IDNO

P.71545.GIJ

Description

Mau (Ghost) masquerade.
A band of musicians playing various instruments including a Pot drum (udu), two small membrane drums. one small iron double gong(ogene), and one whistle. One person is sitting on a wooden chair with a large pot drum perched on his lap. The drum is circular in shape and has twine or rope tied around it. In the right hand corner is a masquerader wearing a cloth top, tights, socks and a raffia skirt. In the background are thatched roofs, trees and vegetation.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Ontisha Province; near Awka; Amuda village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Isuochi

Named Person

Photographer

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

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1930 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones collection

Source

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

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.71504.GIJ to P.71662.GIJ were kept in box 4, now numbered C301/.
P.71531.GIJ to P.71546.GIJ were found wrapped in paper, now numbered C301/2/.

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Igbo music, shrines, architecture and other cultural artifacts
2. Igbo Musicians
3. Band playing for Mmau Masquerade, Amuda village, Isu Ochi (1st image).

Context: Jones discusses the various types of musical instruments that are found in Eastern Nigeria and played during masquerades: Membrane drums were consisted of a cylinder, usually hollowed out of a tree trunk, with a membrane of skin stretched and pegged over the one end and with the other end left open. Drums of both types (membrane drums and slit drums) were combined with flutes, whistles, rattles, clappers of various sorts, single and double iron gongs and pots to form orchestras of varying size for dances and masquerades. The flutes and whistles were carved out of wood or were the horns of goats or small antelopes with a mouthpiece cut in the side or the end; the rattles were small basketwork or calabash containers half filled with seeds or shells or calabashes covered with a loose net on which beads or seeds had been threaded. The pots were round narrow-necked water pots with a circular hole cut out of the side which was beaten with the palm of the hand (Jones, 1984, p. 115)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 18/10/2007]