Scheherazade Dances: Painting by |
In the beginning there was the word and the word was sound. The story born at once crosses the stretched paths of memory paving the way for another story. The spoken word is first reflected in brain imagery, voiced to the eyes and lips, engraved, tinted onto timber and stone, ceramic and palm-leafs, skin and silk.
Those stories were the first manuscripts predating the written world. We are “a light memory, very olden, crossing anthill stars”, my poem says. We belonged here. There has always already been a quality classic of the old world, Old Europe, Asia, and at the outset mother Africa. The body lingo, the mythical and spiritual sacraments and the Stone/rock art, not to confuse with the Rock and Roll art, are the remains of that day, the prehistoric moment of human taxonomy.
At college, students of English literature, we read Achebe and learnt a new language of clans and chiefs in Umuofia and Mbanta. The Igbo names of Unoka, Nwoye, Ezinma, Ikemefuna , Uchendu, Obierika…captivated our ears and minds. Forgetful of ours, we laughed at the prompt effect of reading an oral culture: Oye, efulefu, eneke-nti-oba, and we tracked the journeys of Okonkwo in tribe and time. The Mosquito and Ear, the snake lizard and his mother, the tortoise and birds, stories Achebe relates in his novel releasing numerous questions about storytelling, its use, and intention.
Good luck Okonkwo! Farewell Achebe, you breathed your last this year!
Good luck, 25 May 2013, the Egyptian friend posted on facebook. That is the name of the Nigerian President, he elucidates.
The mystery lies in the phonetic effect, the distortion in our minds! The alternation between the Ibo word and its semantic implication in the English language is mechanically biased.
g o g o g o d l A k Jonathan!
Born in a print, digitalized, globalized and recorded epoch, we treasured the Igbo culture and valued the route rode from oral to written narrative, which makes the distinction between story and novel. Then, this pride, we passed on our students who followed the trail.
For sure, there have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but as Ursula K. LeGuin put it, there have been no societies that did not tell stories. I left acting on stage 10 years ago. I used to integrate the art of storytelling in my performances, and it worked miracles. Now, I am a children storyteller. And it worked the kids into a passion.
I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!
But here’s another story of passion!
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