




































 
 

15 

MUSIC IN THE ORAL LITERATURES OF THE SEPHARDIC JEWS 

AND THE IGBOS OF EASTERN NIGERIA:  

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 

 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

Department of English 

Anambra State University 

 

Abstract 

Music is the universal language of the soul and the music of oral 

literature flows from the core essence of a people‘s existence. Here it 

becomes a way of expression intricately tied to their social, cultural, 

economic and political aspirations and to a great extent becomes the 

determinant of the peaceful co-existence of the society of people 

that spawn it. Ordinarily, traits of music in the oral literatures of 

different people have been instrumental to the establishment of links 

and bonds between societies of people and affirming relationships 

between peoples now widely separated in spatial, historical, and 

cultural terms. All through the ages, scholars of oral literature and 

anthropology have tried to trace the link between the Jews and the 

Igbos of Eastern Nigeria. There have been claims of satisfactory 

empirical evidence to support the fact that these two societies of 

people have a kinship bond of a sort. Daniel Lis, from the Institute for 

Jewish Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland, is one of the 

foremost researchers on Jewish identification among the Igbo. He 

said in an oral interview that there has been a clear continuity of 

Jewish identity among the Igbo. "It's not just something that 

happened yesterday." The Swiss-Israeli anthropologist says that 

Igbo-Jewish identity can be traced back to the 18th century. Apart 

from Lis, cross-cultural comparisons have been documented by people 

ranging from George Thomas Basden, the influential Anglican 

missionary and ethnographer who proposed that the word "Igbo" 

 Awka Journal of Research in Music and the Arts (ARMA) Vol. 10 2014 

 



 
 

16 

evolved as a corruption of the word "Hebrew," to Olaudah Equiano, a 

freed Igbo slave that lived in the 18th century British society. This 

paper analyses the musical elements in the folk literatures of the 

Sephardic Jews and the Igbos with a view to establishing some 

similarities in their eccentric values. 

 

 

Introduction 

The avid claims by scholars over the years that there are striking oral 

stories and historic notations of cultural resemblances between the 

Igbo and the Jews have proven convincing enough to attract varied 

groups of scholars of assorted fields of study to the Eastern Nigeria. 

These scholars have tried to prove the assumptions that the Igbo 

Jews originated from Syrian, Portuguese and Libyan Israelite 

migrants into West Africa. Certain Igbo communities with Judaic 

practices have been discovered in recent years by individual Israelis 

and American Jews who worked in Nigeria.  

Some out-reach organizations like the American Kulanu and 

African-American Jewish communities in America have also made 

concerted efforts to place some plausibility to the claims of kinship 

between the Igbos and the Jews. To this end, Jews from outside 

Nigeria founded two synagogues in the 1970‘s in Nigeria, which are 

attended and maintained by Igbos. Due to the fact that no official 

census has been taken in the region, it is rather difficult to state with 

certainty the number of Igbos in Nigeria who identify as either 

Israelites or Jews but presently about twenty six synagogues of 

various sizes have been cited among Igbo communities indicating very 

strong Jewish presence.  

Even more important in the tracing of this linkage between the 

Jews and the Igbos, is the impact of the strong scholastic evidence of 

the widely influential statement made by an Igbo man, Olaudah 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Portugal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Libya


 
 

17 

Equiano, a Christian-educated freed slave who remarked in his 

autobiography of 1789 that : 

the strong analogy which... appears to prevail in the manners 

and customs of my countrymen and those of the Jews, 

before they reached the Land of Promise, and particularly 

the patriarchs while they were yet in that pastoral state 

which is described in Genesis — an analogy, which alone 

would induce me to think that the one people had sprung 

from the other." For authoritative support, he gives 

reference to "Dr. Gill, who, in his commentary on Genesis, 

very ably deduces the pedigree of the Africans from Afer 

and Afra, the descendants of Abraham.... 

Though his assertions have since been strongly contested as mere 

speculations by contemporary historians, archaeologists, historical 

linguists, and other scientifically based disciplines who held as 

controversial the proposition that Jews were directly involved with 

Igbo-speaking people in prehistoric times, there  still remains, 

sufficient evidence of the Jewish presence in the Saharan trade 

centres during the first millennium. 

