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The Dramatic Features of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu/Ije Uchulo 
(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma

   Gabriel Oche Ukah

  Department of English Language and Literature, 

  Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri

   ochesonforreal@gmail.com

   08065360497 

Abstract

The origin of drama in its written form, right from the ancient times of 

the Greeks and the Romans has always been in the ritual performances 

of the unlettered man. The Idoma Alekwu dramatic performances are a 

series of dramatic activities among the Idoma people which can also be 

considered to be ritual because, of course, they are embodiments of 

observances aimed at being carried out obligatorily in order to avoid 

negative consequences on the community. The structure of the Alekwu 

ritual drama is such that while it can be said to be one long drama 

covering many seasons and years as the case may be, it is as well 

segmented into four parts; independent of one another. We used pre-

recorded videos and audios of Alekwu chants. Live performance of 

Alekwu Ohoweklokwu has also been viewed for the purpose of this 

research. We examined, one after the other, the various dramatic 

elements in the performance and discussed their implications. Our 

findings are that (a) the Idoma Alekwu Ohoweklokwu is a complex and 

ancient art which has remained relevant until today (b) like its written 

counterpart, the Idoma Alekwu oral performances have all the dramatic 

elements and features which qualify them to be drama; (c) besides the 

entertainment value of the Idoma Alekwu performances, the Alekwu 

Ohoweklokwu is didactic and as well as informative (d) the 

performance shouldn't be jettisoned as a result of westernization. 

Instead, it should be modernized to reflect contemporariness.

KeyWords: Dramatic, Features, Alekwu, Ohoweklokwu, Ije 

Uchulo, Performance, Dirge.

Introduction

Before western civilization came with the written literature, comprising 

of drama, prose and poetry, the oral literature had existed among the 

people. This ancient artwasnot just practiced orally, in fact, orality was 

its source of preservation. Oral literature was handed down from 

generation to generation by the word of mouth. The dramatic forms, 

right from time, originated from religious rites among the people. 

When we use the term oral literature, we are interested in the type of 

literature which exists orally as against the type of literature that exists in 

the written medium. Commenting on the origin of oral literature, 

Myeong Do Hyeong posits that oral literature, “… dates back to the 

earliest human society; however early had they lived, people created 

stories, sometimes to entertain themselves, sometimes to educate others, 

and sometimes for several other purposes” (6).

Hyeong's position is true even today in the sense that the literature was 

oral in nature and therefore there was no document which the earliest 

oral literary forms could have been documented in. In fact, orality was 

the only form of documenting the literature at that time. For instance, 

oral epic such as Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey, Onugbo and Oko, Beowulf, 

Sundiata and ChakatheZulu existed orally long before they were, at one 

point or the other, written down as literacy spread across the world.

Before the invention of writing skill, the stories mentioned above, and 

many others like them which cannot all be mentioned, had been 

transmitted orally from one generation to the other. So, as literacy was 

introduced, and literacy skill began to replace oral skill, such oral 

literatures were written down for posterity sake.

While some cultures were lucky to have come in contact with literary 

civilization in the early times, which eventually led to the 

documentation of their oral literatures in good time, other ethnic groups 

like the Idoma people of Benue state only got attention in the 1950s 

when researchers like Professors Roy Clive Abraham and Robert G. 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Gabriel Oche Ukah: The Dramatic Features of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu/Ije Uchulo

(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma

mailto:ochesonforreal@gmail.com


Armstrong became interested in both the language and literature of the 

Idoma people. Roy Clive Abraham and R.G Armstrong carried out 

series of researches in Idomaland in Idoma language, culture and 

literature at various times. R.G Armstrong built on the legacies R.C 

Abraham had left, and their efforts put together, drew great attention 

from both Idomaland and the global community to Idoma language and 

oral literature.

Professor Shamsudeen Amali, a revered Idoma oral literature scholar, 

throwing his weight behind the above argument once said: “Abraham 

laid a solid foundation for the promotion of the Idoma language, 

literature and culture” (13). It is upon the legacies of Abraham and 

Armstrong that Professor Shamsudean  Amali and Professor Idris Amali 

anchored their intellectual bases which made them become the foremost 

intellectuals in the field of Idoma oral literature and Alekwu literature in 

particular. In fact, Shamsudeen Amali's and Idris Amali's interest in 

Idoma oral literature began when they served as research assistants to 

Professor R. G. Armstrong. 

