Formula in the Praise-Chants of Chief Adolphus Munamuna, Ọụbẹbẹ Kẹnị Ịzọn Ibe (The Chief Oral Poet of the Ịzọn Nation)

This paper begins on the contention that scholars of African oral literature have exhibited a “best avoided” approach towards formula, the most important aspect of the oral-formulaic theory of Milman Parry and Albert Lord. It argues that, even in this century, the dominant approaches to the study of African folklore have been performance, Marxism, formalism, structuralism, feminism and functionalism. Therefore, building on the meagre literature on formula, the paper investigates the concept in traditional Ịjọ poetry through the praise-chants of Chief Adolphus Munamuna. It points out that formula density is of a very high proportion in Chief Munamuna’s praise poems. It further notes that formulas are useful and necessary to him because they enable him to compose his poems rapidly with ease in performance.