An analysis of some common traditional songs from these 

corpuses with a view to establishing some similarities is the major 

business of this scholarship. Therefore, taking into cognisance the 

fact that the prosody of a culture‘s spoken language can influence the 

structure of its music this analysis will endeavour to apply simple 

comparable quantitative measures to the melody and rhythm in music 

of the oral literature of the two societies under study. 

 

 

Origin of Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews and 

the Igbos 

The Hispanic Jews like the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria have a rich body 

of songs embedded in their oral literature which can be traced to the 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saharan_trade


 
 

18 

original medieval corpus.  While the Igbos take the music in their oral 

literature as a rich thriving, dynamic culture of sonorous tunes 

defining an intrinsic and integral aspect of their communal existence, 

the Hispanists, tend to look on the music in the Sephardic oral 

literature as an essentially static, richly evocative treasure trove of 

medieval survivals (Menéndez Pidal 1973: 335-336). This establishes 

the facts that just like the Serphadic Jews, the Igbos in fact have a 

long and ancient history of excellent traditional music lacing every 

aspect of their oral literature. Intrestingly, music is seen and 

portrayed in every aspect of life and every activity of these two 

societies of people. Evidences abound to authenticate the fact that 

every interaction in these societies is submerged in music and every 

activity is laced with music. This is manifested in the slightest day-to-

day interactions of members of these societies. 

Yet, in as much as there exist many linguistically diverse folk 

music in the literary traditions of  the Jews and the Igbos with 

indeed, highly significant and invaluable instances of medieval 

features of Judeo-Spanish traditions, it will take an in depth analysis 

to assume that any of these texts are related.  

Customarily, the music in the Sephardic oral literature is 

located in two major generic types: narrative ballads (romansas) and 

lyric songs (cantigas). While the Igbo oral literatures is fully laced 

with music in form of ballads (abu ifo) and Lyrical songs (abu oto 
n‘ubulu). This study wades into the rich synthesis of diverse cultural 

components, gathered from the many peoples encountered by the 

Spanish Jews during their multisecular pilgrimage in Mediterranean 

lands as well as the dynamic sonority of the Igbos songs to establish 

or refute traces of similarities 

 

 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

19 

The Sephardic Ballads (Romansas) Versus the Igbo Ballads (Abu 
Ifo) 
The Sephardic ballads are strongly tied to the Pan-Hispanic ballad 

tradition. Ordinarily, the two Sephardic traditions (Eastern and North 

African) and the repertoires of other Hispanic language areas—

Castilian-speaking regions of Spain, the Canary Islands, and Spanish 

America; Galicia, Portugal, the Portuguese Atlantic islands and Brazil; 

and the Catalan-speaking areas of Spain, France, and Sardinia—are 

communally harmonizing. This is evident in the fact that from the 

philological standpoint, the ballads are regarded as an ongoing dynamic 

process of the oral tradition involving constant recreation and a high 

degree of poetic creativity (Bénichou 1968b). This makes the entire 

ballad tradition (the Romancero) so much of a Pan-Hispanic 

experience. 

Like the other branches of the Pan-Hispanic Romancero, the 

Judeo-Spanish ballads include songs based on medieval Spanish and 

French epics; others concern events in Spanish, Portuguese, and 

Italian history; still others recreate Biblical episodes, legends from 

Classical Antiquity, or details of medieval romans d‘aventure; many 

ballads embody a variety of topical, novelesque plots: prisoners and 

captives, the husband‘s return, faithful or tragic love, the unfortunate 

wife, adultery, various amorous adventures, tricks and deceptions. 

Many ballads can be traced back to medieval Iberian origins, others 

were invented by the Sephardim in exile, still others can be shown to 

have reached the Jewish communities well after 1492, doubtless 

brought there by converso emigrants; a few Eastern romances are 

adaptations of Modern Greek ballads (tragoúdia), while others 

translate French chansons populaires, or Italian and Catalan narrative 

songs. 

Judeo-Spanish romansas (Spanish romances) are narrative 

ballads characteristically embodying 16-syllable, usually monorhymed 

verses, divided into two octosyllabic hemistichs, with assonant rhyme 

in each second hemistich. The eight-syllable assonant ballad verse 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 



 
 

20 

ultimately derives from the anisosyllabic assonant verse of the 

medieval Spanish epic, and a certain number of Judeo-Spanish ballads, 

together with some ballads from other Hispanic regions, can be shown 

to be genetically derived, through direct oral tradition, from medieval 

Spanish heroic poetry. It is pertinent to mention at this point that 

the earliest evidence of the existence of ballads among the Hispano-

Jewish exiles does not consist of full texts, but involves an extensive 

corpus of incipits (or, in some cases, of crucial internal verses), used 

as tune markers in 16th- and 17th-century Hebrew hymnals (piyûtîm 

collections): A typical heading might read: ―Pizmôn leḥan Arbolera tan 

gentil‖ (A hymn to the tune of Arbolera etc.) 

