




































jonal vol. 5 No. 4  new2.cdr


THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN THE ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTATION 
OF IGBO TRADITIONAL MUSIC 

By
Rev. Dr. Jude Toochukwu Orakwe

 (jatomaria@gmail.com), 
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State

Abstract
ver since the evolution of the internet, a lot has been done in terms of preservation of Etraditional music of various cultures throughout the world. The exigency of archival 
documentation of traditional music is to be located in the fact that without such preservation, 

native musical artefacts may be permanently lost. Although there have been some random and 
uncoordinated attempts to preserve Igbo music in the internet, the fact is that much has not been 
done formally in terms of a systematically organised archival/electronic conservation of much 
elements of Igbo cultural music by well-placed Igbo or Nigerian institutions, such as has been done 
by such well-known world-famous institutions like the Library of Congress and Smithsonian 
Institution. In the present study, the author, while adopting the ethno-historical research approach 
of examination and evaluation of available historical evidence and literatures, seeks to demonstrate 
the urgent necessity as well as itemise means and methods of effecting an organized electronic 
codification, cataloguing and archiving of artefacts and items of Igbo cultural music as a way of 
safeguarding them for future use and reference. As such, this research serves as a contribution to the 
effort of preserving and promoting not only Igbo music but also, indirectly, Igbo language and other 
aspects of Igbo cultural identity, as well as preventing their extinction. 
Key words: traditional music, archival documentation, culture, internet

Introduction
One of the conspicuous fallouts of the emergence of the internet is the rather ambitious and 
obviously useful and successful endeavour of digitising artefacts of traditional cultures and thereby 
preserving them in a retrievable electronic format. This would be for the purpose of future research 
and in order to prevent these precious cultural data from being lost. In various world-class libraries, 
lots of artefacts of traditional cultures are preserved via the internet, whether these artefacts be in the 
form of oral tradition, stories, poetry, songs and various types of musical lore. Items of digital 
preservation include not only various sorts of books and manuscripts but also audio and visual 
materials, the visual format embracing both moving and still pictures. 

To cite a concrete example, at the famous Library of Congress, digitisation of cultural materials for 
the purpose of preservation is an important dimension of the services rendered by the library to the 
United States' Congress as well as to the public. The library which boasts of having “more than 25 
million catalogued books, 74.5 million manuscripts, 5.6 million maps, 8.2 million items of sheet 
music, 4.2 million audio materials, and 17.3 million visual materials” went further in 1994 to 
inaugurate “the National Digital Library Program (NDLP), making freely available on the Internet 
high-quality electronic versions of American historical material from the library's special 
collections” (Billington, 2021). In addition, “by the end of the library's bicentennial year in 2000, 
more than five million items (manuscripts, films, sound recordings, and photographs) had been 
mounted on the library's American Memory website, which continued to expand rapidly” 
(Billington, 2021).Similarly, the Centre for Folklife and Cultural Heritage based in Washington 

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D.C., which is part of a larger establishment, the Smithsonian Institution, established “for the 
increase and diffusion of knowledge” is world famous for its most organized and strategic effort of 
transforming many collections of cultural artefacts into digital format (Smithsonian Institution, 
2022).

Nevertheless, from the online survey conducted by the author, it does seem that not much has been 
done in terms of collection and digital documentation of Igbo cultural music. Indeed, according to 
Nwamara (2017, p. 4) the effort of “  Igbo cultural music is still repackaging, reviving and preserving”
on-going but much remains to be done. Accentuating the urgency of preserving Igbo music, 
Nwamara (2017, p. 5) further argued that:
 

Igbo folk music was in the past kept alive through imitation and active performance of the 
music at appropriate musical events. [Nevertheless,] preservation of the music is needed to 
ensure its continuity and, as a result, the need for its repackaging and documentation in the 
most reliable globally accessible and understandable manner. 

