The Bullroarer Atlas

BLENCH1987-002 - ethnographic attestation

Idoma ofukufuku, the schoolroom bullroarer

Nigeria - Idoma country, Otukpo, Benue State - West Africa

Play / practical

Bozo bull-roarer with cord, Mali.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Bozo bull-roarer with cord, Mali · CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 BE Image source

ofukufuku

Source term: ofukufuku (Blench 1987, tone-marked)

The boys' answer to the ancestors' fish-shaped plaque: an ofukufuku cut from a school ruler or a scrap of wood, whirled for the fun of it. It has a name of its own, which is the point - this is no degraded relic of the cult instrument but a standing institution beside a living one, renewed by every generation from whatever the schoolroom yields.

Object
A bullroarer improvised from a school ruler or a piece of scrap wood.
Function
Made by young boys for their own amusement - a modern-material toy with its own distinct name, living alongside the alekwu society's restricted cult plaque.
Source
Roger Blench, 'Idoma musical instruments,' African Music 6/4 (1987): 42-52; section IV Aerophones / 2. Free aerophones
Source location
Page references

printed p. 49 (running head 'IDOMA MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 49')

Source confidence
medium to high Otukpo-area anchor for Idoma country, offset slightly from the sibling cult row BLENCH1987-001.

Discussed in: The Living Double

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