On the other hand, the Igbo ballads have a wide range of utility 

because they are derived from the core essence of the society‘s 

existence. This gives rise to various forms of songs for various 

activities. This variety is due to the fact that the traditional music is 

used in articulating every human experience in the society. The Igbo 

traditional Oral ballads encompass all forms of public recitals and 

renditions in form of songs, chants or narration.  There are also 

traditional Igbo folk ballads which are enacted in form of folk dances. 

These may be an enactment of a myth or legend presented on festive 

occasions for entertainment and the rhythm and rendition is also 

determined by the occasion of use. 

Because life in the Igbo society is a celebration, ballads for 

celebrations are the most popular. Through this medium, important 

and exemplary achievement, distinguished persons, heroes and deities 

are celebrated with praise poetries. Ballads are also an avenue 

through which morals and societal etiquettes are imbued into the 

younger generation. Old sages and griots relay ancient wisdom to the 

new generation through music. Religious beliefs and didactics are also 

spread and fostered through the Igbo traditional ballads.  

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

21 

 What is more, the Igbo ballads are the societal medium for 

emphasizing and re-echoing the nature of relationships between man 

and his environment, man and his fellow man, and between man and his 

ancestors.  They are means of promoting cordiality, culturality and 

peaceful co-existence in the society.  In Igbo traditional society, it is 

not uncommon to see local bards entertaining mixed audience of old 

and young, men and women, boys and girls with ballads of love, war, 

heroic deeds, history, epics, legends and myths. Through this type of 

rendering the history of the society is perpetuated and preserved. 

As a tool for entertainment, the Igbo traditional ballads enlighten and 

satisfy man‘s intellect and emotions.  

Remarkably, just like the Jewish romansas, the Igbo ballads are 

mostly narrative in nature and are typically composed in a 16-syllable, 

monorhymed verses, divided into two octosyllabic hemistichs, with 

assonant rhyme in each second hemistich. although the  eight-syllable 

assonant ballad may not necessarily draw from the anisosyllabic 

assonant verse like the medieval Spanish epic they tend to be 

genetically derived, through direct Igbo oral traditions.  

Below are two contrasting examples: 
 

 

La Bella En Misa (The Beauty in Church) 

La bella en misa (The Beauty in Church) is a Sephardic ballad of 

medieval origin—sung in both branches of the Judeo-Spanish 

tradition, as well as in Castilian-, Galician-, and Catalan-speaking areas 

of Spain, in northern Portugal, and in Mexico and Argentina (RPI S4). 

Apart from its delightful content, it eloquently illustrates the basic 

principle that each ballad has its own, sometimes highly distinctive—if 

not, as in this case, unique—individual history.   

1    Tres damas van a la misa Three ladies are going to mass 

      por   hazer la orasión.     to say their prayers. 

2    Entre‘n medio va mi spoza  , With them goes my bride, 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 



 
 

22 

      la que más quería yo. the one I love most of all. 

      Sayo ye va sovre sayo; She wears many pleated skirts 

      un xiboy de altornasión. and a waistcoat of fine cloth. 

4    Su cavesa, una toronǧa Her head is round like a grapefruit; 

      sus caveyos briles son. her hair is golden thread 

      Cuando los tomó a peinare, and when she combs it, 

      en eyos despuntó el sol. it glistens in the sun. 

6    Las sus caras coreladas Her red cheeks 

      mansanas d‘Escopia son. are apples from Skopje; 

      Los dientes tan chiquiticos her small teeth  

      dientes de marfil ya son. are all like ivory. 

8    Su boquita tan chequetica In her tiny mouth 

      y que no le cave‘n peñón. a rosebud would not fit; 

      La su seja enarkada her arched eyebrows 

      árcol de tirar ya son. are like taut bows. 

10  Melda, melda, papazico, The priest, reading his prayers, 

      de meldar ya se quedó. stopped in his reading. 

