Abstract

This paper attempts to trace the influences, interactions, conflations and developmental trajectories that link the ancient art of oral chants, poetry, minstrelsy, and the contemporary and modernist spoken word versifications in practice today in Nigeria. Audience, form, content, and intent have been pivotal factors in the different epochs that separate the ancient precursors and the present forms in this performance matrix. Through ethnographic and qualitative approaches, and textual analyses, select spoken word poets in contemporaneity have been studied and their verses analyzed for such influences from established traditional forms; validating credence that the ancient forms have built a formidable bulwark of elements and standards that give rise to spoken word poetry fitting for the malaise of the post colony. There has been a dearth of such research scope. Two contemporary spoken word poets with Yoruba (oriki and ijala elements) and Igbo (abu and mbem factors) nationalities are studied in this paper and a nexus has been established that oral tradition has through adequate metamorphoses, augmented a postcolonial tenor and relevance. This study has elicited the use of the spoken word poet as its theoretical anchor.

摘要

本文试图追踪将古老的口头圣歌、诗歌、吟游诗人艺术与当今尼日利亚实践中的当代和现代口语对话联系起来的影响、相互作用、融合和发展轨迹。观众、形式、内容和意图是不同时代的关键因素，在这个表演矩阵中将古代先驱和现在的形式分开。通过人种学和定性方法以及文本分析，研究了同时代的精选口语诗人，并分析了他们的诗歌是否受到既定传统形式的影响；证实了古代形式已经建立了一个强大的元素和标准的堡垒，这些元素和标准产生了适合后殖民地萎靡不振的口语诗歌。一直缺乏这样的研究范围。两位当代口语诗人与约鲁巴语（本文研究了 oriki和ijala元素）和伊博（abu和mbem因素）民族，并建立了一种联系，即口头传统通过适当的变形，增强了后殖民时代的基调和相关性。这项研究引发了使用口语诗人作为其理论基础。