Abstract
Why are conversations about seduction, the female body, and choosing partners central at a funeral during the Ikorodo music performance? How does Ikorodo enact the act of seduction? How has the act of seduction and Ikorodo performance practice evolved? How do Ikorodo performances express the indigenous conceptions of seductions? These are the questions this article addresses to reveal—how Ikorodo dance provides a platform for new beginnings and enactments of Nsukka Igbo societal gender ideologies. Drawing from indigenous conceptions of seduction, histories, practitioners’ and audiences’ narratives, archival materials, existing scholarship, and Ikorodu performance practice as experienced and collected during fieldwork, this article explores how Ikorodo dance—a traditional musical genre well known and performed in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria—maintains its primary function of providing a space where maiden dancers utilize music to find life partners even when performed at a funeral. Emphasis on the male gaze interrogates the dominant idea that music gives African women agency.
Nchikọta
Gịnị kpatara na ihe gbasara agụụ mmekọahụ, arụ nwanyị na ọlụlụ dị na nwunye bụzị okwu akpụ n’ọnụ mgbe ndị Ikorodo na—agba egwu n'ebe a na—akwa ozu? Kedu ka egwu Ikorodo si ebute agụụ mmekọahụ n'etiti nwoke na nwanyị? Kedu ka agụụ mmekọahụ nwoke na nwanyị na egwu Ikorodo si metuta onwe ha? Kedu ka egwu Ikorodo si egosipụta etu agụụ mmekọahụ nwoke na nwanyị si wee dị site na mbụ? Ajụjụ olemole ndịa ka edemede a na—ekwu maka ya iji gosi etu egwu Ikorodo si eweta mmalite ndụ ọhụrụ na echiche ọhụrụ n'akụkụ mpakara Nsụkka na ala Igbo nile. Edemede a sitere na nghọta ndị dịịrị na mbụ, akụkọ na ihe ndị gboo rugasịrị debe, ya na nhazi mmụta nke dị ugbua na etu e si agba egwu Ikorodo, tinyekwara ihe ndị na—ekiri ya na—ekwu banyere ya, were na—akọwa etu Ikorodo, nke bụ egwu a mara ama n'akụkụ Nsụkka na Enugu Steti nke Naijiria si enyere ụmụ agbọghọ ndị na—agba yabu egwu aka inweta di ọbụragodu n'ebe a na—akwa ọnwụ. Nkiri nke umunwoke na—ekiri ha mere ka enyochakwuo uru egwu na—aba igosi ọnụ iru ụmụ nwanyị n'okwu n'obodo Africa.
