IDNO

N.13123.GIJ

Description

The Okpa masquerade showing two members of the band seated on the ground playing slit gongs and a membrane drum beside a thatched wooden building. The band members wear raffia headdresses, striped net face masks, palm frond skirts, short sleeved T-shirts, twine or rope criss-crossed around the chest, and ankle-ornaments. A group of spectators is sitting in front of the building and children behind the band watching. There are trees and vegetation in the background.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of negative.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Eastern Nigeria; Cross River; Etitiama village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Nkporo

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

1932 - 1938

Collection Name

Jones Collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in a film storage album labelled “Masks & Plays - Nkporo.” by G. I. Jones, and numbered “C11/” by the cataloguer.

Publication: The inscription on the back of the print suggests this it part of the Okpa masquerade, however the illustration of Ifogu masquerade band in Jones.G.I. 1939 (plate I) shows the same band.

Context: Jones provides a detailed description of the band in the Okpa Masquerade. He writes, “The band came first, with sweeping palm-leaf skirts, cotton singlets, and great raffia headdresses which made them look like enormous maned baboons. Their faces were hidden behind black and white raffia bags and they played on slit drums they played on lit drums, large and small, on wooden and iron gongs, and on a small membrane drum.” (Jones, G.I.,1939, p.120.)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1939 ‘Ifogu Nkporo,’ Nigerian Field, Vol.VIII, pp.119-121.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 24/10/2007]

Publication: The photograph has been digitised for the European Collected Library of Artistic Performance (ECLAP) and is accessible on the portal http://www.eclap.eu/drupal/. [SG 30/10/2012]