Moses Tsenongu

Artistic Ornateness in African Oral Poetry: a Study of the Tiv "Ibiamegh" Poems of Amee Ijôrpo Moses Tsenongu

Studies of African oral literature often stop at the thematic and sociological planes, hardly dwelling on the artistic integrity of the forms being examined. While thematic and sociological concerns have their value, it is undeniable that stopping at them fails to appreciate the aesthetic depths of African oral literature. Focusing on the Tiv of Central Nigeria, a significant Bantu group, this book explores African poetry by probing broad and specific backgrounds against which the creative ethos of Amee Ijôrpo, the performer selected for attention, has been evaluated. Scholars of literature generally but African oral literature in particular and culture enthusiasts will delight in the book's critical lens concentrated on various aspects of this composer?s imaginative ingenuity ranging from the general construction of his renditions to their distinctive structural design and numerous features of his linguistic resourcefulness. Importantly, the book has identified the Africanist approach to the study of oral literature and used the approach in a manner that provides fairly sufficient clues to appreciating oral poetry not just of the Tiv but of several other African groups.