videos of the Igbo (Nigeria) cultural dance called "Ikorodo."

This post also presents  one journal excerpt and one complete article about the Ikorodo dance and music.

Selected comments from the discussion thread for two of these videos are also included in this post. Note that two commenters in the video given as #3 in this post wrote that that isn't the way that Ikorodo is performed.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the musicians, dancers, and videographers. Thanks also to the authors of the journal article and online article that are quoted in this post and thanks to all others who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Ikorodo Orba

Der Palmweintrinker, Feb 26, 2016

Ikorodo Orba in Nsukka Senatorial zone of Enugu State, Nigeria

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3

UGWUMBA TV, Nov. 17, 2017

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4: Igbo Ikorodo Dance at St. Theresa Church, Part 02



Africana Digital Ethnography Project, Oct. 24, 2020

Performers: St. Theresa Ikorodo Group
Location: Owerre-Obukpa, Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria
Videography: Aaron Carter-Enyi, Ebruphiyor Omodoro, Philip Coates
Editing: Aaron Carter-Enyi, Ebruphiyor Omodoro
Genre: Ikorodo Dance
Culture: Igbo (IBO) Videography: Aaron Carter-Enyi, Philip Coates, Ebruphiyor Omodoro
Venue: St. Theresa's Catholic Church Owerre-Obukpa
-snip-
There are 17 YouTube videos of this dance performance at St. Theresa's Catholic Church Owerre-Obukpa. All of these videos have the same title with the part given in parenthesis. Unfortunately, most of these videos have no comments at all.

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JOURNAL EXCERPT ABOUT THE IKORODO DANCE

From https://www.scirp.org/html/11-1670228_54775.htm "African Music and the Search for a New Musical Paradigm: A Study of Ikorodo Dance Group of Orba Enugu State, Nigeria"

Orajaka Sussan Nwakego, Emmanuel Umezinwa

Open Journal of Political Science

Vol.05 No.02(2015), Article ID:54775,6 pages

[...]

"2. History, Philosophy and Description of Ikorodo Orba Cultural Group

The Ikorodo Orba group narrated that this music is played during moonlight games, weddings-anniversaries, naming ceremonies, Burial ceremonies, Offala festivals, chieftaincy title taking; they use the music for relaxation after farm work. They are all Christians. There is no taboo or incantation attached to the music. They select only young girls who are their children by birth. There are no married women among them, but any place they perform or play their music married women can dance and enjoy their music. Once young girls in the troop were fifty in number but they all got married because the music expose them to a social setting where their good qualities were portrayed to the society. 

The Ikorodo Orba in Udenu Local Government Area in the Igbo Nsukka cultural environment is musical, ceremonious and recreational.Igbo land is full of festivities which draw people out doors in excitement for all the calendar months of the year. In Igbo land, there are also feast such as cultural wedding ceremonies (Igba-Nkwu), child birth (Omugwo) naming and burial (Nkwam-Ozu) ceremonies, celebration of membership into age grade, Ikorodo Orba participate in all of the events. The cultural activiti ies are supported with cultural music, dances and masquerade. 

The Ikorodo Orba music is melodious, meaningful and carries a lot of messages. They are also composed to reflect actual situations, events and to honour heroes and discourage vices. Their dances are pleasant, graceful and they torch the mind as well as inspire courtship. The dances have names that identified with particular communities and it is not limited. The dances and masquerades are performed freely for everybody with no exception and not for a particular class. The costumes are artistic and of various types to reflect the particular dance. The dancers are of different ages―the school age, the youth and adults, with wives and kids. They are adorable in their costumes. The Ikorodo Orba groups wear different forms of cloths with red cap and beads that signified titled men and with different types of costumes and sizes sculptured out of wood. They go for federal, state or local exhibitions anytime and anywhere. Our traditional musical instruments are simple forms realized from natural elements. This reinforces the fact that the traditional-Igbo understand that nature is musical.

The instrument are artistic and it includes wooden-sticks, Ekwe, Oja, Igba, Oyo/Osha, and Opi and also the metal gong (Ogene) this is in Igbo Origin, reflect to Igbo technology as old as the Iron age. The musical instrument used by Ikorodo music involves series of horns:1st horn is for melody and rhythm.2nd horn is for harmony.3rd horn is for leading the vocalist who is the leader.4th horn is for bass and balancing the sound of the music.The musical instruments used by Ikorodo Orba group are namely:1) Long drum―Igba (membranophone).2) Metal gong―Ogene (idiophone) medium size.

[…]

4.2. Lyrics That Make Ikorodo an African Musical Model
The musical lyrics of Ikorodo Orba traditional dance is amply recorded in their musical videos, radio programs and documentary productions. They project the values of African musical rhythm and notations. The lyrics are reflected in the books and journals of the Institute of African studies at the University of Nigeria. The lyrics contain five tracked songs and danced music as having acquired the philosophical values given in their interpretation below:

1) Ndi Nwobodo―means those who own the land.

2) Ogidigba―is a nonsense syllabus.

