Formula in the Praise Chants of Chief Adolphus Munamuna, Ọụbẹbẹ Kẹnị Ịzọn Ibe (The Chief Oral Poet of the Ịzọn Nation)

Abstract

This paper begins with the contention that scholars of African oral literature have exhibited a ‘best avoided’ approach towards formula, the most important aspect of the oral-formulaic theory of Milman Parry and Albert B. Lord. It argues that, even in this century, the dominant approaches to the study of African folklore have been performance, Marxism, formalism, structuralism, feminism and functionalism. Therefore, building on the meager literature on formula, this article investigates its occurrence in traditional Ịjọ poetry, particularly in the praise chants of Chief Adolphus Munamuna. It points out that the formula density is high in the bard’s praise poems. This article also notes that formulas are useful and necessary to the Ịjọ bard because they enable him to compose his poems rapidly in the course of performance.