₦airaland Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEqOzWAodAA

Owerri, Imo.
Owerri ma kp'eshi ańurima.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dfdk7z7HcQ

Ngwa, Abia.
Egwu ke hnia l'imime ala Ngwa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9SoFfJC61w

Awka, Anambra.
Va kpolu iv'a okwu Oka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJf44Zhx5a8

Ohafia, Abia.
This is pure Ohafia. Uri umu nwoko.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iykmd_Kr92Q

Asaba, Delta.
Supposedly this dialect is Asaba, but I'm not sure. If it is, then the intonation and nasalization are remarkably different from that of Onicha, which sits just across the Niger.

I know a thread like this was created some years ago, but I'd like to revive this topic.

Please post any audio/video recordings of Igbo dialects (not Central Igbo) that you guys may have come across. Also feel free to post recordings of dialects that you're unsure of, in order to recieve clarification.

Be sure to clearly identify the dialect and the state. Thanks in advance.

Gboliwe: I do not know of the maiden fattening room tradition in igboland. I got to know of it as practiced by the Rivers and Akwaibom states.

Have you read or heard of the history of the Item people? It will buttress this your research.

Igbos call Plantain Ikom, Efik/ibibio call it Ikam

Quite a lot in common, i'll post as I remember. We truely are one in this country

The maiden fattening room tradition is practiced in Abia and Ebonyi States and is known as 'mgbede' or 'nkpi', depending on where you are. In northern Abia, it's practiced by the Aro and Abiriba/Ohafia. In the south, it's practiced by the Ngwa.

And no, I haven't read Item history. I'll look out for it, though.

Naima00: The one I was asking about is back. He is Somalia10 can you please ban him from my thread https://www.nairaland.com/1338418/tell-me-culture-what-common#16581083
Thanks in advance

Done.

9jakool: I'm new here..... In this world there is a lot of language borrowing and standardization in case of Latin and many European languages- for example goat in Yoruba is ewure and for Igbo is ewu

Nothing is borrowed between the Igbo and Yoruba languages.

It's very saddening to see fellow breast-fed Igbo men and women engage in this "my state is better than your state" nonsense. Why is it that we are so blinded by invisible barriers (states) placed upon us by the Federal Government?

O buru o nnaa, Gowon emerielen inyi.

Arochukwu, Abia State.

ARES: Ahiiiii Enachioken, Ahiiiii Ebiriba...... Strictly for those who know!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nwoko m, I mela aghi? I zha ole?

Afam4eva: I really don't know why Enugu is being included cos Enugu people are the last people that will speak their dialect in an all-Igbo meeting. We go the Anambra way when speaking. That's why our dialects are not popular outside Enugu.

I can somewhat differentiate the Enugu-speakers from the Anambra-speakers, but that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is that everyone speaks as if they are in their ancestral homes. Why speak anything apart from Standard Igbo?

If you guys have any, post them.

1. Just like certain Igbo groups salute "Igbo mmammanu", the Annang also have this salutation.

The Annang salute:
[Name of group] mmamma,
Response: yo
[Name of group] mma,
Response: yo
[Name of group] mmalee
Response: yooo


The Igbo salute:
[Name of group] mmammanu
Response: ei
[Name of group] mmammanu
Response: ei
[Name of group] mmammanu
Response: eeeh

2. The word oyoyo means 'dear' in both the Igbo and Efik languages.

3. Uwa means 'world' in both Igbo and Ibibio-Efik. Igbo would say 'Uwa mu' whereas the Ibibio-Efik would say 'Uwa mi'.

4. Obasi, meaning 'God' in certain Igbo dialects, is a corruption of the Ibibio-Efik Abasi.

5. The Ibibio-Annang masquerade genre known as Ekpo is practiced by Igbo groups in Abia and Imo states.

6. The Ekpe masquerade cult and the Iyamba (women's Ekpe cult) are both practiced by the Efik and certain Igbo groups in Abia and Ebonyi states.