       —Melda, melda, papazico, ―Read on,  little priest; 

      y que por ti no vengo yo. I‘ve not come here for you. 

12  Vine por el hijo del reyes, I have come for the king‘s son, 

      que de amor v‘a muerir yo. for I am dying of love.‖ 

 

 

Oma Nwanyi Mma (Oma the Beauty)  

Oma the beauty is a traditional Igbo ballad about two star crossed 

lovers who would go against all dictates of culture and reasons to be 

together. Just like La bella en misa (The Beauty in Church) it is of 

medieval origin—sung and accepted in all corners of the Igbo tradition 

1.  Oma bu Nwunye m ooo       Oma is my bride 

     Nwanyi m huru n‘anya    she is the love of my life 

     obu m ga alu ya ooo   I am her ordained spouse 

     Aga m aluriri ya    I must marry her 

2.  Nne ya kwere m ooo   with her mother‘s consent 

     Nna ya ekwere m ooo   and her father‘s consent 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

23 

     umu nna ya kwere m ooo  And the consent of her  

     kinsmen 

     Aga m alu riri ya   She must be my bride 

3.  Obu akwa? Aga m egoro ya  Fine apparel? I will buy in  

     quantum 
     Obu uwe? Agam ego juru ya   Dresses? I will buy them in  

     quantum 

 Obu ola edo? Aga m ego juru ya Gold and silver? I will buy in  
     quantum 

1. Oma jebe nku, anyam n‘ eleru ya Oma fetches fire wood, I  

look out for her 

Oma chube iyi, anya m n‘ eleru ya oma goes to stream, I look  

out for her 

Oma jebe egwu, anya m n‘ eleru ya oma goes to dance, I look  

out for her 

Oma jebe oru, anya m n‘ eleru ya oma works, I look out for her 

2. Odi okporo ato jebe nku  Three maidens go to fetch  

firewood 

Oma no n‘ime ha            Oma is among them 

Odi okporo ato chube iyi  Three maidens go to the  

stream 

Oma no n‘ime ha    Oma is among them 

3. Oma na agba mbo   Oma is hard working 

Oma gbasiri ike    Oma is strong and healthy 

Oma n‘eme ezi omume   Oma is cultured 

Oma na eje ozi    Oma is dedicated 

4. Oma mara mma ooo   Oma is a great beauty 

Ochia ochi, eze ya di ka aku miri igwe  Oma smiles, her teeth is as  

white as snow 

Ogba egwu ukwu ya n‘ebu aju  When she dances her waist  

overwhelms 

Oma n‘egbu m ka manya  Oma is intoxicating like fresh  

wine 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

 



 
 

24 

5. Oma n‘eje uka    Oma is pious  

Kwa ututu, Oma n‘eje uka  She goes to church every  

morning 

Kwa ehihie, Oma n‘ekpe ekpere Every afternoon, she prays  

fastidously    

Kwa mgbede, Oma n‘eje Uka       Every evening she goes to church 

6. A bughi m nwa eze   I am not a prince 

Mana Oma huru m n‘anya         But Oma loves me dearly 

Abughi m nwa igwe   I am no royalty 

Mana Oma na anwuru m  But Oma loves me to  

distractions 

7. Oma kwuru na Ogbo ooo               When Oma stands out in public 

Ona adi iche    She looks world apart from  

others 

Uwe ya bu kwa peke m     Her dress fits perfectly 

Obu Opuru iche ooo   She is worlds apart from  

others 

8. Oma odi n‘obi m ooo   Oma my hearthtrob 

Oma bu anya m    Oma the apple of my eyes 

Nti nji anu ihe    The only tune I hear 

Imi m ji eku ume   The air I breathe 

 

Notably, the prosodic and syntactic structures in both songs involve 

organized acoustic sequences. The pitch and intensity create 

structured rhythmic and melodic patterns and, though there are 

glaring differences in the rhythmic organizations, representing the 

divergence in language, there is a discernible semblance in the 

sequence in the pattern of the structural rhythmic pulse of the two 

ballads. 

