Abianshị
The name of my village is Eke.
The name of the dance i would explain to you is called Abianshi
3 The dance is indigenous to the Eke community.
Concerning Abianshi
It is a war victory dance
It is a dance performed by men, women; children'and elderly
It is a story of a man who left his family in search of greener pastures, and a peaceful place to start his own family.
In the new place, his neighbors saw that he always enjoys a rich harvest of crops and thrives well in his endeavors. They became jealous and conspired to chase him away from the community
Therefore, he went to another community and brought a witch doctor
The name of the community he brought the witch doctor from is Igala.
The witch doctor arrived with musical instruments including igbai and wooden gong
The witch doctor gathered some young men, fortified them with^charms and instructed them to to play the song for him while he performs incantations for his charm
While preparing this cliarms, he made them promise that if his charms are potent, they will perform the dance every year
So they went to war with great confidence and returned victorious
This victory is the reason they gathered the instrument earlier mentioned to perform the dance in remembrance of their victory till date.
The name of the dance is derived from the drum (abia in igbo) the witch doctor from igala arrived with and the charms
(Nshi in igbo) he pepared for the warriors that led to their war victory.
our people then called it ABIANSHI
Yes, this dance is performed yearly
In the past, young women performed this dance wearing jigida with a piece of wrapper tied around the breast.
With civilization, any attire is now accepted but as tradition demands,a wrapper must be tied on the waist by both men and women.
The instruments used for this dance include abia, wooden gong
That's all.