Elements of Traditional African Theatre in Contemporary African Cultural Performances

Abstract

Ngano: The Journal of Eastern African Oral Literature Number 3, June 2025
88
Elements of Traditional African Theatre in Contemporary African Cultural Performances
Evans Nyongesa Odutsa
Department of Literature, Linguistics, Foreign Languages and Film Studies, Moi University
E-mail: nyongesaevanas@gmail.com ; CID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8645-450X
Abstract
The focus of this paper is to evaluate traditional African theatrical elements evident in contemporary African cultural performances in a bid to demonstrate that elements of both ancient and modern African theatre existed prior to the introduction of western drama in the continent. The study analyses contemporary cultural performances to identify the dramatic and theatrical elements evident in the traditional performances. It deploys performance and theatre semiotics theory, and also relies on postulations of scholars like Solomon Obidah Yamma and Ruth Finnegan on the relationship between orature and theatre in Africa. It uses descriptive and analytical methods to underline important practical, philosophical, aesthetic, and psychological considerations in determining the artistic quality of traditional African performances. It relies on qualitative data obtained through participant observation and textual analysis of selected cultural performances, such as Sikhebo of the Bukusu, Koito of the Nandi and Okhusaba of the Bakhayo of Luhya. From the analysis, the study reveals that these performances depict elements of both ancient and modern African theatre, and that contemporary African theatre is a harmonization of both traditional forms that existed before the period of colonial contact and Western forms of entertainment. Therefore, African traditional theatre has been in existence since the beginning of African societies; because it is the society that gives birth to the theatre of a particular locality and period in history. Traditional African theatre is rooted in secular and sacred rites that exist in the form of festivals, myths/legends, narratives and other artistic practices which Africans created for themselves. These theatrical creative activities are the live-wire of drama and theatre in Africa. The study contributes to the curation and preservation of indigenous theatrical elements evident in traditional African performances as a bedrock of modern African theatre, and enriches discourses on the place and the role of traditional African theatre in African indigenous literary performances.