Metaphor, Identity and Ideologies in Igbo Folk Music

ABSTRACT Egwu Ekpili is a highly dynamic and symbolic Igbo folk music that responds to social and political tensions in Igbo land in particular, and Nigeria in general. It deploys conventional and conceptual metaphors to articulate salient Igbo identities and ideologies, as well as represent or critique political power structures and relations. Hitherto, studies on Igbo folk music have examined performance styles, compositions, and aesthetic and utilitarian values from the ethnomusicological and literary (socio-political satire) perspectives, with little attention to the role of metaphor as a tool for representing socio-political and cultural realities in the Igbo society – whereas Egwu Ekpili is replete with metaphorical expressions, perceived to be critical to the full understanding of this unique Igbo folk music genre. From a critical metaphor perspective, this study examines the strategic deployment of metaphor in representing identities and ideologies in selected songs of three popular and foremost Egwu Ekpili musicians, namely Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, Chief Akunwata Ozoemena Nsugbe and Chief Emeka Morocco Maduka. The study integrates ideas from Charteris-Black's Critical Metaphor Theory to explicate a typical Nigerian socio-political system and structure fraught with power struggle, dominance and embezzlement. Metaphors from five source domains of animal, journey, plant/food, war/conflict and family represent the ideological positioning and inclinations of the Igbo people.