Documenting ceremonial folk songs: A preliminary study of IzỌmỌ songs among the Binis

Abstract

There are many ceremonies that take place in the life circle of an average Bịnị man from birth to death. Izomo (naming ceremony) is one of such important ceremonies as it is done to primarily give a name to the new baby, welcoming the new born to the family and the immediate society. Songs used in this ceremony are transmitted orally from one generation to another with some of them already going into extinction due to modernization of the rituals of the ceremony. The melodies of some of the songs have also been altered with so many endangered because of its mode of transmission. This paper tries to evaluate the problems associated with the oral transmission of these songs and proffers some solutions through documenting some of these songs. The songs to be documented were collected from some old women via tape recordings. Therefore, data for this study were gotten from primary sources, interviews, personal observation by the researcher on the subject matter and secondary sources from related literatures.