But the much-needed digital preservation of rich Igbo cultural music heritage is precisely what has 
been difficult to come by. This lacuna may stem from lack of awareness or obliviousness of the fact 
that “digitisation [is] the most appropriate strategy for the preservation of sound recordings…” 
(  and similar artefacts of Igbo cultural musicNwamara 2017, p. 5) . Thus, the importance of digitizing 
Igbo music in order to preserve them for posterity cannot be overemphasised. It is an issue requiring 
an urgent attention inasmuch as music remains critical and pivotal in the positive construction of the 
racial identity of any cultural enclave (Orakwe 2015, pp. 45-46; See Monson 2003, p. 4). In other 
words, preservation of items of Igbo music folklore, especially via digitisation, will prevent their 
eventual disappearance—which implies a loss of something essential in the making and survival of 
the Igbo cultural/racial identity—and make these cultural artefacts available for future appreciation, 
investigation and study. 

In this inquiry, we shall first discuss the emergence of the internet and its emplacement within the 
global social communication network. The reception of the internet in the Nigerian enclave 
constitutes the next point of discourse. Next, there will be a consideration of the positive aspect of 
internet data preservation, then a critical appraisal of the current status of internet's role in the 
archival documentation of Igbo music. This study closes with a prognosis of future possibilities for a 
fuller utilization of the potentialities of cyber-digital technology for a newer and more attractive 
presentation, revival and preservation of Igbo cultural music.

The present study is based on the theoretical paradigm of ethno-history. What is involved in this 
approach is an analytic re-examination and valuation of available historical records as well as 
literatures. According to Stone (2008, p. 178), citing the online journal, Ethnohistory (2006), this 
approach “emphasizes the joint use of documentary materials and ethnographic or archaeological 
data, as well as the combination of historical and anthropological approaches, in the study of social 
and cultural processes and history.” Such critical review, while assuming the primacy of written 
records as historical data (Stone 2008, p. 179), will serve as an aid in evaluating what has been 
actually done and what still needs to be done with regards to achieving a realistic electronic archival 
documentation of Igbo music. Ethno-historical approach ultimately will lead to a deeper insight as to 
how Igbo people have “historically constructed, socially maintained” and individually created and 
experienced the art of music making (Rice 1987, p. 473 quoted in Stone 2008, p. 181; See Geertz 
1973, pp. 363-364). Before going further, there is the need to trace the historical origin and advent of 
the internet technology. 

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Historical Emergence of the Internet
As a matter of historically certain fact, the invention of internet stemmed from the techno-scientific 
drive to create “publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from 
around the world” (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2021) through which “people can share 
information and communicate from anywhere with an Internet connection” (Kahn & Dennis 2022). 
Originally, the internet in its emergence involved the confluence of technologies invented by various 
establishments and individuals such as Robert Taylor, who introduced the earliest form of internet 
known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), as well as Vinton Cerf and 
Robert Kahn, whose ingenuity led to the development of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet 
Protocol (TCP/IP) technologies (Kahn & Dennis 2022). 

Eventually, ARPANET was made to become a broader network that “connected time-sharing 
computers at government-supported research sites, principally universities in the United States, and 
it soon became a critical piece of infrastructure for the computer science research community in the 
United States” (Kahn & Dennis 2022). Going further along the line, ARPANET introduced a novel 
technology known as packet switching. This is a networking system in which large volumes of 
transmitted data are taken and broken down “into smaller, manageable pieces (known as packets) that 
can travel independently over any available circuit to the target destination, where the pieces are 
reassembled” (Kahn & Dennis 2022). Eventually, the use of satellite came into play and broadened 
the spectrum of internet capacity, giving rise to the possibility of mobile internet communication 
although this was—ad interim—at a small scale. The broadening of the availability of the internet 
was also made possible through the work of the (American) National Science Foundation which in 
collaboration with the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency worked “to expand [internet] 
access to the entire scientific and academic community and to make TCP/IP the standard in all 
federally supported research networks” (Kahn & Dennis 2022). In its original emergence, the control 
of the internet was the role of the government but such oversight eventually passed to “a loosely 
structured group of several thousand interested individuals known as the Internet Engineering Task 
Force” (Kahn & Dennis 2022). 

Reception of the Internet in Nigeria 
The internet entered into the Nigerian communication space in 1996 when the Nigerian 
Communications Commission authorized about 38 internet providers to commence their service in 
Nigeria. This authorization was followed up immediately in early 1997 when a company known as 
“Linkserve Limited… began commercial operations in the country” being as it were “the very first 
internet service provider (ISP) in Nigeria” (Vanguard 2010). Even before this time, there was the 
Nigeria Internet Group, a body that sprang up in 1995 as a result of a “first internet workshop 
organized by Yaba College of Technology in collaboration with a number of [Nigeria-based 
communication and communication-driven] organisations” with the aim or creating an “awareness 
of the benefits of internet in Nigeria and provide a forum for discussing the future of networking” 
(Vanguard 2010). Nevertheless, starting from 1996 and for the next four years running, the 
cumulative percentage of Nigerians who keyed into the emerging internet communication 
technology stood at zero.

