At the 1997 Festival of American Folklife on Immigrant cultures, Egbe Isokan Yoruba kept a teeming crowd of spectators glued to the stage with several types of Yoruba masquerade performance.

Spectators from several countries and cultures watched with ever-widening eyes the display of Eyo, Igunnu, and traditional Yoruba drumming at the African Immigrant section of this year’s Smithsonian festival designed to showcase the diverse cultures that are being added to America’s cultural pot by the day. Eyes moved up and down as the Igunnu masquerade varied his height from two feet to thirty feet. The dexterity with which the masquerade danced and adjusted his height made many spectators wondered aloud whether the show was an instance of African vodoo. Dr. Kayode Fanilola, who teaches at the Yoruba Institute of Language and Culture in Washington, explained the history and cultural significance of Igunnu in Nupe and Yoruba cultures. He assured the audience that the display had no magic to it.

The Eyo masquerade in his white regalia brought into the open the Yoruba concept of ancestor worhip and reincarnation. The majestic flowing of the Eyo in space, as well as the mehanically efficient response of the Eyo to coded messages from Yoruba talking drums brought additional excitement to about two hundred spectators at the Yoruba performance during the July 4th ceremony organized by the Smithsonian.

The grand finale of Yoruba cultural display at the festival was a demonstration by Washington’s master Yoruba drummer, Tunji Ayanlere. The communicative power of the Yoruba talking drum was explained and exemplified by Ayanlere who used the Yoruba drum to simulate English sentences and sing English songs. The electrifying aspect of this special drumming was heightened when the master drummer introduced a call-and-response between the artist and the audience. The audience members, most of whom were Americans, participated in the collaborative artistic production that Yoruba drumming signifies. Both Africans and Americans showered dollars on the performers in the Yoruba tradition of public reward of artistic skill.

Egbe Isokan Yoruba also presented a cultural lesson on Names and Naming in Yorubaland. The symbolism of ordinary household objects like pepper, kolanut, water, oil, bitter kola, and other items used in Yoruba naming ceremony was explained to the audience. A special class presentation of a typical day in the Yoruba Institute of Language and Culture was one of the audience-drawing shows put up by the Egbe Isokan during the one week-long festival. Mrs. Sharon Ogunfiditimi, Mr. Kunle Badmus, and Dr. Adegbola Olarinde played a pivotal role in the coordination of Egbe Isokan’s presentations at the festival.