VALUE OF DIRGE IN THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF COMMUNITIES: A STUDY OF ARONDIZUOGU

Author(s):  
Chikezie Okoronkwo ◽  
◽  
Esther Oladejo ◽  
Gibson Okorafor ◽  
Okoronkwo Chibuzor ◽  
...  

Music is one activity that has continued to represent so many things to different people in different societies of the world. It presents itself in different styles and is used for different purposes. The mournful and slow type is often used in burials, funerals and spirit-cultural functions to depict the degree of reverence, attachment and affection to the parties involved in the ceremony. This paper examined the use of dirge in Arondizuogu South East Nigeria. It explained the several connections of the music to religious organizations as well as heathens and Christians who must use the music in appropriate circumstances not withstanding their faith. The paper relied on interviews and questionnaires as well as statistical techniques in analyzing the nature of the dance and the implication of participation thereof. It concludes that dirge is a unique song that could be danceable or otherwise but a required necessity in the passage of the soul to the great beyond. The paper recommends that people of all classes irrespective of race should pay attention to the lyrics, rhythm and voice of the music to appreciate the importance and participate actively as a means of respecting the dead and the God of the dead.

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Lars Rømer

This article investigates how experiences of ghosts can be seen as a series of broken narratives. By using cases from contemporary as well 19th century Denmark I will argue that ghosts enter the world of the living as sensations that question both common sense understanding and problematize the unfinished death. Although ghosts have been in opposition to both science and religion in Denmark at least since the reformation I will exemplify how people deal with the broken narrative of ghosts in ways that incorporate and mimic techniques of both the scientist and the priest. Ghosts, thus, initiate a dialogue between the dead and the living concerning the art of dying that will enable both to move on.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Ibelala Gea

This article aims to describe the results of research on how to preach the gospel to all beings, based on Mark 16:15-16. Preaching the gospel is a great commission from the Lord Jesus to His followers after His resurrection from the dead. The world is the address of the gospel preaching, not only to man but to all beings.The Gospel writer of  Mark wants to explain that the world is synonymous with evil, therefore the gospel serves to salt the evil world, so when Iniil is preached to the wicked, it is expected to change the mindset and human behavior.Greedy and greedy human behavior that only views nature as a commodity. Human evil is seen when only the task of exploiting natural resources and forget the responsibility of caring for, nurturing nature and the environment. Gospel preaching aims to awaken peoples not only to view nature as power (dominio) but as a fellow of creatures, and friends (communio). Preach the gospel to all beings and receiving each other with referring to reduce, reuse, recycle and replace as a responsibility to God who has given the mandate for us. AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan hasil penelitian tentang bagaimana memberitakan Injil kepada  seluruh makhluk, bertolak dari Markus 16:15-16. Memberitakan Injil adalah amanat agung dari Tuhan Yesus kepada para pengikut-Nya setelah kebangkitan-Nya dari antara orang mati.Dunia adalah sebagai alamat pemberitaan Injil, bukan hanya kepada manusia melainkan kepada segala makhluk. Penulis Injil Markus hendak menjelaskan bahwa dunia identik dengan kejahatan, sebab itu Injil berfungsi menggarami dunia yang penuh kejahatan itu, karena itu ketika Iniil diberitakan kepada orang-orang jahat, diharapkan akan mengubah mindset dan perilaku manusia. Perilaku manusia yang serakah dan tamak yang hanya memandang alam sebagai komoditi. Kejahatan manusia terlihat ketika hanya bertugas mengeksploitasi sumber-sumber daya alam dan lupa pada tanggung jawab merawat, memelihara alam dan lingkungan hidupnya.  Pemberitaan Injil menyadarkan manusia agar tidak hanya memandang alam sebagai kekuasaan (dominio) tetapi sebagai sesama ciptaan, sahabat yang bersifat communio. Memberitakan Injil kepada seluruh makhluk dan menghargai segala makhluk dengan saling memberi dan menerima dengan mengacu pada pola-pola reduce, reuse, recycle dan replace sebagai tanggung jawab kepada Tuhan yang telah memberi amanat.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-134
Author(s):  
Angelika Moskal

Abstract: The shaman figure is most often associated with primitive communities, inhabiting, among others Siberia. The shaman plays one of the most important roles in them - he is an intermediary between the world of people and the world of spirits. Responds to, among others for the safe passage of souls to the other side and protects her from evil spirits. However, is there room for representatives of this institution in contemporary Polish popular literature? How would they find themselves in the 21st century? The article aims to show the interpretation of the shaman on the example of Ida Brzezińska, the heroine of the books of Martyna Raduchowska. I intend to introduce the role and functions of the „shaman from the dead”, juxtaposing the way Ida works (including reading sleepy margins from a rather unusual dream catcher, carrying out souls and the consequences that await in the event of failure or making contact with the dead) with the methods described by scholars shamans. The purpose of the work is to show how much Raduchowska tried to adapt shamanism in her work by modernizing it, and how many elements she added from herself to make the story more attractive.


1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles O. Jackson

The dead have largely lost their social importance, visibility, and impact in American society. This event is essentially a phenomenon of the present century. For three centuries prior, the dead world occupied a significant and readily recognizable place in the living world. Indeed, that place was growing rapidly through much of the 19th century. Causes of the reversal in relationship between the two worlds are examined and consequences of the present radical withdrawal from the dead are suggested.


