{"id":"JEFFREYS1968-001","label":"Ekpo's cow and dog voices","people_or_site":"Efik of Calabar (Ekpo society)","country_current":"Nigeria","historic_region":"Calabar, Cross River State","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"enang ekpri akata; ebua ekpri akata","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English; Efik","object_description":"Two sacred bullroarers, a much larger \"cow\" and a smaller \"dog\".","function_summary":"The larger, enang ekpri akata, may be used only by members of the Ekpo (ghost) society; its wailing is a ghostly voice at the society's night revels, usually led by masked officiants.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"jeffreys1968_efik_instruments","source_type":"scholarly_article","source_url":"https://journal.ru.ac.za/index.php/africanmusic/article/download/807/474/472","page_or_plate":"p. 70","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Calabar town anchor; no performance site given.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Akata is the Efik word for the bullroarer, and at Calabar there were two, both sacred: the dog of the little akata and the cow of the little akata. The cow was much the larger, and only members of Ekpo, the society of the ghosts, could sound it. Ekpo held its revels at night, its officiants mostly masked, and the cow's wailing was heard as the voice of a ghost. The roarers were so sacred that outsiders were told nothing about them beyond their names.","pull_quote":"the wailing of the enang ekpri akata is regarded as a ghostly voice","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"M. D. W. Jeffreys, 1968, p. 70","term_gloss":"akata: Efik 'bull-roarer'. ebua ekpri akata: 'the dog of the little akata'. enang ekpri akata: 'the cow of the little akata'. Ekpo: 'ghost'.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"M. D. W. Jeffreys, 'Efik names of some musical instruments,' African Music 4(2) (1968), p. 70","url":"https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v4i2.807"}],"source_citations":"M. D. W. Jeffreys, 'Efik names of some musical instruments,' African Music 4(2) (1968), p. 70","source_display":"M. D. W. Jeffreys, 'Efik names of some musical instruments,' African Music 4(2) (1968), p. 70","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Two sacred bullroarers, a much larger \"cow\" and a smaller \"dog\".","function_display":"The larger, enang ekpri akata, may be used only by members of the Ekpo (ghost) society; its wailing is a ghostly voice at the society's night revels, usually led by masked officiants.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"efik calabar","display_name":"Ekpo's cow and dog voices","image":{"full":"assets/objects/FROBENIUS1913-001_frobenius1913-p297-fig6-karaboro-turka-i.png","thumb":"assets/objects/FROBENIUS1913-001_frobenius1913-p297-fig6-karaboro-turka-i_thumb.jpg","alt":"Frobenius’s 1913 drawing of the Karaboro and Turka iron roarer: a flat blade with a lobed outline, a dark lengthwise band and a short cord at one end.","credit":"Leo Frobenius, Und Afrika sprach… III (1913), p. 297 fig. 6, drawn by B. Bauschke","license":"Public domain (published 1913)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MJYPAQAAMAAJ","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"The Karaboro and Turka iron roarer, 30 cm, drawn for Frobenius in 1913","pool_id":"auto-FROBENIUS1913-001_frobenius1913-p297-fig6-karaboro-turka-i","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"jeffreys1968-001-efik-of-calabar-ekpo-society"}