Published Article

ABSTRACT
Oral performance is an art in which the artist appears physically before his audience while
celebrating his speech art. Ikpe-aja bard, like all other artists are the custodians of the
society’s tradition and culture and stands as model to the people. This work is a research on
the Ikpe-aja bards of Otu-Ofu-Obi of Ụmụawụlụ Igbo in South East Nigeria. It is aimed at
unraveling the theme, context and cultural significances of this performance. The work uses a
descriptive survey research design in the analysis of the data collected and the theoretical
framework adopted is the ethnopoetic theory, an interdisciplinary construct which attempts to
correct the Eurocentric and chirographic bias of the European literary artists against nonwestern oral literary texts which fail to recognize the fact that aesthetic standards are not
universal. The findings of the research reveal that oral literary artist are mirrors through
which virtues and vices are unveiled. They have taken the place of Newspapers to comment
on current affairs and to reflect public opinions. The study, therefore, recommends that
frantic efforts should be made by the policy makers to ensure that the need for people to go
into their traditions and fish out their different vital hidden indigenous genres that constitute
the oral literature of their tradition should be included in the National Policy on Education.
KEY WORDS: Context and Cultural Significance, Sorrowful Occasion, Ikpeaja Bard
of Ụmụawụlụ Igbo