"IMA MBEM": AN ANCIENT IGBO ART FORM THAT HAS REFUSED TO DIE
Okenwa R. Nwosu, M.D.
This is authentic home cooking in cultural music parlance. "Ima mbem" is a blend of poetic speech and song wrapped into one. Societies belonging to masquerade groups and daughters' groups (umu-ada) use this ancient art form routinely in many parts of Alaigbo. Words in the lyrics are deployed just as in Rap musical genre of American popular culture, for example. This art form captures the nuances unique to the community to which the performer belongs. The performer is this YouTube video hails from Aguluzoigbo in Anaocha, LGA, Anambra state. Even though I grew up in the community next-door, Igboukwu, I often had to do a second take before I could fully understand some words and expressions used by this highly skilled performer.
To fully understand the masquerade phenomenon in Igbo culture, one must appreciate the ima mbem musical art form. The artiste captured in this video is a public speaker, poetic musician, stand-up comedian and a bona fide entertainer. For those who may be not understand Igbo language or the specific dialect spoken by the performer, captioning English translation of the lyrics shall definitely be of some help. But in Igbo literature, word's meaning depends on context in which itis used. Spoken Igbo is laced with metaphors, even in very basic routine use. The ima mbem gives latitude to metaphor use. In fact, the audience approval is directly proportional to deployment of these nuanced style of speech.
"Ima Mbem": Igbo Cultural Renaissance Is Best Accomplished Through Self-Rediscovery
"Ima Mbem": An Ancient Igbo Art Form That Has Refused to Die
Historically, ima mbem is a specialized art form associated with Igbo masquerade societies. In non-literary culture, large amount of knowledge could be encoded in verses which are then memorized by masquerade societies and passed along for generations. In indigenous cultural setting within pre-colonial Alaigbo, masquerade societies fulfilled spiritual and security functions in mainstream Igbo society. Folklore can be packaged into poetic verses, memorized and recited in the form of ima mbem.
The variant shown in this YouTube video is an adaptation of the original and is performed by regular folks (without mask) for entertainment of the general public. As is the case with Igbo language, there are subtle linguistic dialects which can vary from one town to the next. There could, therefore, be a challenge in comprehension if there is a wide difference between the dialect used by the performer and the one understood by the listening audience. By all practical purposes, the best scenario is when both the performer and the audience are familiar with the Igbo dialect in use. …………….read more