3) Ije Ogwube―means walk of a camelon.

4) Onye Emechari―means one who could not finish his assignment.

5) Apkupko Agu―means, lying on dried lion’s skin….

4.3. Importance of Ikorodo Music
The Ikorodo and their wooden drums and their appearances are the symbolic of Igbo’s traditional music. They come in various sizes to reflect in the function, the community drums come in scales that reflect the level of use either at the kindred, village or community level to summon people during social gatherings…

4.4. Analysis Discussion and Findings―Interpreting the Philosophy of Ikorodo

Generally, the form of cantor’s part requires a lot of improvisation and that is why the Ikorodo Orba, vocalist is a good singer. Their music is predominantly antiphonal that is solo and chorus alternates. Melodic phrases tend to be stepwise and in a descending progression. Stepwise and fall within the musical phrases is generally noticed more especially in all the songs. The wordings or text of the songs are usually very few and the same melody being repeated with crossing of parts, counter points and imitations with sequences. Another song form which is prominent among the Ikorodo group is what might be called their preludes and song”…
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I reformatted the first part of this journal excerpt to enhance its readability.

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COMPLETE RE-PRINT OF AN ARTICLE ABOUT IKORODO

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/11/ikolodo-the-dance-of-maidens/ "Ikolodo: The dance of maidens" November 9, 2020 By Osa Amadi
"The Anambra State Cultural Troupe lighted the 2020 INAC with two famous vigorous traditional dances – the Ikolodo Dance and the Atilogwu Dance. Vanguard cornered a member of the Troupe, Ojima Juliet, in the middle of the performance and had a revealing chat with her:

“This is Ikolodo,” Ojima said. “Some call it Ikorodo. The dance is actually a maiden dance – maidens who have come of age for marriage learn these different dances. So, at the appropriate time they come out to display their different dance steps and their levels of creativity to the public. In that gathering, that is where the young men of the community come to watch them and as well a pick their brides.

“If you check the dance steps, it is more of waist movements – total body movement; so, the lady needs to show the person that may be coming for her (the prospective suitor) that she is good enough. That is how the dance came about (the origin). But as civilization was taking place, there were additional things (the dance was developing).

Juliet Ojima said there was this story that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe got his bride this way, from the Ikolodo dance, though she said she could not confirm the story. But this writer knows some women, including his own mother, of whom stories had it that their husbands spotted and picked them as brides during skillful dances of traditional music like Abigolo, Nwokorobo, Egwu Udu, Alija, and many other traditional dances in Igbo land which have now gone into extinction."

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREADS  FOR TWO OF THESE VIDEOS

Numbers added for referencing purposes only 

Video #1 (Selected discussion thread comments).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAFSwHNI_l4&ab_channel=AfricanaDigitalEthnographyProject

1. Stella Nick, 2019
"Yes...this ikrodo please don't change it to a different dance is our pride culture ikrodo...ooo keep it up."

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2, Austin Nwodoh, 2019

"The best dancing so far from Ikorodo girls"

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3. K Felix, 2021
"Damm I miss  West.Africa.

The music here  matches the sounds and beats heard in a lot Haitian Rara. We see where we learn this from and from our mother land. The more I study  African music and foods, i see how and where where influence from.

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Video #3 (Selected discussion thread comments)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Gp-mqjlag&t=470s&ab_channel=UGWUMBATV

1. Osita Urama, 2018
"I have to place a comment here for the sake of total appreciation of divine gift, Ikorodo was the highest gift I ever received all through my life after Gods love. The gift was given to me by my late grandfather on my birth visit (omugwo) my grandfather fascinate the whole neighborhood with a full load of Mercedes 608 bus filled with Ikorodo musicians but he volunteered to blow the horn without any assistance. I am almost 30years but when elders that noticed the event sees me they still remind me of that fateful day which I know nothing about. I queried my mom why there was no recording but she claims that the visit came as a surprise to them. Long live Ozor Ogbonna Ugwu, Long live Ikorodo."

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2. Bright Ephraim, 2019
"Great dancing group in Igbo land, keep it up my people."

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3. Stella Nick, 2019
"we're losing our culture that is not how to dance ikorodo please teach them how to dance our beautiful ikorodo is one of the best cultural music in igbo land we should not dance it line enugu and imo dance"
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The word "line" in the last sentence of this comment is probably a typo for the word "like".

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Reply
4. ify1975, 2019
"I agree I grew up in Nsukka and this is not close to the Ikorodo I know. The costume is all wrong.

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5. Arize Boz, 2020
"There's so much beauty and elegance in this ikorodo band, the harmonization of the drums,horns and choruses is classical."

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Reply
6. Stella Nick, 2021
"Yeah Arize you made a very important point. we  have to really speak out to stop this people from changing that harmonizing beauty and chorus, and  the dancing style of ikorodo are very unique.  Ikorodo is one and  only cultural music that unit us as Nnuska people."

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Reply
7. Arize Boz, 2021
"@Stella Nick  i agree with you"

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