COSTUME IN NKWA UMUAGBOGHO MUSIC AND DANCE
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Abstract
This article specifically addresses the cultural significance of Nkwa Umuagbogho costume and performance in modern Nigeria. Nkwa Umuagbogho is the label for a genre/style of Igbo maidens’ cultural dance and its ensemble of musicians, dancers, costumiers, and instrumentalists within Afikpo, southeast Nigeria. Relying on notes from ethnographic fieldwork alongside statements from interviewees, as well as the extant literature on Igbo dances, cultural studies, sociology, and ethnomusicology, we present and discuss reasons for the changing trends to Nkwa Umuagbogho costume, and also argue that they demonstrate the complex philosophical and sociocultural lines of intersection and distinction in relation to a notion of identity, tradition, and originality.
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