Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Udu

The Igbo people lived in Southeastern Nigeria. Achebe (the author of Things Fall Apart) was born in 1930 in Nigeria and had a multicultural upbringing, part of which was traditional Igbo culture. The Igbo people had a melodic and symphonic musical style. A popular instrument was the Udu (as show above). Udu in their language means vessel and was played by women, usually for some type of ceremony. The udu is still used today by percussionists for many different musical styles.
Posted by at

3 comments:

Miranda Martinez said...

How did they play it? Did they just blow into it? This reminds me of blowing on the lip of jugs and bottles as a kid.

February 20, 2014 at 12:54 PM
Unknown said...

You hit the hole, which forces air out through the top and makes a dull percussive noise. You can also use it like a drum and hit the sides to produce a sharper sound (I had to take a world music course in The Hague.)

February 22, 2014 at 5:55 PM
Amy Clement said...

I'm really glad you shared this with us, Samantha. Usually, when we think of Nigerian music we imagine a rhythmic, percussion based sound. It's nice to see one of the variations of instruments that developed besides the traditional drum.

February 22, 2014 at 7:55 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)