Alekwu Ohoweklokwu Performance

The Alekwu Ohoweklokwu drama is a performance that serves as a 

funeral service and a rite of passage among the Idoma people. In order 

words, this performance is to the Idoma people what funeral mass or 

requiem mass is to Catholicism or Christianity. It is a performance 

conducted by the Idoma Alekwu masquerade along with a group of 

women called Ichicha right before the dead lying in state. This 

performance precedes the burial of the decease. 

After going through all the rites of the Alekwu Obueche (the making of 

Alekwu), the Alekwu Ohoweklokwu is one of the most important 

functions of an Alekwu on earth. Since death is inevitable, it is therefore 

the duty of the Alekwuofa community to ensure that the funeral rites are 

performed each time a member of the community dies. Without this 

performance, it is believed that the soul of the dead shall continue to 

wonder aimlessly without rest. The dead is supposed to rest in peace 

upon death which makes it worrisome when a dead person's spirit is left 

to hover around without the deserved peace after death.

Picture of Alekwu, Obiaflete and Oluba

Source: Research's Pictoral Record of Alekwu Artists

The Alekwu, having been a human being once upon a time, an ancestor 

and then becoming an Alekwu who now lives with the living, has the 

capacity to convey the dead from this world where he or she, the dead, 

knows and has lived and no longer belongs, to the world of the dead 

where he or she has never lived and therefore is not familiar with. The 

role of the Alekwu in this Alekwu Ohoweklokwu drama is to help the 

dead to reach their next destination. The Alekwu does this because of his 

familiarity with the destination the dead is about to head to. This drama 

sustains and confirms the delicate nature and cyclic nature of life. Any 

Alekwu can perform the above rite except an Alekwu that was a king in 

his life time as a human being. This is because as a king he is above 

certain ordinary tasks in the community.

This funeral rite is not for every person in the community. Just as an 

Afia

Oluba (the guide)

Obiaflete

 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Gabriel Oche Ukah: The Dramatic Features of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu/Ije Uchulo

(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma



ancestor has to meet certain criteria in order to be made an Alekwu, 

members of the community also have to meet certain criteria to qualify 

for this dramatic performance by Alekwu. One must not have died a bad 

death in order to qualify for the performance. A bad death in Idoma 

world view is to have died a mad man, to have been killed by thunder or 

lightening, to have died of an unknown illness and to have committed 

suicide. Secondly, one must at least have a child to qualify for the 

performance.

The Alekwu Ohoweklokwu ritual dramatic performance can be divided 

into five parts of the same scene; these parts are hereby represented in the 

diagram below: 

 

Structure of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu

          Climax 

       Owe Oheklokwu

 

 

               Exposition     

  Resolution

     Alekwu's arrival                       

 Silent departure

Source: Research's Diagramatic Description of Structure of 

Owe Oheklokwu

The five parts of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu ritual drama are further divided 

into two parts in accordance with the interactions established by the 

Alekwu during his performance. The first two parts of the performance 

which are the Alekwu's arrival and the dirge are categorized under the 

level of human interactions while the last three parts which are the Owo 

Oheklokwu, inviting the dead and silent departure are categorized under 

the level of spiritual interactions. In other words, after the first two parts, 

the performance witnesses a transition from the human level of 

Alekwu's interaction to a spiritual level of Alekwu's interaction. 

The above transition can be interpreted thus: in the first two parts the 

Alekwu interacts with and performs with human beings. During the 

Alekwu's arrival as indicated in the diagram above, the Alekwu engages 

human beings with chants as he makes his way to the Itakpa (reception 

hut) where the corpse lies in state. In the second part which is tagged Ije 

Uchulo (dirge) as indicated in the diagram above, the Alekwu performs 

the Idoma official (fixed and sacred) dirge with the Ichicha age grade and 

the audience joining to sing the choruses.

The second level, which is the spiritual level, sees the Alekwu 

performing in the last three parts of the entire Alekwu Ohoweklokwu 

ritual drama with spirits. In the first part of the last three parts, the 

Alekwu summons, one after the other, all the lands upon which the 

community had settled in the course of their migration from Apa to the 

present homeland. He calls on the lands to come and help him take the 

child (the dead) to Emaidu (land of the dead). After summoning the 

lands, he begins by summoning all the fore-fathers of the deceased, one 

after the other, in a genealogical and descending order to come and take 

the child to Emaidu.

