THE INDIGENOUS BACKGROUND OF WRITTEN AFRICAN DRAMA: THE EXAMPLES OF WOLE SOYINKA AND ESIABA IROBI

Abstract

The introduction of writing in Africa has significantly affected the African cultural and oral art forms, as these indigenous art forms stand heavy chance of extinction if not properly domesticated in the modern (written) literature that has become a serious threat to their survival. The literature of every society first exists in its oral form before being expressed in the written form. This is because of the primacy of speech in all cultures. This paper therefore explored how modern African literary writers, particularly, the dramatists under study have appropriated African oral forms such as music, song, drumming, as well as ritual festivals, by deploying them to sociopolitical effects. This study adopts a content analysis approach as well as the qualitative research methodology for the analysis of the chosen playwrights’ dramaturgies. Part of the findings of this study is that even while these African oral forms are appreciated in terms of their cultural essence, their significance especially in the modern time is better placed in terms of their sociopolitical relevance. As Soyinka and Irobi have demonstrated, ritual festival has found its political space in the nation’s sociopolitical cleansing and regeneration. This paper also highlights the role of music during the ritual enactment that brings about political cleansing and social recuperation. Soyinka and Irobi maintain in their dramaturgies that the written African drama is indebted to African mythology that provides material and inspiration for the modern African dramatist.