My First Visit to the Village

Upon visiting the site for the first time I began to explore the different areas offered by the site when I came across this photograph of a masqueraded group of villages resting before a dance. Not only did this remind me of the strong influence of music as well as the drums and dancers in Things Fall Apart, but also (as we discussed in class) that the customs and ideals of the Ibo people are actually very similar to European customs and beliefs.

Looking at this photo made me want to research about the other customs practiced by the Ibo people and hopefully find some more similarities between the Ibo and the Europeans of the time...and, just as I thought, these two groups of people are very alike...

The Ibo people have these celebrations and dances during ceremonial times, besides just music there are also masks, sacrifices and other practices customary of the people. This is actually much like the great parties of Europe at the time...the only real differences are the costumes and setting of these parties. In addition to this similarity, the heads of families form a council of elders, which then shares its power with numerous secret societies; however, they may be open to any man who is rich enough to buy his way in. These societies carry great political and social influence over the rest of the tribe. They are highly hierarchical, their members passing from one level to the next, each stage marked by a specific attribute, much like the social hierarchy of the Europeans, who were similarly concerned (and/or potentially consumed) by the importance of image and maintaining a respectable social standing amongst other members of society.

Besides these social groups and secret associations of people, the importance of music is also something that both the Ibo and Europeans value. The Ibo had several different varieties of drums (the Pot drum, Talking drum and Slit drum) all used for different ceremonies, and the Europeans of the time were perfecting the Sonata form, and had such great composers as Beethoven and Chopin during the course of the 19th century.

Just from the similarities that I have discussed I think its easy to see that regardless of location or appearance, ultimately all people are really pretty similar. Such customs of music, dancing, clubs and groups are universal because of their appeal to humans on a very broad and almost instinctual level. These customs have been practiced for hundreds of years and people worldwide (whether it be tribal Africans or cosmopolitan Europeans) connect over them and still utilize festivals and music as a way of bonding and celebration today.