IGBO COSMOLOGY OF DEATH AS EXPRESSED IN SOME SELECTED IGBO FOLK SONGS

ABSTRACT The traditional Igbo society though deficient in written tradition employed different oral means such as: folksongs, folktales, proverbs, histories, legends, myths, drama etc in explaining the realities among them. Death is one of those realities that have continued to receive widespread explanation in Igbo culture. The mention of death in Igbo culture fascinates and frightens the broad range of humanity. This work therefore explored and studied the Igbo metaphysical sense of death as expressed through some selected folk songs. The work strived toward a musical cum anthropological analysis of some Igbo concepts of death composed in songs. The bulk of data (folksongs) gathered for the research were analysed using the analytical method of data analysis