The Construction Of Oja (Igbo Wooden Flute) With Portable Microphone
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Among the Igbo, traditional music is a significant part of the cultural life of the people. There are abundant musical types and species of types as well as instrumental resources and large numbers of traditional musicians (Onyeji, 2006). According to Obindigbo (2017), in Nigeria the Igbo are the second largest group of people living in southern Nigeria. They are one of the three major ethnic group in Nigeria, they consist of many subgroups and are known to be socially and culturally diverse with a wide range of culture and traditions. These traditions include marriage ceremony, child birth, chieftaincy title, naming ceremony, consulting of the gods (Igba Afa) maiden dance, coronation of kings new year festival called (Afo ohuru) and lot more. One vital aspect of these cultures is the involvement of traditional musical instruments in their social practice. These musical instruments are made with materials seen around the culture, like Ekwe (silt-drum) Ogene (Gong), Igba (Cylinder-drum), Udu (Pottery-drum), Ubo aka (Thumb piano) etc. Musical instruments in Igbo culture are used as means of communication, war sound, messages, rituals and entertainment. The instruments plays lots of different role depending on the musical ensemble, like lead and supportive role just like oja which always plays a leading role to the above mentioned instruments motherland music (2009).
According to Onyeji (2006:196), “Musical instruments in Igbo land ranges from those that provide supporting roles in an ensemble to those that are used as master instruments”. Such as Oja (flute) and Igba (drums) can play of the master or lead instrument in Igbo land. The Oja for instance is a favorite in many instrumental performance, because its nature state of construction makes it take the lead in the instrumental ensemble playing the melody or solo part and can also accompany or sever rhythmic purposes.
In construction, the Igbo instruments are made from indigenous materials found in the surroundings by traditional instrument makers with no formal training but have acquired experience from their masters or by hereditary. Onwuekwe (2011:135) points out that “the instrument makers takes materials from his environment and turns them into a musical instrument that will sound in a certain way to achieve a certain result or create desired effect” it is also good to know that African instrument makers relies on his experience of indigenous technology in the art of instrument making which they acquire from elders in profession.
Maraire (1990) on the other hand says that musical instrument in Africa are not made to make sound that are pleasing to the ear but rather to express life in all of its aspects through the medium of sound. He also said that the aesthetic test in sound is uppermost in the mind of the instrument maker comparatively, “the Western instrument technologist makes use of mathematical and scientific calculations to construct an instrument that portray a well rounded acoustical sound” (Adeyeye, 1993:5). Igbo musical instruments are considered ‘acoustically’ by indigenous instrument makers to produce the desired sound for the purpose of its construction. Therefore precaution is taken by the indigenous instrument makers to make sure that materials are properly selected and manipulated to achieve the desired results, based on ear training gotten from apprenticeship or intuition.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
African traditional are a good source of cultural preservation and promotion of unity as it is not possible for an instrument to be played in any traditional African society without the gathering of people for the celebration of a festival, or rite. The traditional Africans, of which the Igbo race is one of the major ethnics groups in Nigeria, have philosophically create their own style of music and musical instruments which serves various functional and aesthetic values. OJA are created from wood to sound and communicates some status symbols in the Igbo land.
Oja being a traditional instrument have been seen, heard and known to have just one pattern of construction and the ability to produce six to seven pitches depending on the skill of the flutist. Its ability to produce four to six pitches which are not in successional scale structure has been a limitation to the melodic creativity of the flutist in our present time. Also the sound of the Oja can be limited to a small gathering because the production capacity is not that loud to be played in a large gathering for instance playing in the stadium except if played using the microphone, but sometimes the microphone not been portable limits the expression of the flutist. So therefore the researcher is out to bring forth a technology that will solve this problem by manufacturing an Oja that has a successional scale pattern to improve the melodic production of the oja and also create a room for external amplification of the Oja with a portable microphone to amplify the sound production.
1.3 Objective of Study
The specific objective of this study is to:
Construction of oja (Igbo wooden flute)
Attachment of portable amplification device.
1.4 Significance of Study
This work on the construction of Oja (Igbo wooden flute) with portable microphone will provide information on the history of the instrument and serve as an instrumental manual to music technicians who might want to further more research to construct and improve the instrument. This research shows the history and origin of oja with technology coming in to upgrade its features.
1.5 Scope of Study
Embarking on a search can be challenging and quite expensive, so the research was limited to Ezinifta Aguata local Government area in Anambra state.
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