Of Minstrelsy and Masks: The Legacy of Ezenwa-Ohaeto in Nigerian Writing

383 Pages·2007·2.2 MB·English

by  Christine Matzke

Of Minstrelsy and Masks
Matatu
Journal for African Culture and Society

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EDITORIAL BOARD
Gordon Collier Christine Matzke Frank Schulze–Engler
Geoffrey V. Davis Aderemi Raji–Oyelade Chantal Zabus
†Ezenwa–Ohaeto

TECHNICAL AND CARIBBEAN EDITOR
Gordon Collier

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BOARD OF ADVISORS

Anne V. Adams (Ithaca NY) Jürgen Martini (Magdeburg, Germany)
Eckhard Breitinger (Bayreuth, Germany) Henning Melber (Windhoek, Namibia)
Margaret J. Daymond (Durban, South Africa) Amadou Booker Sadji (Dakar, Senegal)
Anne Fuchs (Nice, France) Reinhard Sander (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
James Gibbs (Bristol, England) John A. Stotesbury (Joensuu, Finland)
Johan U. Jacobs (Durban, South Africa) Peter O. Stummer (Munich, Germany)
Jürgen Jansen (Aachen, Germany) Ahmed Yerima (Lagos, Nigeria)
— Founding Editor: Holger G. Ehling —

 (cid:94) Matatu is a journal on African and African diaspora literatures and societies dedicated to
interdisciplinary dialogue between literary and cultural studies, historiography, the social
sciences and cultural anthropology.
 (cid:94) Matatu is animated by a lively interest in African culture and literature (including the
Afro-Caribbean) that moves beyond worn-out clichés of ‘cultural authenticity’ and
‘national liberation’ towards critical exploration of African modernities. The East
African public transport vehicle from which Matatu takes its name is both a component
and a symbol of these modernities: based on ‘Western’ (these days usually Japanese)
technology, it is a vigorously African institution; it is usually regarded with some anxiety
by those travelling in it, but is often enough the only means of transport available; it
creates temporary communicative communities and provides a transient site for the
exchange of news, storytelling, and political debate.
 (cid:94) Matatu is firmly committed to supporting democratic change in Africa, to providing a
forum for interchanges between African and European critical debates, to overcoming
notions of absolute cultural, ethnic or religious alterity, and to promoting transnational
discussion on the future of African societies in a wider world.
Of Minstrelsy and Masks

 (cid:94)

The Legacy of Ezenwa–Ohaeto
in Nigerian Writing

Edited by

Christine Matzke
Aderemi Raji–Oyelade
Geoffrey V. Davis

Amsterdam - New York, NY 2006
Matatu Number 33

Cover photo:
Ezenwa–Ohaeto at the wedding of Obi Nwakanma in New Hampshire, 2001
Photo: Kole Ade–Odutola
Cover design: Gordon Collier and Pier Post
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706: 1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.
Le papier sur lequel le présent ouvrage est imprimé remplit les prescriptions
de ‘ISO 9706: 1994, Information et documentation - Papier pour documents
- Prescriptions pour la permanence’.
ISBN-13: 978-90-420-2168-6
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2006
Printed in The Netherlands
TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Illustrations | ix
Frontispiece | x
Preface | xi
 EZENWA–OHAETO
Raising a Chant | 1

SECTION 1: IN MEMORIAM
 BERNTH LINDFORS
Ezenwa–Ohaeto (1958–2005): Obituary | 5
 ECKHARD BREITINGER
In Memoriam Ezenwa–Ohaeto | 7
 ERNEST N. EMENYONU
Gone Too Soon!
Thoughts at Ezenwa–Ohaeto’s Graveside on 23 December 2005 | 11
 REMI RAJI
The Last Conversation: “When the village cock dies…” | 17

SECTION 2: POETRY & FICTION
 GABRIEL OKARA
We Shared | 23
 OKINBA LAUNKO
Once Again, a Familiar Song | 25
 TANURE OJAIDE
The Minstrel Wails | 27
 ODIA OFEIMUN
Sermon of a King Hornsman | 30
 ESIABA IROBI
Elegy for Ezenwa–Ohaeto | 34
 AKACHI ADIMORA-EZEIGBO
Shadow of Death | 37
 OGOCHUKWU PROMISE
Elegy: Tribute to Ezenwa–Ohaeto | 45
 OBODODIMMA OHA
Destinations | 49
 CHIKA UNIGWE
Sugar in My Bowl | 51
 TOYIN ADEWALE–GABRIEL
Stuttgart Blues | 58

