On staging performance: the masquerade festival of Ìklé Èkìtì*

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which the official performance of a masquerade festival in an Èkìtì Yorúbà town in Nigeria depends upon the action of participants taking place away from the performances that the public witnesses. In the Èkìtì Yorúbà town of Ìklé the biannual masquerade festival is one of the most dramatic ritual events within the town. It examines the way that the formal presentations of masquerade within the official ritual period are underpinned by the contestations that take place behind the scenes of the festival, that in turn rely upon the differing identities that are established in the performance of differing masquerade types. Thus the paper generates a ‘backstage’ / ‘frontstage’ approach to the festival and in so doing it places the performance of the participant observer within the analysis arguing that this, within the conditions of the festival is as much a performance as any other part of the performances called upon during the festival. *This paper is the product of fieldwork in the Èkìtì Yorúbà town of ìklé-Èkìtì. Fieldwork was carried out at various times in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 2006. My thanks to the people of Ìklé, to Professor J Ade Ajayi and Mrs C Ade Ajayi and to many in Nigeria too numerous to mention. Thanks also to the British Academy who sponsored this fieldwork and to the Henry Moore Foundation who provided a generous fellowship at the University of Leeds