In May, 1999, an advancement of internet communication network within the Nigerian enclave was 
enacted with an important summit, tagged “AFRINET '99,” that was convened by the Nigerian 
Communications Commission in conjunction with the Nigeria Internet Group with focus “on the 
sustainable development and utilization of the Internet in Africa” seeking thereby “to create a 
common forum where African Internet practitioners can come together and discuss policy issues 
peculiar to Africa” (Vanguard 2010). With about 81 internet hosting sites fully operational in Nigeria 

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and a starting number of 3000 Nigerian internet subscribers at this time, the anticipated increase in 
volume of internet traffic came gradually but steadily: 

The line lifted off the bottom for the first time at the tail end of 2000. But the figure 
had been so insignificant; a shocking 0.3%. Between the years 2002 to 2004 it rose to 
1.5%. Three years later in 2007, it struck 7% and then rose speedily in the 2008 to 
touch 15.9% (Vanguard 2010). 

Now, the original projection was to make the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) the 
fulcrum of the novel exploration of internet technology. But the observable historical fact is that the 
private GSM companies eventually became the bulwark and champions of internet provision even 
as NITEL seemed to recede in the background. This fact was attested to by no less a personality than 
the general manager in charge of Enugu zone of NITEL as at 2013, who lamented that “no NITEL 
exchange is working any longer and no matter how we try, we cannot make it operational to fit into 
the modern telecommunications technology” (Ujummadu 2013). Needless to say, NITEL 
eventually got privatised and was sold to NATCOM Development and Investment Limited.

At present, according to available data, as at 2020, only about 36 per cent of Nigerians are hooked up 
to the internet. This translates to about 74, 210, 251 of the entire Nigerian population (CIA, 2022). 
With the proliferation of the GSM, the trajectory of internet development in Nigeria is on the side of 
broadband. This came into focus with high capacity fibre optic cable system that is now functional in 
Nigeria and Ghana, thanks to the technological initiative of companies like Mainstreet Technologies 
and Globacom (Internet Society; Vanguard 2010).

Positive Aspects of Internet/Digital Preservation
Having made an exposition on the historical trajectory of internet at both global and local level, it is 
now possible to examine its capacity for digital preservation of archival material. In doing this, it 
must be born in mind that “preservation is a crucial element in the whole operation of a records 
programme” whereas “the aim of archival preservation is to prolong the usable life of useful 
research information” (Millar & Roper 1999, p. 1). Now, digital preservation consists of “series of 
managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as 
possible… [and] beyond the limits of media failure or technological change” (Digital Preservation 
Coalition, 2009). Further, it involves an electronic form of storage that is subject to “the control of a 
processing unit (such as a computer) designed to make data accessible close to instantaneously” 
(Gallinger et al., 2017).

But the crucial question is: how far can the internet go in helping to preserve such digitised archival 
materials? What is the preservation capacity of the internet? Has the internet, in fact, any real worth 
with regard to a secure storage and easy retrieval of important cultural artefacts like Igbo music and 
folklore?

At the most fundamental level, a primary observation concerning the capacity of the internet for 
archival data management and preservation is the reliability of the storage itself. Such preservation 
storage is principally “designed to contain and manage digital content for long-term use” (Gallinger 
et al., 2017). But the issue here has to do with the security of the stored item. Fact is that such 
digitally stored items – most likely – would not be lost. That would be the situation when there is a 
more ambitious and ample provision for digital storage of Igbo musical items. Such assured security 
can be defined in terms of fixity of the stored material, that is, “the property of a digital object 
being constant, steady, and stable” (Gallinger et al., 2017). This would be in stark contrast to 
material preservation of articles, instruments, or recordings of Igbo music in which it is likely that 
the stored materials might eventually deteriorate and get lost. Millar and Roper (1999, p. 10) give 

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indications of possible causes of such deterioration:

Perhaps the most significant factor is the nature of archival materials themselves: 
many records and archives are composed of materials that are acidic, which means 
they are inherently fragile and prone to degradation. Other factors in the degradation 
of archival materials are fluctuations in or excessive levels of temperature and 
relative humidity; excessive exposure to light; air pollution; water damage; 
destruction from biological agents such as mould or insects; or abuse and 
mishandling.