 

 

 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

25 

Lyric Songs in Serphadism (Cantigas) Versus the Igbo Lyrics (Abu 
Oto N’ubulu) 
The Sephardic Jews have abundance of traditional lyric songs 

embedded in their oral literature. These songs have strong ties to the 

Iberian tradition but they embody the religious lyrics that are 

authentically traditional lyric song. There are traces of certain poetic 

forms, notably the Moroccan wedding songs that strongly embody 

what might be termed ―vocabulary‖ of parallelistic, synonymous rhyme 

words  that are partly or wholly identical (Alvar 1985:44). In as much 

as the Sephardic  ballads also have specific communal functions  and 

lyric qualities like wedding songs, lullabies, songs of mourning, their 

uses in specific utilitarian social contexts, are in general much more 

sharply defined. Lyrics in Serphadism are therefore more of liminal 

songs that deleneate the thresholds of human life, the crucial 

moments of transition: birth songs, wedding songs, funeral dirges 

(Armistead 1993: 364-367).  

Essentially also, the Igbos have riched repertoire of lyric songs 

closely tied to their traditional poetry and folkbeliefs; several of 

which turn out to have very close inclinations. The local bards use 

music to playfully and tactfully checkmate the society. One special 

aspect of the Igbo traditional music is that it can be composed 

without much formality. The local bards and some obnoxious brats 

make use of this quality to extremities. 

Lyrics are composed on the spot especially about immoral and 

errant men and women. Lyrics of abuse and cynical lyrics of 

denigration and degradations can be composed against a drifting 

member of the society. Lascivious men and morally bankrupt members 

of the society are always under very close surveillance by the local 

bards. Lyrics of petty gossips and local scandals keep the society alive 

with fun and perpetually keep everyone on the alert as anybody can 

become an object of the gossips of lyrics and the lyrics of abuse. 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

 



 
 

26 

In the Igbo traditional society, it is just natural to hear lyrics – 

soul lifting lyrics at the birth of a baby, at naming ceremonies, at 

traditional weddings and on festival occasions. Even labourers have 

chants to lighten the laden of work. The lyrics are composed such that 

the beating goes in rhythm with the working tempo. The rendition 

strengthens and reinvigorates the labourers. 

There is really no aspect of the Igbo communal life that lyrics 

do not surface. In nursing the baby, lullabies are sung and chanted to 

sooth the baby to sleep. At the death of a member of the society, 

elegies and dirges are sung to relieve the sorrowful experience. These 

mournful chants may involve wailing, weeping sobbing and even serious 

gnashing of the teeth. The themes for such lyrics are abuses on death 

as an archenemy of mankind, as a thief and a spoiler. They can also 

dwell on the mysteries and ephemeral life or consolations for the 

bereaved or even the greatness and heroic deeds of the man or woman 

that passed on. Music is used to celebrate life and death. Just as a 

person is celebrated in his lifetime, so is he mourned at death. 

The most distinguished aspect of the Igbo traditional music is 

that it is a communal activity. Every member is involved in the 

rendition either by clapping hands, humming or chanting the chorus. 

The bard initiates the music and the audience responds with rhythmic 

choruses. Nobody is exempted from this exciting aspect of the 

society‘s culture. 

Music in the Igbo society is indeed a cultural experience. It is a 

heritage handed down from generation to generation. In the morning, 

it is quite customary for the elder and head of a family to welcome 

that dawn with sonorous and rhythmic incantations which expresses 

appreciation happiness, success, joy and appellations to the deities.   
 
 
 
 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

27 

Below are two examples from both cultures: 
The following is a Serphadic endecha—sung at funerals and also during 

the nine days of the month of Ab (Thishʿā bĕ-‘Āb) to commemorate 

the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, which is evoked in vv. 1-

8. The rest of the poem involves a conversation between a mother and 

her deceased son or daughter: 

1     Ḥaḫamim nombrados, Famous wise men, 

2    de honra y de fama, of honor and of fame, 

      los yevan atados are carried off bound 

4    y arrastrados por la vía. and dragged along the streets. 

      ¡Yoren, yoren, las señoras, Weep, weep, you women, 

6    las que tienen razón, for well may you weep, 

      por la Caza Santa for the Holy City 

8    y el ḥorbán de Sión! and the destruction of Zion! 

       —Si había algún Consuelo ―If there were some comfort 

10   y en éste mi corasón, in this heart of mine, 

       yo vos rogo, la mi madre, I beg you mother, 

12   por las piadades, for the sake of charity, 

       que escribáis mi dulse  

       nombre 

to write my sweet name 

14    y en vuestros lumbrales. on the threshold of your home.‖ 

        —Y escrito lo tengo,  

       escrito, 

―And I have inscribed it  

16   y en la veluntade. within my very soul. 

