Quest for Peaceful Coexistence among the Igbo in the Contemporary Society: Study of Agbachaekurunwa songs of Mbaise Women

Abstract

Agbachaaekurunwa is a tradition dance popular with Mbaise women of Imo State. It is the female counterpart of Abigbo Mbaise which is the dance for men. This dance of the Mbaise Igbo is rendered by women to address some contemporary issues that do not allow peaceful coexistence among the people from time to time: non conformity between a woman and her husband that mostly results to divorces; abject hardship that plunges young ladies into prostitution which in turn leads to child trafficking and other themes. The study applies a combination of functionalist and sociological approaches. Data in this work comprise some selected songs which were performed during some sessions of agbachaaekurunwa performance of Mbaise Igbo, where women of Mbaise exhibit their feministic prowess. The study identified the extent to which agbachaaekurunwa  songs perform the function of peace enhancement, and how the agbachaaekurunwa songs carry out the functions of entertainment, education and information from our findings, the themes, childbearing, rumour mongering, unemployment among others are prevalent in the songs. The study concludes with a suggestion for more studies on agbachaaekurunwa with a view to determining further, the nature, form and content of agbachaaekurunwa songs.