But with the use of the internet for storage––and while not adducing the untenable position that 
every and any internet material is infallibly and sempiternally safe and secure––it is, however, more 
likely that such digitized artefacts of Igbo cultural music will less easily suffer alteration or 
degradation than if they were to be preserved in physical format.

Another beneficial aspect of internet storage is the sheer volume of data it can store at a cheaper cost 
with a bonus advantage of easy management and ready availability for retrieval. This equally comes 
with the use of only a relatively small space. A sample of the potential volume of information that 
can be stored electronically and retrieved through the internet can be seen from the onset of the 
Library of Congress's National Digital Library Program, which – as has been mentioned above – 
makes a readily available provision of internet-based high-quality computerised copies of artefacts 
of American history stemming from the materials available in the library itself  As at the end of the .
year 2000, the data volume of the digital library amounted to more than a whooping “five million 
items (manuscripts, films, sound recordings, and photographs)” (Billington, 2021). This is clearly a 
huge volume of data holdings. Now, concerning the easy storage and fast availability and 
irretrievability of internet-stored artefacts of culture, (2017, p. 5)Fargion in Nwamara  argues that by 
“ ––adopting the digital format, …cultural items [ which would, of course, include data of Igbo 
music ] become cheaper to store, easier to manage as well as allowing increased opportunities for ––
access.” The undeniable fact is that there is so much volume of material to store when it comes to 
items of Igbo music: minstrelsy, local folk songs, cultural dances, instrumentations, Igbo traditional 
as well as Christian religious music. Nevertheless, despite possible hugeness of internet data 
volume required, the management and easy retrieval of such mass of information still remains in the 
realm of quick and fast service delivery.

Furthermore, there is also the advantage of high-performance availability. Involved here is the 
possibility of stored data being accessible “to large numbers of simultaneous users,” (Gallinger et 
al., 2017). What a great positive wonder it would be if the Igbo musical heritage is so abundantly 
available in the internet such that it would be easily retrievable to inquisitive scholars 
simultaneously browsing from various parts of the world! In internet science, such a consistent and 
simultaneous availability is ensured through the use of cluster of server points in shared internet 
service, a process by which “two or more server nodes [run] in co-ordination with each other to 
complete individual tasks as part of a larger service, where mutual awareness allows one or more 
nodes to compensate for the loss of another” (Clinton, 2019). High-performance availability can 
also be defined in terms of “high performance computing” (Gallinger et al., 2017). The exigency 
and possibility of simultaneous cyber inquiry on Igbo music is predictable based on the fact that 
much of the Euro-American diaspora presently teems with many second-generation Igbo young 
people who would naturally yearn to reconnect with their cultural roots when such data of Igbo 
folklore and music are available. A well-managed digitization and digital preservation of materials 
of Igbo musical folklore can lead to easier diffusion of Igbo musical heritage in the present era of 

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globalisation. Such diffusion would no doubt prevent the loss of such musical artefacts in the present 
world in which cultural assimilation and disappearance of minority cultural elements is common 
place.

Current Status of Internet's Role in the Documentation of Igbo Music
At this juncture, the question facing us is: to what extent has there been a proper utilization of the 
internet for an effective documentation of Igbo music data? From the ethno-historical survey and 
investigations made by the author, much has been written about the exigency of the preserving Igbo 
musical folklore. But this much has been at the level of theoretical prescriptions with less discourse 
about practical realization of the prescribed solutions or the prospects thereof. For example, in 
Nwamara's article on “Repackaging Igbo Folksongs for Global Acceptance,” the author duly 
recognised the “significance of digitisation and web archiving” and that “digitisation [is] the most 
appropriate strategy for the preservation of sound recordings…” (2017, pp. 4 & 5). Indeed, he made 
a huge contribution to the discussion about the status quo of material preservation of archival 
material. But it does seem that the author did not want to deal in depth with the crucial issue of digital 
preservation, either by way of demonstrating what has been done so far or the way forward with 
regard to concrete realization of the goal of preserving Igbo musical folklore in digital format. 

