Eunice Ibekwe

A child is seen as a blessing to a family in the Agulu autonomous community and in Igbo culture as a whole. This accounts for the amount of attention lavished on children from conception to birth, weaning, games period, and even adolescence. The birth of a child calls for jubilation, merry-making, singing, and sometimes ululations encoded in a number of long hoots by immediate members of the family, often elderly women. Women are the most active participants in children’s musical activities, performing songs specific to each stage of a child’s development. Regrettably, these traditional songs are being edged out of existence by factors not unconnected with influences of modernization. This situation is perceived as being inimical to the sustenance and propagation of cultural values. Therefore, it becomes necessary that these songs are collected, notated, analyzed and documented for easy accessibility by future generations.