UKWUANI FOLK MEDIA PERFORMANCES THE RECAPITULATION OF THE PEOPLE’S WORLDVIEW

UKWUANI FOLK MEDIA PERFORMANCES THE RECAPITULATION OF THE PEOPLE’S WORLDVIEW

ABSTRACT

Traditional media refer to conventional means of mass communication as practised by various communities and cultures from ancient times. Folk media draw upon the people’s past, present and future and cover a wide range of traditional channels; storey telling, folklore, folktale, song, festivals, dance etc. There is an erroneous conception that with the advent of the modern mass media like radio, television, and telephone, African traditional means of communicationg have been rendered redundant and ineffective. Some other scholars of mass communication also are of the opinion that traditional means of communication is barbaric and outdated. The Ukwuani people have a rich heritage of folk arts, folk dance, folk music, folk tales and rituals that are relevant to their worldview. These media can only be manifested in their performance as there will be no traditional means of communication without it being performed before an audience that is familiar with the codes and symbols. The objectives of this research therefore are to ascertain whether folk media practices are still relevant in this era, to ascertain if our festival tradition should be regenerated, to find out if the use of folk media is relevant to the people’s understanding of their world and to make obvious the relationship between the different folk media with the people’s cosmology and worldview. The Sociological and  Historical methodologies were used in this research. The theory was hinged on Collaborative Performance Theory.