Besides, some of the literatures reviewed used the futurist word “should” in putting up 
recommendations for the digitization of Igbo folklore and music, an indication that the digital 
archiving of Igbo music is a project for and in the future. This usage is verified in an article that 
mentioned the word “internet” only once, in which the authors, Onuora-Oguno and Nwamara (2014, 
p. 121) prescribed “the creation of an enabling cultural environment [that] must be pursued for 
[music] folklore to be sustained,” indicating further that “the television should be used as an agent to 
spread folklore and to export it universally using the internet.” In sum, the precise role of the internet 
or digital technology in the project of repackaging of Igbo musical folklore was not adequately 
discussed by the authors. Further, on a more practical level, in a sampling exercise with regards to 
the existence of internet radios broadcasting items of Igbo language, folklores and music, Onuzulike 
(2014, p. 290) ended with the following result: “even though there were twelve Igbo-related radios 
that came up, only one Igbo Radio demonstrated enough promise in terms of information 
content….” This is a clear indication that more has yet to be done for effective realisation of digital 
preservation and presentation of Igbo music.

On a similar note, an internet search undertaken by the author did not yield a substantial result of any 
systematically organized database that is strictly and specifically dedicated to Igbo music. This was 
specifically confirmed to me by a Nigerian professor of music who had once served at the national 
level of some Nigerian professional music/musicological organisations. He also indicated that only 
scattered individual efforts at organizing a collection of clusters of items (usually videos) of Igbo 
pop/traditional dance/music and minstrelsy has been so far achieved, although some more-than-
rudimentary effort is currently being exerted at a more systematic and academically favourable 
digital collection of audio, video and documents of Igbo cultural music artefacts. 

Similarly, not much has been done in terms of creating a repository or database of manuscripts of 
Igbo music online. Here and there in the internet, one stumbles on a website that documents Igbo 
music pdfs, but such websites are either little known or not at all. Besides, they are a bit unsystematic 
in their arrangements and presentation of the artefacts of Igbo music. But an ideal world-wide-web 
preservation of Igbo music folklore will involve the digitisation, documentation and effectively 
retrievable storage of (free or purchasable) pdfs of Igbo music in staff, solfa and other possible 
notations, together with free samples of performance of such music in both audio and video formats. 

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It would also include a written text description of the content, context and meaning of the music or 
song, the ideal or actual instrumentation as well as detailed information about the composer. Equally 
important is a statement concerning websites where these Igbo musical items can be purchased for 
personal or corporate uses. 

In recommending the above digital preservation template, one can adduce as a sample the digital 
preservation of data of western classical music as found in the International Music Score Library 
Project, (IMSLP also known as the Petrucci Library), as well as the holdings of the Choral Public 
Domain Library (CPDL). In these easily accessible huge-volume music databases, various versions 
of printable sheet music can be freely downloaded while it is also possible to listen to different free 
audio samples of the downloaded music. Presently, there is no such consummate online library that 
documents items of Igbo music folklore. I argue that such can be and ought to be done at the level of 
National and State governments as well as in the various universities and higher institutions of 
learning.  

Future Possibilities for a Fuller Digitisation and Archiving of Igbo Music
While it is true that much remain to be done in terms of digital documentation of Igbo music, it must 
be immediately said that future positive possibilities for doing so as well as the possible gains to be 
derived therefrom are so abundant and promising. But the starting point for a successful adventure 
into the arena of digital preservation and archiving must primarily be located in an upgrade or a 
change of the present attitude with which the Igbo society in general approaches the whole question 
of archiving itself. Fact is that the issue of setting up archives or maintaining them is ordinarily 
viewed in the contemporary Igbo society with optics of levity. In other words, the historical 
significance of archives has not been really much recognized and appreciated. If the contrary were to 
be the case, governments and non-governmental agencies would have expended huge sums of 
money in bid to save artefacts of Igbo music folklore from extinction or disappearance. This is the 
standard practice in all parts of the civilized world.