Author(s):  
Sandra E. Trehub

What can we learn about music and musicality from infants? Sceptics may question the possibility of deriving fruitful answers to such questions from immature beings whose hearing is deficient (relative to adults) and whose exposure to ‘good’ music, even conventional music, is limited. This article considers the possibility of nature making some contribution to our musical beginnings and to our subsequent development. The story that emerges from infancy involves a rich musical environment, with mothers delivering performances which match the inclinations of their infants. Moreover, infants have predispositions or inborn preferences for musical features that are common across the world's cultures. Because musical systems across the world differ in notable respects, it makes sense that infants are open to the available alternatives. With increasing exposure to music, they gain expertise as listeners, but that expertise comes at the cost of diminished sensitivity to features which are irrelevant or infrequent in their own musical culture.


Antiquity ◽  
1941 ◽  
Vol 15 (60) ◽  
pp. 360-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Grinsell

In many parts of the world and at many periods the practice has prevailed of depositing boats, or models or other representations of them, with the dead, either as a means of facilitating his supposed voyage to another world, or as a symbol of his maritime activities during his lifetime.That the former is generally the correct explanation of the custom there can be no doubt. This is shown by the evidence of the belief in a voyage to a future world, and the customs to which it has given rise, among living primitive peoples in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere, so well collected and presented by the late Sir J. G. Frazer. It is shown also by traditions such as that of our own king Arthur's journey by barge to ‘the island valley of Avilion, where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow’ It is shown also by the ancient Greek and Roman custom of placing a coin in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon's fee for ferrying him across the Styx.


Antiquity ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (290) ◽  
pp. 825-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoë Crossland

The landscapes of the central highlands of Madagascar are inhabited by the spirits of the dead as well as by the living. The ancestors are a forceful presence in the everyday world, and the archaeology of the central highlands is intimately entwined with them. This is made manifest both in the on-the-ground experiences encountered during fieldwork, and in archaeological narratives, such as the one presented here. Tombs are a traditional focus of archaeological research, and those that dot the hills of the central highlands are part of a network of beliefs and practices which engage with the landscape as a whole and through which social identity is constructed and maintained. In the central highlands, and indeed elsewhere in Madagascar, there is an intimate relationship between peoples’ understandings of their social and physical location in the world and their understanding of their relationship to the dead.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Opoola Bolanle Tajudeen

This paper focuses on socio-hermeneutic study of gender differentiation in Yoruba burial rites. There are many types of oral genres in Yoruba society. These genres have different functions for different occasion. In essence, Ìrèmọ̀jé eré ìṣípà ọdẹ (hunters funeral dirge) and ìsàà ró (women funeral dirge) are used during men and women funeral rites respectively in Yoruba land. Ogun deity is the founder of Ìrèmọ̀jé chant. Ogun was the first hunter with many adherents who were hunters too. Before the death of Ogun, he ordered his adherents to chant Ìrèmọ̀jé during his funeral rites. He also instructed them to do the same during the funeral rites of fellow great hunters, that is, the hunters that were succeeded by viable children. Ìrèmọ̀jé ìsipaọdẹ is specifically for men and not for women. Ìsàà ró is the final burial rite for the aged women in Yoruba land. This burial rite marks the exit of the aged women from this world to the world beyond. In essence, ìsàà ró is a traditional send-forth for the dead. This type of burial rite was popular in Yoruba land in those days but it was more popular among the Oyo-Yoruba than other Yoruba ethnic groups. Ìsàà ró burial rite is often performed by the Alágbaà (chief head of masquerade) from Ọ̀jẹ̀ family (family of masquerades). It is mandatory for the children of the dead to perform this final burial rite for their dead mother because if they fail to do it, things may not be moving well for either the dead in the world beyond or for the children she left behind in this world. The emergence of western civilization has made great changes both negatively and positively on the popularity of Ìrèmọ̀jé and Ìsàà ró burial rites respectively. This paper discovered that there is that of valuable documentation of Iremoje/Isipa (Hunting chants and funeral rites for Men) and Isaaro (The final funeral rites for Women) in spite of the existence of enormous works on Yoruba Verbal arts and oral literature. The implication of this finding reveal that if a study of this type is not promoted, Yoruba traditions and valuable oral renditions would be endangered. This could further prompt Yoruba journeys to extinction as many studies have shown that English dominance of Yoruba is changing the language attitude of Yoruba native speakers oral and written discusses. The Yoruba natives have flair for us of English than the use of Yoruba because of the inherent values of English in Nigeria and the world at large. This paper concludes that, despite the negative effect of western education and foreign religions in the foregoing, the technological advancement on Ìrèmọ̀jé and Ìsàà ró has shown that the future of both genres are bright as long as the Yoruba race exists.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 11-30
Author(s):  
Lionel Sims ◽  
David Fisher

Three recent independently developed models suggest that some Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments exhibit dual design properties in monument complexes by pairing obverse structures. Parker Pearson’s1 materiality model proposes that monuments of wood are paired with monuments of stone, these material metaphors respectively signifying places of rituals for the living with rituals for the dead. Higginbottom’s2 landscape model suggests that many western Scottish megalithic structures are paired in mirror-image landscape locations in which the horizon distance, direction and height of one site is the topographical reverse of the paired site – all in the service of ritually experiencing the liminal boundaries to the world. Sims’3 diacritical model suggests that materials, landscapes and lunar-solar alignments are diacritically combined to facilitate cyclical ritual processions between paired monuments through a simulated underworld. All three models combine in varying degrees archaeology and archaeoastronomy and our paper tests them through the case study of the late Neolithic/EBA Stonehenge Palisade in the Stonehenge monument complex.


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