Music of the Idoma of Nigeria

The Idoma people of Nigeria allowed Prof. Robert G. Armstrong to record a ritual whose live performance is considered taboo except at funerals. For the wake, elderly women sing and play ichicha (large gourd rattles); there is also a dance circle with at least one man on an okanga(two-membrane drum). The wake lasts all night until the actual funeral, the Urchulo Nehi (Great Ceremony), the following noon.