Practically speaking, each university's music department in Nigeria––but especially in Igbo 
land––can make a starter, for example, by creating a digital database of Igbo music. This would not 
be so difficult to do. All it would require is the will to walk the talk as well as commit funds to the 
setting up and maintenance of a digital archive. A similar feat has been achieved by the Church 
Music Association of America, in whose main and related websites (musicasacra.com, 
ccwatershed.org etc.) can be seen and downloaded practically any item of liturgical music that has 
been in print or circulation since or before the year 1900. These manuscript data are matched by 
numerous audio and video samples. Similarly, from the personal experience of the author, the 
Indiana University music database, in Bloomington Indiana, promises to be one of the largest in the 
whole world. For example, every single––group or individual––music performance [including 
opera] at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University is usually recorded in audio and video 
format, then digitised and saved in the university's super computer. The author has also worked in the 
Archives of Traditional Music serving the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology as well as 
at the Archives of African American Music and Culture serving the various African American 
Institutes and Departments of Indiana University. In these archives, music artefacts are diligently 
and sustainably collected and handled with maximum delicacy, care and attention. The final 
destination is usually to preserve them in digital format. If this can be done across the west of the 
Atlantic, what would prevent music departments in Nigeria from following suit?

In the interim, it is important to state that there is already a folk music bumper harvest that has been 
made as well as other items waiting to be harvested. So much items of Igbo music folklore have been 

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collected and preserved mainly in material book or recorded format and yet there are still more 
waiting to be collected and preserved digitally. Great compliments must be accorded to Igbo 
musicologists such as Alvan-Ikoku Nwamara, Dan Agu, Richard Okafor, Agatha Onwuekwe, Chris 
Onyeji, Meki Nzewi etc. for the huge work they have already done in terms of harvesting, 
repackaging and reprocessing items of Igbo music folklore. Their works have been published and are 
presently available for purchase as material data. While celebrating the work of these avant-gardes of 
Igbo art music, it is important to indicate iteratively the exigency for new creations of Igbo folk 
music. Presently, the situation is that Igbo musicologists and composers principally engage in 
collecting pre-existing folk melodies, recreating and repackaging them. This can lead one to have the 
erroneous impression that Igbo folk music is a fixed and static non-expandable repertoire. But the 
author would argue strongly in support of the fact of Igbo folk music being amenable to growth and 
expansion. 

Nevertheless, it is equally possible that some of the bumper music harvests already made may 
eventually get lost if they are not converted permanently into digital format and thus preserved for 
posterity. A classic example of this possible loss is seen in the work history of Igbo composers like 
Okechukwu Ndubuisi who “was one of the foremost arrangers of folk tunes for solo voices in Nigeria 
and [whose] works served as a guide to some of the new generation of arrangers of Igbo folksongs” 
and “whose works, [are] not yet published…” although “efforts are presently being made… to 
compile them and have them published” ( ). Without prejudice to the soft and Nwamara 2017, p. 12
gentle language of the author of the lines cited above, it is the opinion of the present writer that the 
fact of Ndubuisi's works not being found in digital format (just as it is the case with many Nigerian art 
musicians) ––and worse still, not being in print––is a most unfortunate scenario because his musical 
works are precious jewels from the perspective of their sheer creativity, harmony and counterpoint.

Conclusion 
The advent of the internet in the mid-1950s has led to a situation in which many dimensions of 
technology have advanced and improved tremendously. In the present stage of digital technology, 
talk is now about internet of things, that is, a situation in which material objects and appliances are 
interconnected in such a way as to be able to communicate among themselves and exchange data and 
information in real time. Given such a scenario, lovers of Igbo culture and whoever cares for the 
survival of artefacts of Igbo music cannot afford to fold arms and watch Igbo music folklore go into 
oblivion. The exposition above indicates clearly that the internet has the great potential of being a 
safe and secure repository for the preservation of musical items of Igbo culture. Nigerian and 
especially Igbo music folklorists and musicologists must take up the challenge of collecting and 
digitising ancient and modern compositions of Igbo folk, religious and art music, whether these 
compositions are formal or informal. Such collections must be matched up with concrete 
performance samples, both in video and audio formats. Paradigms of how this can be done already 
exist in abundance, especially given the exemplary models of world-renowned music databases. 
Therefore, the necessity and urgency of digitally preserving the items and artefacts of Igbo music 
culture has passed from the realm of being a desirable ideal to becoming a categorical real life 
imperative for Igbo music scholars.

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