 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Gabriel Oche Ukah: The Dramatic Features of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu/Ije Uchulo

(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma



In the second part of the second level, the Alekwu in a dramatic and 

symbolic fashion touches the legs of the dead with his afia saying: “Gwo 

kele gwo, gwo kele gwo, gwo kele gwo”. This means: “stand up let's go, 

stand up let's go, stand up let's go.” In the third part of the second and 

spiritual level, it is believed that the spirit of the dead actually gets up and 

follows the Alekwu. At this point, the Alekwu departs swiftly in what is a 

drama of silence.

According to Idris Amali, the Alekwu Ohoweklokwu is a historical 

reconstruction because each time it is performed, the origin, genealogy, 

history and migration of the Idoma people are investigated in a 

beautifully performed poetry chant. In other words, when all Alekwu 

Ohoweklokwu in Idomaland are put together, the entire history of the 

people is almost told.

The Performance of Ije Uchulo (Dirge)

It is F.B.O. Akparobaro's view that “The most basic characteristic of oral 

literature is that it is a performed expression, by this, we mean that an 

oral literary expression exists as a performance” (4). In fact, Ruth 

Finnegan puts it more succinctly as she says “There is no mystery about 

the first and most basic characteristic of oral literature” (qtd in 

Akparobaro4). It is safe then to say that the soul, mind and body of oral 

literature lie in performance.

The Idoma dirge (Ije Uchulo) is official and fixed in the sense that that 

the performers are under strict obligations to follow certain rules and 

perform the dirge in its exact content and manner of composition. 

Discretion on the part of the performers is highly limited in order to 

avoid missing the fixed stanzas or violating the rules. The dirge is still 

intact in its archaic form especially in its language and thematic 

preoccupation. The performance of the dirge is done in an antiphony 

manner between the Alekwu and Ichicha group throughout the twenty-

one stanzas. 

Below is the nature of the performance of the Idoma dirge.

Source: Research's Tabular Description of Dirge Performance

During the dirge performance, the Alekwu and the Ichicha group move 

their bodies in a rhythmic manner to the beats of the songs and musical 

instruments. Some members of the audience also join in the body 

movement, clapping of hands and stamping of feet. All these create 

magical, visual and audio effects which at the end enhance the 

performance of Idoma dirge. Also in the course of the performance of the 

dirge, the tripod of the performance: the Alekwu, Ichicha and the 

members of the audience imitate actions of certain elements or objects 

mentioned in the antiphonic dialogues between the Alekwu and the 

Ichicha.

A Scene of Dirge Performance in the Itakpa

 The roof of the 
Itakpa

Ichicha lead singer

Ichaka musical 
instrument

The dead man
 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Gabriel Oche Ukah: The Dramatic Features of Alekwu Ohoweklokwu/Ije Uchulo

(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma



Source: Research's Pictoral Record of Dirge Performance

The Alekwu takes the first stanza thus:

Idoma language   English 

Onyodoma klikpa     Barren woman covers calabash  

Onyodoma klikpa o     Barren woman covers calabash  

 bege ne l' ikpa bobo     Backs calabash like baby

Onyodoma klikpa     Barren woman covers calabash  

The Alekwu bends backward, throws his afia backward with the multi-

coloured ropes on the afia touching his back to demonstrate the way a 

woman backs a baby on her back. This demonstration creates a 

pictographic effect and creates a beautiful imagery in the eyes of the 

audience. The imagery further adds and buttresses the issues being 

raised in the song. The members of the audience who have chosen to side 

with the Alekwu in the antiphonic dialogue touch their backs with the 

hands.

In response to the Alekwu's first stanza of attack, the Ichicha group 

sings:

Idoma 

Ichicha:     Ekwu nyababo Onyukpanu nyabo nyabo

Audiene:   Ekwu nyababo Onyukpanu nyabo nyabo

English

Ichicha: Death and bareness are ancient and Alekwu knows

Audience: Death and bareness are ancient and Alekwu knows  

Their rebuttal is to the effect that death and barrenness have been part of 

human existence and the barren women are not to blame. While they 

sing this they keep placing the back of their hands on their palm 

interchangeably. The members of the audience who have chosen the side 

of the Ichicha join the Ichicha to respond in same gesture. The gesture is 

emphatic in their pronouncement of the meanings embedded in the 

songs.

The third stanza has the first line “A wu gbe ne gbene gbene ka cha l' aje” 

which means “You bailed the water to the extent that you met the floor”. 

