AFRICAN FESTIVALS IJELE MASQUERADE IJELE MASQUERADE

Ijele Family

Ijele Father is called 'Onuku': a big faced masquerade and dresses in chieftaincy regalia.

Ijele Palm Wine Tapper: It accompanies Ijele for the sole purpose of picking its rear as Ejele performs.

Ijele Police: they are usually six. Their duty is to ensure that people do not encroach on Ijele, the father or mother. Another significant personality is the Ijele Fan carrier or Akupe carrier. It is not really a masquerade but it plays crucial role of leading Ijele with its symbolic powerful Fan called Akupe.

Once the Ijele loses sight of the fan and its carrier, it gets lost and it signifies danger. Ijele moves when the fan carrier moves and also stops when it stops.

Article by Adam Ali

Ijelemusic

Ijele has a special band group that entertains it whenever it performs. It dances majestically to the royal band group known as "Igba-eze" literally means drums of the Kings, which is also popularly called "Akunechenyi" in Igbo language. The musical instruments includes 4 drums, ogene, ubom, uyo, Ekwe, flute (Oja - ufele), wooden clapper (aja - oja) amongst others.

The masquerade usually performs at the death of important people, or members of Ijele family and during death of the oldest person in the village. It also performs during celebration of royalty and greatness, and other important festivals.