7. Igbo town-naming traditions often place the prefix 'Umu-' before a towns name to denote descent. The Ibibio-Efik peoples also do the same. Their own version is 'Ikot-'.

8. The Efik and Igbo share market days. I'll post the names of the market days when I remember them.

9. Utazi (a vegetable) in Igbo is utasi in Efik.

10. Udele (vulture) in Igbo is utere in Efik.

11. The Igbo and the Ibibio-Annang both use leopard hats as indicators of membership in leopard societies and political cults.

12. The practice of sending an engaged maiden to a fattening house (known in Abia State as 'mgbede'), where she will be well-looked after and prepared for marital life, is observed by both the Igbo and Ibibio-Efik.

Eastern Nigeria is home to three dynamic cultural worlds: that of the Igbo, that of the Ijo, and that of the Ibibio-Efik. At a distance, the Igbo and Ibibio-Efik peoples may seem unrelated and entirely different in all cultural aspects. However, a closer look will reveal that these two groups of peoples are actually quite similar. Here are 11 supporting "fun facts":

Naima00: I agree with the above poster, I would love to know AA better. Also is there a way of banning a member from a particular thread ? Thanks in advance.

Yes, there is.

souldust: to whom it may concern. Why dont you consider my idea of creating a different section for black americans? I really want to know them

If you create a thread about this and enough people support you, I'll suggest it to the boss(es).

SisterSister: Dear Moderator,

I tried to cut and paste it to make one thread but I get a message that it is too long? Is it possible for you to please put it together in one thread, in 1, 2, 3 order? [b]

No problem.

killayut: There is no need arguing with people who only disagree because they hate or they just do not want to agree.. Hiphop itself is a way of life. . Reggae itself is a way of life .. ROCK AND ROLL itself is a way of life.. so get it.. It is the people who are in that way of life that play their kind of music borrowed by others... The way of life of the cow boys is rock and roll .. their music is rock and roll.. High life is a way of life.. HIGH LIFE MUSIC is the music.... HIGH LIFE MUSIC IS THE MUSIC OF THE PEOPLE WHOSE way of LIFE IS HIGHLIFE.. THE NATIVE word for the music is OWIGIRI. GOOGLE OWIGIRI and see the culture and see the way or performance and music line they play.. .The music we play during burial, marriage and every event is highlife music.. The way of life of the AKAN is not high life.. in their burial, marriage and other events, they play their traditional music which is not high life.

Let me play Devil's advocate. How could tiny Kalabari (which couldn't have boasted a population of 100 thousand in the 40s) have exported its music genre throughout West Africa? How is it that in the 40s and 50s, highlife was being developed simultaneously in many West African cultures?

Anyway, I googled "Owigiri" and the Igbo Bongo musician "Owigiri King" came up.

Ali Igbo amaka.

killayut: Do people even know what high life music is ? High life is first the way of life of a people and the music they play is the high life music. it's like hiphop where the lifestyle of the people is hip life and the hop is the blend and flow. The life style of the riverine people of the NIGER DELTA is what is termed high life and this word was first used in Port Harcourt which then was the only westernized or urban center of the region. Traditional music of the people is what they call high life. Just as Fuji or afro is traditional to Yorubas and THE IGBOS have their own traditional music. But this is not to say other people do not play high life music. Hip hop is traditional to black Americans but also played by different people...

I don't agree with you. Highlife is a music genre that is found throughout West Africa. It was developed in the late 40s and early 50s when African artists began combining modern instrumentals with their traditional folk music.

In Nigeria, the Yoruba, the Igbo, the Bini, the Ijaw, the Urhobo, and the Ibibio all have their own brands of high life music.

SisterSister: Dear Moderator,

I was looking through my 'followed topics' and noticed two were no longer there. After looking, I saw that Nigerian Man Married to Non-Nigerian Wife - Reloaded 1 and 2, have been hidden. Please, may I ask why? These first two helps explains what I am responding to and why. Reloaded 3 doesn't not have any mention of why. As well, it all has to do with culture or is it better suited in another thread?

