Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art
By some coincidence, many Nigerian stand-up comedians were born, raised, live in, or are associated with Warri and its environs. By Warri, as understood in the area, we mean Warri and its surroundings and, to a large extent, what is called the ‘core Delta’ of Nigeria’s Delta State. The comedians in...
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2020-10-01
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doaj-88c8f08fadd0405487f6c5d41c9687c12020-11-25T03:09:36ZafrTydskrif vir Letterkunde AssociationTydskrif vir Letterkunde0041-476X2309-90702020-10-0157210.17159/tl.v57i2.8321Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their artTanure Ojaide0Enajite Ojaruega1University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USADelta State University, Abraka, Nigeria By some coincidence, many Nigerian stand-up comedians were born, raised, live in, or are associated with Warri and its environs. By Warri, as understood in the area, we mean Warri and its surroundings and, to a large extent, what is called the ‘core Delta’ of Nigeria’s Delta State. The comedians include Gordons, I Go Dye, AY and Real Warri Pikin. We investigate what is possibly responsible for the natural talent of these comedians. We relate the success of these comedians to the notion of Warri as ‘not coming last’, the history of the city of many ethnicities, boma boys, the blues nature of suffering pain and deprivations but laughing them off, and some indigenous traditions such as the Urhobo udje oral poetic performance which aims to elicit laughter as a means of maintaining normalcy and preventing anybody from deviating from the communally-established norms. We use multiple concepts such as laughter as a means of regulating people’s lives, satire, historicism, culture, and aesthetic considerations to study these Warri-related comedians and their art. We investigate the commonalities, subjectivities, traditions, and individual talents that have made Warri-born, raised, resident, and related comedians so successful—not only in Nigeria, but also in Africa and the world. https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/8321traditionsubjectivitiesperformanceWarricomedians |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
Afrikaans |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tanure Ojaide Enajite Ojaruega |
spellingShingle |
Tanure Ojaide Enajite Ojaruega Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art Tydskrif vir Letterkunde tradition subjectivities performance Warri comedians |
author_facet |
Tanure Ojaide Enajite Ojaruega |
author_sort |
Tanure Ojaide |
title |
Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art |
title_short |
Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art |
title_full |
Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art |
title_fullStr |
Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tradition and subjectivities: Warri-related comedians and their art |
title_sort |
tradition and subjectivities: warri-related comedians and their art |
publisher |
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association |
series |
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |
issn |
0041-476X 2309-9070 |
publishDate |
2020-10-01 |
description |
By some coincidence, many Nigerian stand-up comedians were born, raised, live in, or are associated with Warri and its environs. By Warri, as understood in the area, we mean Warri and its surroundings and, to a large extent, what is called the ‘core Delta’ of Nigeria’s Delta State. The comedians include Gordons, I Go Dye, AY and Real Warri Pikin. We investigate what is possibly responsible for the natural talent of these comedians. We relate the success of these comedians to the notion of Warri as ‘not coming last’, the history of the city of many ethnicities, boma boys, the blues nature of suffering pain and deprivations but laughing them off, and some indigenous traditions such as the Urhobo udje oral poetic performance which aims to elicit laughter as a means of maintaining normalcy and preventing anybody from deviating from the communally-established norms. We use multiple concepts such as laughter as a means of regulating people’s lives, satire, historicism, culture, and aesthetic considerations to study these Warri-related comedians and their art. We investigate the commonalities, subjectivities, traditions, and individual talents that have made Warri-born, raised, resident, and related comedians so successful—not only in Nigeria, but also in Africa and the world.
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topic |
tradition subjectivities performance Warri comedians |
url |
https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/8321 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT tanureojaide traditionandsubjectivitieswarrirelatedcomediansandtheirart AT enajiteojaruega traditionandsubjectivitieswarrirelatedcomediansandtheirart |
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1724661673773498368 |