       Los días que fuere viva, As long as I live, 

18   mi madre, con tus pesares. I will mourn for you.‖ 

       —Yo vos rogo, la mi madre, ―I beg of you, mother, 

20   por las piadades, for the sake of charity: 

       que saquéis mis nuevos 

       vestidos 

Take out my new clothes 

22   del arca y del ajugares. from the dowry chest. 

       Con la hoja del adefla, With leaves of the rosebay, 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

 



 
 

28 

24   mi madre, los bufeares. Mother, fumigate them for me. 

       Con la hoja de la retama, With leaves of the furze, 

26   mi madre, los safumare. Mother, perfume them for me. 

       Y si al año no volviere, If I don‘t return in a year, 

28   sacáilos al delale. take them to be sold 

       Y al primero precio, And at the lowest price, 

30   mi madre, los qaddeare. Mother, sell them off. 

       Y el que los comprare, And whoever buys them, 

32   que no pase por la mi caye. let him not go by my street, 

       No los vea la mi madre, so my mother may not see them, 

34   los de dolor al corasón. those clothes of heartfelt grief.‖  

  

Akwa Nwunyedi (The Cry of a Co-Wife) 

This is a song of sorrow from a maltreated woman. It is a conversation 

between a woman carrying a baby and a river goddess. The woman was 

found at the bank of the river trying to fetch water on a forbidden 

day of the week. Babies are revered in Igbo culture, almost deified; a 

woman carrying a baby is given special preference in all things. The 

child stands for the future and for posterity. Maltreating a baby is a 

crime against the gods and humanity. There is an apt image of 

conveying the fact that the woman contravened the laws of the gods 

because of her baby. The last part is a consolation from the spirit. 

1. O Nwa mmuo isi mu koro gi      inine Spirit do I tell you my story  

O Nwa mmuo isi mu koro gi      inine Spirit do I tell you my story  

2. Na nwunye di mu di njo          inine     My co wife is evil 

na nwunye di mu di njo           inine My co wife is evil 

3. Agara m kuru miri m n‘ enye nwa   inine I took a cup of water for my baby 

4. Osi mu kwuo ya ugwo miri, miri nwa  inine   She demands a replacement  

Nwa n‘ebe, nwa n‘eti  inine The baby cries, the baby shrieks 

5. Osi m je n‘Ogba churu iyi puta inine She demands I should go to the river 

M si ya ejighi taa eje n‘Ogba lota   inine    I told her the river is forbidden  

today 

6. Osi mu kwua ya ugwo miri, miri nwa inine   She demands a replacement 

Osi m jee n‘Ogba chute iyi puta  inine She demands I should go to the  

river 

7. Eze Ogba, isiri gini?  inine You mean the sacred river? 

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 



 
 

29 

Ubochi eke?   inine On an eke day? 

8. Miri kuru gbam gbam la n i‘gwe?   inine  The sacred river of thunder? 

Miri gburu amuma ka onwa n‘eti?  inine  That draws lightening on a  

moonlight night? 

9. A bum nwanyi, nwanyi ku nwa inine I am only a woman carrying a baby 

Biara ekuru miri nwa  inine I came to fetch water for the baby 

10. Ahhhhahhaa nne nwa ndo  inine Ahhhahhh baby‘s mother what a pity 

Ewoooo nne nwa ndoooo  inine Ewoooo baby‘s mother what a pity 

11. Ewoooo churu ogba lawa   inine Fetch as much as you want 

Ewoooo churu aku lawa   inine     Fetch  also as much wealth  

12. Ewoooo Ndo ndooooooooo  inine Ewoooo what a pity 

Ndo ndoooo Inineeeeee   ininee A pity indeed! 

 

The two songs exploit the literary devices of paradox and imagery to 

effectively communicate meaning.There are apt stylistic manipulations 

of the songs which to a great extent reveal a rich exploitation of 

literary devices like metaphor and imagery and rhetorical questions. 