Thank you

Please, do not listen to anyone claiming to be the moderator. I am the only active moderator of this section.

As for your thread, I have unlocked it. However, you can't make three separate threads about the same topic. I suggest you copy and paste everything onto one thread, so that I can close the other two. I'll give you a few days to do this.

Ikeji - Arochukwu, Abia State.
Igwa Mang - Abiriba, Abia State.
Ofala - Onitsha, Anambra State.
Ikeji Izuogu - Arondizuogu, Imo State.
Calabar Carnival - Calabar, Cross River State.
Nguzu Edda - Afikpo, Ebonyi State.

pazienza: You are dead wrong again,i don't give a shit about what clueless scholars wrote.

The term Mmanwu is a generic name for masquerade in Igbo nzugbe, every igbo clan has what it calls it's own Mmanwu, in idemili,we don't even call it mmanwu,we call it 'Nmuo' meaning spirits.

All igbo clan has it's own mmawu and name they call it in their local dialect and the costumes these masquarades wear,differs from one igbo town to another.

Stop making these stuffs complex,cos they are not. Ijele is not an Mmanwu,it's an Nmuo, cos that's what idemili's call masquarades,but in the spirit of using the standard igbo that recommends Mmanwu to mean masquarades,we idemilis also agree that Ijele is an Mmanwu.

Why can't you guys do the same? If Mmanwu be the standard igbo word for masquarade and Owu,Okonko etc are all masquarades,it's only logical and simple to call them Mmanwu!

In my part of Abia (Old Bende region), all typse of non-Ekpe masquerades are called 'ekpo'. 'Mmanwu' doesn't exist in our lexicon. Ekpe is a different masquerade genre on its own.

pazienza: Arochukwu is only the ancestral place of all aros,because they simply want to end their geneology there. The founders of arochukwu are not aro,they came from other igbo clans.

The term "Aro" exists only because of the existence of Arochukwu. The Aro people are a relatively new, but large group of people whose origins, as a group, starts at Arochukwu. Tracing anything beyond that would no longer be tracing Aro history.

Antivirus92: you don't know anything about igbo people as u claim to do. All your claims lie in what you read from the internet. This north-west, north,south etc are all artificial creations by you. There is nothing like cultural zones in anambra,enugu,delta and even imo. We igbos have our basic cultures that unite us and then each town has it's "culture" that is limited to it. Please can you differentiate between nsukka culture and awka culture? If u can, just give us five examples. That a large group of people speak the same dialect does not make them a cultural zone. Get that into ur head. Going by that,both nsukka and awka have nri root. The only place where there is difference in igbo culture is in the boarders especially in abia. Towns like ngwa,abiriba,ohafia,ngwa,arochukwu all share boarders with other non-igbos. So they mixed and adopted some cultures of those non-igbos. The likes of ekpeye,ekpo,ibini ukpabi and so on have been in existence outside igboland before aro and co were founded.
Secondly- aro and nri/eri are not in the same status. Aro was founded many years ago while nri has existed before igbo. Nri is igbo. The igbo elements in aro has it's root in the nri-awka-orlu-nsukka axis. Prove me wrong by telling me where ezeagwu came from.

You completely missed the point of what I wrote. First of all, Nsuka and Awka are in two different culture zones. Nsuka culture is blended with Igala elements, and its political organization differs starkly from that of Awka. Read this: http://books.google.com/books?id=HBnfqWtXDRwC&pg=PA157&dq=nsukka+culture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v0_IUbqLGczc4APpk4HgBQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ

Secondly, Nri (the people) are in the same classification as Aro (the people), Ikwere (the people), Ika (the people), and Ngwa (the people), just like I said earlier. I did not ask you which predates which; what I said was that Nri (to a lesser extent than the Aro and Ngwa) are a group of people with a shared identity, history, and culture, making them a sub-ethnic group of some sorts.

