GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

Societal-ill is as old as man’s creation and has currently appeared as a symbol of modern-day society. Some cultures of the world have however, devised measures for the protection of their vital tenets or pillars from erosion. In Nigeria, for example, the Ibibio traditional community has customarily enforced social-control in its area of authority through indirect means such as model behaviour of older members, fairytales, folksongs and numerous forms of traditional music and games. Varieties of songs exist in Ibibio whose texts are of criticism, calumny, and destruction which the people accept and use as weapon of defense. This study, on the commentary role of Akata songs seeks to critically, investigate into how the Ibibio people use Akata song-texts to check the ills of the society; how the texts can be effectively utilized to provide information on social-control philosophy and, how they can be applied to contemporary social issues in Nigeria. To accomplish these, interviews and well planned participatory observation and discussion were authentic techniques through which information was gathered. Also, related research works on historical, socio-cultural perspectives of Akata music were of immense help. The study reveals that, Akata has its song-text themes as comments on social-issues which serves principally as an effective weapon for minimizing societal-ills. The text of these songs expose violators of public norms through commenting on them and the ills so committed. The study concludes that, Akata musical art is an effective weapon for checking societal ills and recommends that, similar subtle measure should be developed in Nigeria and elsewhere hoping that legal backing will be given to such cherished means of minimizing people’s excesses in the country.  

KEYWORDS:           Akata Song-texts, Commentary Role, Application to Contemporary Issues