SECTION 3: THE MAN, THE MINSTREL, THE MOMENT
 CHINUA EZENWA–OHAETO
Three Poems | 61
 NGOZI EZENWA–OHAETO
The Chants Are Forever | 64
 EZENWA IN PICTURES | 69

SECTION 4: INTERVIEWS
 PAUL O. ONOVOH
Interview with Ezenwa–Ohaeto
on the Publication of the Biography of Chinua Achebe | 83
 PAUL O. ONOVOH
Ezenwa–Ohaeto as I knew him
Ihe ahu ka na enwu kwa! / The Light still lights the path | 94
 PAUL O. ONOVOH
Of Courage and Resilience:
An Interview with Ezenwa–Ohaeto | 97

SECTION 5: EZENWA–OHAETO: CRITICAL EVALUATIONS
 CHANTAL ZABUS
Informed Consent:
Ezenwa–Ohaeto between Past and Future Uses of Pidgin | 115
 OBODODIMMA OHA
Shepherding the Chants Home:
Language and Mmanwu Minstrelsy in Ezenwa–Ohaeto’s Poetry | 135
 J.O.J. NWACHUKWU–AGBADA
Ezenwa–Ohaeto: Poet of the Njakiri Genre | 153
 SULE E. EGYA
The Minstrel as Social Critic:
A Reading of Ezenwa–Ohaeto’s The Chants of a Minstrel | 179
SECTION 6: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
ON NIGERIAN LITERATURE
 LYN INNES
Chinua Achebe and the Creation of a Democratic Novel | 195
 SUSAN ARNDT
Paradigms of an Intertextual Dialogue:
‘Race’ and Gender in Nigerian Literature | 199
 KAHIUDI CLAVER MABANA
Léopold S. Senghor, Birago Diop et Chinua Achebe:
Maîtres de la parole | 223
 PATRICE NGANANG
Le roman des détritus | 241
 TEJUMOLA OLANIYAN
Femi Osofisan:
Revisionary Notes on Familial Relations | 257
 FRANK SCHULZE–ENGLER
Civil Society and the Struggle for Democratic Transition
in Modern Nigerian Drama: Ken Saro–Wiwa’s The Transistor
Radio and Wole Soyinka’s From Zia, with Love | 267
 ADEREMI RAJI–OYELADE
Representational Exposures:
The Album of Nigerian Women’s Poetry (1985–2006) | 293
 ISIDORE DIALA
Nigeria and the Poetry of Travails:
The Niger Delta in the Poetry of Uche Umez | 317
 OBI NWAKANMA
Okigbo Agonistes:
Postcolonial Subjectivity in “Limits” and “Distances” | 327
 CHUKWUEMEKA IKE
Contemporary Nigerian Youth and the Reading Culture | 339

APPENDIX
 CHRISTINE MATZKE AND OBIWU, WITH MARCELA KNAPP
A Checklist of Ezenwa–Ohaeto’s Creative and Critical Writings | 345
 EZENWA–OHAETO
The Post Chant | 361

Notes on Contributors and Editors | 363
Notes for Contributors | 369
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ILLUSTRATIONS

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Cover photo: Ezenwa–Ohaeto at the wedding of
Obi Nwakanma in New Hampshire, 2001
photo courtesy of Kole Ade–Odutola
Frontispiece: Ezenwa–Ohaeto in Bayreuth, 2003
photo: Karl–Heinz Lammel, © Nordbayrischer Kurier
with thanks to Eckhard Breitinger x
Figure 1 Little Ezenwa: childhood moments
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 69
Figure 2 Wedding of Ngozi and Ezenwa–Ohaeto, 10 November 1990
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 70
Figure 3 Ezenwa and Ngozi, 1999
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 71
Figure 4 Ezenwa’s and Ngozi’s children: Chinualum, Nnedi,
Onyedika and Uchechukwu, 2005
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 72
Figure 5 Chinua Ezenwa–Ohaeto reciting a poem during
a literary night in honour of his late father, 2005
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 73
Figure 6 Ezenwa’s graduation ceremony, University of Benin, Nigeria, 1991
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 74
Figure 7 Ezenwa–Ohaeto and Wole Soyinka
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 75
Figure 8 Ezenwa–Ohaeto and Chinua Achebe
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 76
Figure 9 Ezenwa–Ohaeto and Roman Herzog, the then Federal President
of Germany, at a reception for Humboldt Fellows at
the President’s official residence, Schloss Bellevue, Berlin, 1997/98
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 77
Figure 10 Ezenwa speaking at a function
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 78
Figure 11 Last tribute
funeral programme courtesy of Chuks Iloegbunam 79
Figure 12 Memorial service at Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Nigeria, November 2005
photo courtesy of Ngozi Ezenwa–Ohaeto 80

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