THE SATIRIC CHANTS OF ATUMMA AS A VERITABLE MEANS OF SOCIETAL REFORMATION

Abstract

Almost all the towns in Njikoka have Atumma masquerades. Njikoka is a local governmentarea in Anambra State, south central Nigeria. The towns that make up the local governmentarea include Abagana, Enugwu-Agidi, Nawfia, Nimo, and Abba with the headquarters atAbagana. In Dunufokia, a neighbouring Local Government Area, there is Atumma Ogufoluchiof Ukpo. Atumma Ugonabo of Abagana, Atumma Ogufoluchi of Ukpo and Atumma Ugonanofrom Abba are the most popular groups in the area. The three towns with Ukpo from differentlocal government areas, are very close to each other. As sister towns, they share similartraditions hence they have similar masquerades. Atumma masquerades, when they perform,men, women and children gather to be entertained. They are known not just for their wonderfulperformances but for their melodious chants. Some of their chants are in form of panegyrics,elegy or satire. They perform both in the daytime and at night and they draw their inspirationmostly from what happens around the society. In their chants, they attack the ills of individualswith the view of correcting impression. In some other cases, they ridicule. In this paper, onesatiric chant from each of the masquerades is analyze dusing the sociological approach withthe aim to X-ray the affinity of the chants with literary satires.