Behind the inscrutable wonder: the dramaturgy of the mask performance in traditional African society
1991; Indiana University Press; Volume: 22; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1527-2044
Autores Tópico(s)Theater, Performance, and Music History
ResumoThese are some of the praise names used to greet the mask-performer among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria. Similar praises are used for the same purpose in other African societies. Joel Adedeji talks about the pledge and salute in the Egungun performance among the Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria (45), and A. P. Bourgeois refers to the anticipatory verses that herald the entry of the Mbala mask-performer among the Yaka of southeastern Zaire (47-50). In each case, the object of these glowing praise names is the maskperformera performance which constitutes the inscrutable wonder of the festival theater in traditional African society. My paper examines the aesthetics that inform this wonder. G. T. Basden sees the mask-performance as a quaint apparition (124), and L. Havemeyer describes it as an undeveloped dramatic phenomenon (111). In reality, it is neither quaint nor undeveloped. When viewed from its social context, it is full-fledged drama. Misunderstandings about the nature of traditional drama arise when it is evaluated on the basis of Western critical criteria, as K. Uka
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