15: ENGAGING THE EBIRA IKEDE DRUMS AND INSTRUMENTATION AS NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION MEDIUM IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE

In most African societies, the drum transcends its role as a musical instrument. It functions as language, archive, regulator of movement, and custodian of values. This article examines the Ebira Ikede drums and instrumentation of Kogi State, Nigeria, as a sophisticated system of non-verbal communication. Using qualitative methods that combine literature review, textual analysis, and performance observation, the study argues that Ikede instrumentation operates simultaneously as entertainment, moral pedagogy, social mobilization, and economic catalyst. Framed within theories of African communication systems and non-verbal semiotics, the paper makes three central claims. First, non-verbal codes embedded in drum timbre, tempo, and pitch structure the communicative exchange between drummer, dancer, and audience. Second, Ikede encodes and transmits Ebira values of diligence, communalism, and cultural pride. Third, Ikede festivals generate measurable economic activity that sustains local livelihoods. The study situates Ikede within the broader African taxonomy of idiophones, membranophones, aerophones, and chordophones, and demonstrates how the ensemble of big bass drum, omele, beaded gourd, slit drum, and gong produces a layered sonic discourse. By reading the drum as text, this article contributes to scholarship in Applied Theatre, African communication systems, ethnomusicology, and peacebuilding. It concludes that for Ikede and similar indigenous performance systems to remain viable, they must be systematically documented, institutionalized in curricula, and integrated into contemporary cultural policy.