Art of the Igbo

The Igbo people are well known for their music, dance, traditional masks, and Mbari architecture.

Learning Objective

Describe the instruments and masks of Igbo performing arts and the origins of the Igbo language and ideogaphic script

Key Points

The Igbo people have a musical style into which they incorporate various percussion instruments, such as the udu, the ekwe, and the ogene.
Masking is one of the most common art styles in Igboland and is linked strongly with Igbo traditional music. A mask can be made of wood or fabric, along with other materials including iron and vegetation.
Igbo art is generally known for various types of masquerade, masks, and clothing symbolizing people, animals, or abstract conceptions.
Igbo art is also famous for Mbari architecture, in which large, opened-sided, square planned shelters house many life-sized, painted figures that are sculpted in mud, often to appease a deity.
One of the unique structures of Igbo culture is the Nsude Pyramids, a group of ten pyramidal structures built out of clay and mud that served as temples for the god Ala/Uto, who was believed to reside at the top.

Terms

Uli
The name given to the traditional designs drawn by the Igbo people of Nigeria; the drawings are strongly linear and do not have deep perspective, but they balance positive and negative space; designs are frequently asymmetrical and are often painted spontaneously.
satire
A literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change; humor is often used to aid this.

Full Text

Background: Igbo Culture

Igbo culture includes the various customs, practices, and traditions of the indigenous Igbo people of southern Nigeria. It comprises archaic practices as well as new traditions introduced to the Igbo culture either through evolution or outside influences. These customs and traditions include the Igbo people's visual art, music, and dance forms, as well as their attire, cuisine, and language dialects. Because of their various subgroups, the variety of their culture is further heightened.

Performing arts

The Igbo people have a musical style into which they incorporate various percussion instruments: the udu, which is essentially designed from a clay jug; an ekwe, which is formed from a hollowed log; and the ogene, a hand bell designed from forged iron. Other instruments include the opi (a wind instrument similar to the flute), igba, and ichaka. A widely popular musical form among the Igbo and throughout West Africa is Highlife, a fusion of jazz and traditional music. The modern Igbo Highlife is seen in the works of Dr. Sir Warrior, Oliver De Coque, Bright Chimezie, and Chief Osita Osadebe, who were among the most popular Igbo Highlife musicians of the 20^th century.

Visual Arts

It is almost impossible to describe a general Igbo art style due to the heavy fragmentation of the Igbo people. This has added to the development of a great variety of art styles and cultural practices. Igbo art is generally known for various types of masquerades, masks, and clothing symbolizing people, animals, or abstract conceptions.

Bronze Castings

Bronze castings found in the town of Igbo Ukwu from the 9^th century constitute the earliest sculptures discovered in Igboland. Here, the grave of a well-established man of distinction and a ritual store, dating from the 9th century CE, contained both chased copper objects and elaborate castings of leaded bronze. Along with these bronzes were 165,000 glass beads said to have originated in Egypt, Venice, and India. Some popular Igbo art styles include Uli designs.

Igbo bronzes

Bronze from the ninth century town of Igbo Ukwu, now at the British Museum.

Masks

Masking is one of the most common art styles in Igboland and is linked strongly with Igbo traditional music. A mask can be made of wood or fabric, along with other materials, including iron and vegetation. Masks have a wide variety of uses, mainly in social satires, religious rituals, secret society initiations (such as the Ekpe society), and public festivals, which now include Christmas celebrations. Best known are the Agbogho Mmuo (meaning "maiden spirit") masks of the Northern Igbo, which represent the spirits of deceased maidens and their mothers, symbolizing beauty.

Igbo Wooden Complex

Igbo Wooden Complex, currently in the British Museum.

Architecture

Mbari Houses

Igbo art is also famous for Mbari architecture. Mbari houses of the Owerri-Igbo are large, opened-sided, square planned shelters. They house many life-sized, painted figures (sculpted in mud to appease the Alusi, a deity, and Ala, the earth goddess, with other deities of thunder and water). Other sculptures are of officials, craftsmen, foreigners (mainly Europeans), animals, legendary creatures, and ancestors. Mbari houses take years to build in what is regarded as a sacred process. When new ones are constructed, old ones are left to decay. Everyday houses were made of mud and thatched roofs with bare earth floors and carved design doors. Some houses had elaborate designs both in the interior and exterior, including Uli art designed by Igbo women.

Nsude Pyramids

One of the unique structures of Igbo culture was the Nsude Pyramids, at the town of Nsude, in Abaja, northern Igboland. Ten pyramidal structures were built out of clay and mud. The first base section was 60 feet in circumference and 3 feet in height; the next stack was 45 feet in circumference. Circular stacks continue until they reached the top. The structures were laid in groups of five parallel to each other and served as temples for the god Ala/Uto, who was believed to reside at the top of the pyramids. Because they were built of clay and mud, time has taken its toll on the monuments, requiring periodic reconstruction.

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