13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research

Presentation Abstracts

WAINAINA MWAURA, Michael

(Re) Creation of Gikuyu Folk-Narrative Texts and Techniques into Contemporary Electronic Media Performances

This paper is premised on the notion that folklore adapts to changing historical and social realities and that it mediates that reality based on keen observation and interpretation of phenomena. Taking cognisance of this, the paper outlines how contemporary Gikuyu oral artists, delivering their performances mainly through the electronic media, re-appropriate texts and techniques from the Gikuyu folk narrative and tradition. The main focus of the paper is an evaluation of how materials and techniques re-appropriated from the traditional Gikuyu folk-narrative aid the contemporary artist in reflecting and critiquing the wide ranging psycho-social patterns and principles of modern society that inform the contemporary artist’s world view. Put differently we foreground the transitional relationship between the African traditional art forms and modern electronic media performances by interrogating how folk-narrative and tradition are used by contemporary artists in reflecting the contemporary imperative.

Central to this interrogation is the issue of the electronic media. The paper outlines how, through the electronic media, contemporary artists re-appropriate styles and techniques from folk narrative and tradition to make their performances interactive, maintaining an immediacy of audience, which is a celebrated aspect of folk narrative. Thus, the paper demonstrates that while operating in contemporary situations and committed to reflecting contemporary phenomena, Gikuyu oral artists performing through the electronic media have their productions firmly tethered in a recognizable body of artistic resources from Gikuyu folk narrative and tradition which serves as their inspiration and guide.