Whether you guys choose to accept it or not, the only real form of cultural "homologousness" exists (to some extent) within the culture zones; meaning communities within the same culture zones have very similar practices; nearby culture zones are some-what similar. This is why the differences in the cultures of Abiriba and Onicha outweigh the similarities.

pazienza: My bestfriend is an arochukwu guy,i know a lot about the aros.

Arochukwu was formed like most igbo towns by different igbo groups migrating from other igbo towns and establishing a new town,while giving up their previous identities to take up the name of their new established town,and by so doing,they now begin to see themselves as same people with other previously strange people,that they now share a town with.

Every new igbo town those days were founded by igbos from other towns who gave up their initial identities to share a new identity with other people in their new town.

Somehow along the line,maybe due to the fact that these their migrations took place recently,(these people from other parts of igboland who gave up their intial clan names to take up the name of their new clan,arochukwu) lost that natural ability to let go of their initial clan name,and pick up the name of their new clan,as was customary in those days, if ezenna agwu,one of the founding fathers of arochukwu,insisted in retaining his clan name like,there won't be any aro in the first place, hope you get my point.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand how this relates to what I wrote earlier.

pazienza: Antivirus is right, aro and isu are not igbo sub groups, aro itself is but town that was formed like anyother igbo town with its component members coming from other existing igbo towns.

This is where you people get it wrong. Aro exists in two forms. There is Aro, the place, and Aro the people. Aro, the place, refers specifically to Arochukwu, the ancestral home of all Aro people. Aro [the people] refers universally to Aro people. Whether from Aro Ndikelionwu (in Anambra), Aro Isiokpo (in Rivers), Arochukwu (in Abia), Aro Ndizuogu (in Imo), Aro Ajalli (in Anambra) or any of the dozens of Aro settlements scattered both inside and outside Igboland, we are all one people: Aro.

Please take a look at this link so as to clear up your confusion: http://books.google.com/books?id=tjLjoC6ScKYC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA19&ots=vtRJor8RJ9&dq=ikeji+aro&output=html_text

Antivirus92: no,you got me wrong. I didn't say that aro,awka,ngwa are not igbos. What i am saying is that they are towns made of villages and not igbo groups. There is nothing like cultural group in igboland. Igbo has it's basic cultures like iwa ji,ibi ugwu,market days,kolanut breaking,iti mmanwu etc which is general,then each community has a/some culture(s) which is specific to them alone. So we have a culture that binds us and that is what we call igbo culture.
Secondly,there is nothing like igboid,it is just like igbotic a nigerian product. A language belongs to a group when it has about 15 to 20% similarities with other languages of its group. A dialect is when there is 70% or more similarity. So igbo is a language with many dialects and not a language group.
Thirdly, what is umudiana? Nwadiana is what u are to ur maternal people. So i don't understand ur umudiana thing. Nri is nri and uptill today some towns/villages are still seeking to be recognised as umunri.

Everything boils down to your unfamiliarity with everything outside of your immediate surroundings. You speak authoritatively on behalf of the Igbo peoples, yet you don't know much.

I have been saying this and will continue to say it: the peoples of Igboland do not practice the same culture. Ali Igbo is broken up into culture zones inhabited by peoples that share similar cultural practices. The culture zones of Ali Igbo are: North Western (Nri-Awka), Northern (Nsuka-Enugu), North Eastern (Ikwo-Mgbo), Cross River (Aro-Bende-Ohafia-Edda), Southern (Ngwa-Etche-Ikwere-Ndoki-Urata-Isu), and Western (Ika-Oshimili-Ndokwa-Aboh).

Secondly, Aro and Ngwa are not in the same class as Awka. Aro and Ngwa are ethnicities that exist under the umbrella of "Igbo" whereas Awka is a town. Aro and Ngwa are both large groups of people that share a common identity, and therefore to classify them along with Awka is an insult. When discussing Awka, you mention Umuahia, Nkwerre, Aboh, Owerri, and Enugu. When discussing Aro and Ngwa, you mention Ika, Ikwere, Ohuhu, Isu, and Nri (the people, not the place).

That's ankara. Eastern Nigeria is known for producing fine ankara.