This stanza refers to a communal practice of fishing where a section of 

the river is left with water and during the dry season all members of the 

community come out with their bails to scoop the water in order to 

expose the fishes trapped in there. The Alekwu in this stanza tells the 

barren women to behave like the community. He tells them to keep 

trying and their efforts will pay at the end just like the community gets 

many fishes that are trapped in the pond or river. For the Alekwu, if the 

barren women keep trying, like the trapped fishes are revealed, their own 

children will eventually come to them. In response, the Ichicha women 

in their stanza four sang about someone who has done her best and 

cannot be blamed for doing nothing. In their words “A w' enyi enyi na du 

a kw' ebe ni e …” which means when “You bail water again and again 

and you do not catch fish…”  Both the Alekwu and the Ichicha women 

demonstrate the bailing of water while they sing their stanzas. The 

Ichicha women hold calabashes which they use to show efforts in 

scooping water. This demonstration or gestures of scooping water is 

meant to depict the fact that the barren have tried and did not just fold 

their hands.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Idoma Alekwu Ohoweklokwu and Ije Uchulo ritual 

are dramatic performances rich in all the features found in dramatic 

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(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma



literature. Dramatic features such as audience, action, actors, stage, 

costume, story, etc are all contained in both performances. Also, 

dramatic techniques are employed by both Alekwu and the human 

characters. Techniques such as use of music, gestures, lighting, dance, 

suspense and others are employed to make the performance lively. We 

also discovered in the research, that the performance has a-five-part plot 

namely the arrival, dirge performance, Alekwu Ohoweklokwu (the 

climax), inviting the dead and silent departure. We also discovered that 

the performance enhances the knowledge of the people's history in the 

sense that each time Alekwu Ohoweklokwu is conducted, both the 

history of the deceased's settlements down to the present and the 

genealogy of the deceased are traced to a place and a putative father in 

the ancient past. It is also interesting to note that the Ije Uchulo employs 

the antiphony style which makes the dirge performance, from stanza one 

to stanza twenty-one, a dialogue between the Alekwu and the Ichicha 

group. The audience at the arena of performance serves as the chorus.

Works Cited

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Publishing  Company,  2006.

Amali, Idris. “Alekwu Poetry As A Source of Historical Reconstruction: 

The Pursuit  of Idoma-Otukpo Origin, Genealogy and Migration”.  

(h�ps://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt4v834

83q/qt4v83483q .pdf?t=mnj800&v=lg) Ufahamu: A Journal of 

African Studies, 1997.

--- “Praise Poetry in Idomaland: A Critical Examination of Alekwu  
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on Idoma  Literature, Language & C u l t u r e  a t  C o l l e g e  o f 
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1986.

Amali, Shamsudeen. The Amalian Two Theories on Cultural Creativity 

and  Change.  Kamel Publications, 1999. 

Amali, Samson. An Ancient Nigerian Drama: The Idoma In Quest 

.Stuttgart: Franz  Steiner  Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH, 1985.

Anyebe, Ted. “Reincarnation in Ritual Display: A Discourse of the 

Alekwu  Mythopoeia in  Idoma Traditional Dramaturgy”, 

International Journal of  Social Science and  Humanities,  

vol. 5, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 578-582.77

Armstrong, Robert.  “A West African Inquest”. American 

Anthropologist. American  Anthropological Association, vol. 56, 

no. 6, part 1, 1954, pp. 1051-1075.

--- “Music of the Idoma of Nigeria: Edigwu sings the ancient songs of 

Otukpo,  Nigeria”. Journal of Institute of African Studies, 

University of Ibadan, 1962.                    

 Atu, James Alachi. “The Alekwu Festival Among the Idoma of Central 

Nigeria”,  Anyigba  Journal of Theatre, Film and Communication 

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Myeong, Do Hyeong. “History of Oral Literature and its Codification: 

The Textualization of Epics and Legends in their Historical 

C o n t e x t .  

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011

Okoye, Chike and Asika, Ikechukwu. “Negotiating Boundaries: 

Performance Partitions in the Mmonwu Theatre.”Ideal 

International Journal of Igbo Scholars Forum, Nigeria. Volume 1, 

No 2, June 2015, pp. 229-241.

— “Totems and Pantheons: Paradigmatic Muses in Achebe's Poetry.” 

Nile Journal of English Studies, Vol 1, No 1, December 2015, pp 

47-58.

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(Dirge) Performance among the Idoma

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