All these combine to imbue the songs with solemn lyrical effects. The 

two have the ability to draw pathos from the audience. The dynamic 

levels of both songs naturally indicate the emotional state of both 

women. The elements of turmoil and conflict seem too close to the 

surface. The timbre is touchy and easily influences the psychological 

"richness" of the human mood thereby eliciting compassion. The 

rhetorical questions ―The sacred river of thunder? That draws 

lightening on a moonlight night?‖ helps to accentuate the woman‘s 

predicament. 

 
 Conclusion 
From the ongoing, one can say without fear of contradictions that the 

Igbo traditional music and the music in the Sephardim have wide range 

of utility. Similarly, music in both cultures articulates every human 

experience in the societies. There is to be found in both cultures, 

Traditional Oral Music that encompasses all forms of public recitals 

and renditions in form of songs, chants or narration.  There are also 

traditional folk songs, myth or legend which are enacted in form of 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

 



 
 

30 

folk dances and presented on festive occasions. There is therefore a 

poetic form for every occasion and the rhythm and rendition are also 

determined by the occasion of use. 

This study also arrived at the conclusions that life in both the 

Igbo society and the Serphadic is a celebration therefore songs for 

celebrations are the most popular.  

It was also discovered that both societies use their traditional 

music as avenues through which morals and societal etiquettes are 

imbued to the younger generation. Religious beliefs and didactics are 

also spread and fostered through traditional music. La bella en misa 

(The Beauty in Church) is a Sephardic ballad drawn from the Judeo-

Spanish religion while the Serphadic endecha is an invocation and 

prayer used during the nine days of the month of Ab (Thishʿā bĕ-‘Āb), 

the Igbo lyric  Akwa Nwunyedi (The cry of a co-wife) is a type of 

invocation with strong  ritualistic supplications. 

There is also strong evidence that in Sephardim as well as in 

Igbo traditions, music fosters unity, promotes cordiality, culturality 

and peaceful co-existence between people of the same culture. It 

stands as a societal medium for emphasizing and re-echoing the nature 

of relationships between man and his environment, man and his fellow 

man, and between man and his ancestors. These societies simply live 

music! 

 

References 
 

Alonso, Dámaso, (1970-1971), ―La tradición épica castellana en la obra 

de Menéndez Pidal (Teoría y hechos comprobados),‖ La Torre, 

18-19 15-49. 

Alpert, Michael, (1995). ―The Inquisition Campaign in Madrid, 1718, and 

its Consequences,‖ Ninth British Conference on Judeo-Spanish 
Studies, July 2-4, 1995:p5 Programme and Abstracts, ed. Hilary 

Pomeroy et al. London: Queen Mary and Westfield College.  

Music in the Oral Literatures of the Sephardic Jews… 

 



 
 

31 

Armistead, Samuel G., (1995-1996), ―An Additional Note on Jewish-

Spanish Joseph Narratives,‖ Romance Philology, 49 276-277. 

Armistead, Samuel G., (2000), ―Ballad‖ and ―Hispanic Tradition,‖ 

Medieval Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, 
Beliefs, and Customs, ed. Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, and 

John Lindow, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, I, 

61-71, 475-488. 

Armistead, Samuel G., and Joseph H. Silverman, (1983), ―Adivinanzas 

judeo-españolas de Turquía: Los ‗Enigmas‘ del Rabino Menahem 

Azôz,‖ Philologica Hispaniensia in Honorem Manuel Alvar, I: 

Dialectología . Madrid: Gredos, pp. 81-92. 

Armistead, Samuel G., and Joseph H. Silverman, (1980), ―El Romancero 

entre los sefardíes de Holanda,‖ Études de Philologie Romane et 
d‘Histoire Littéraire offertes à Jules Horrent, ed. Jean Marie 

d‘Heur and Nicoletta Cherubini. Liège: Gedit, pp. 535-541. 

Armistead Samuel G. and Joseph H. Silverman, with Oro Anahory 

Librowicz. (1977), Romances judeo-españoles de Tánger 
(recogidos por Zarita Nahón), Madrid: C.S.M.P. 

Bruder, Edith (2008). The Black Jews of Africa: History, Religion, 
Identity. Oxford University Press. p. 143. 

Equiano, Olaudah (2005). "1". The Interesting Narrative of the Life of 
Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, the African Written By 
Himself. EBook #15399. 

Sanders, Edith (1963). "The Hamitic Hypothesis: Its Origin and 

Functions in Time Perspective". Journal of African History 10 

(4): 521–532.  

 

 

 

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh 

 


