FUNCTIONS AND RELEVANCE OF COSTUME IN NGWAS EKPE FESTIVAL

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><h4><br><br></h4><p>Nigeria offers variety of festivals with sound and rich cultural heritage. The evidences of these festivals are<br>found in all the geo-political zones in the country which serves as veritable instruments of national integration,<br>peaceful co-existence and cultural possibilities.<br>A number of cultural activities exist in Nigeria, which create unique creative spaces for producers of the arts as<br>well as conducive interactive spaces for tourists and connoisseurs. Many of these cultural activities have been in<br>practice from time and have given the country an acclaim as being culturally super-active. The cultural activities<br>in Cross River State are particularly outstanding from those in many other states of the federation as they<br>showcase diverse creative packages. The state is renowned for its festivals of songs, dances and masquerades at<br>coronation, marriage, burial, naming, planting and harvesting ceremonies. Cross River State is also popular for<br>its hospitality and its culinary productivity – many Nigerians would want to have a taste of ‘Calabar’ food.<br>Tourists also like to visit the numerous cultural and historical sites in Cross River State. While these ceremonies,<br>tourism potentialities and locations have ever been present with the people of Cross River State in Nigeria, not<br>much was done to formalize and organize their presentation to diverse international audiences until the year<br>1999. The administration of Donald Duke at the inception of Nigeria’s 4th democratic era evolved a dynamic<br>policy to develop the tourism sub-sector as an area of alternative revenue for the state. Part of the plan was to<br>develop a rich tourism calendar to accommodate more (existing) cultural events and in some cases rebrand and<br>repackage them for better appeal. The plan was also to accommodate new events that would appeal to the<br>emerging consumerist culture of the 21st century. So, in all parts of the state there are cultural festivals and<br>artistic practices that appeal to diverse audiences. There is mountain tourism and recreation in the mountainous<br>region of Obudu; there are new yam festivals in the agricultural belt; maiden outing ceremonies, water sports<br>and other art-related events in many communities of the state.</p><p><strong>2.1 THE CONCEPT OF COSTUME</strong><br>Costume is part of actors’ apparatus. It refers to all clothing an individual performing wears in a show, festival or<br>movie. In a broader sense, costume can be applied in many kinds of performance or media like drama and<br>dance. The orchestra players wearing white shirt and black suit to perform in the concert hall, they are also<br>wearing ‘costumes Theatre, television and movie are the medium often showing costume.<br>Indeed, costume is not garment merely. Jeffrey Kurland (2004), the governor of Motion Picture Arts and<br>Sciences, claims that “costume dominate the foreground action throughout a film, shaping the characters and<br>thus helping to move the story forward with what one could describe as the visual narratives”. This explanation<br>fulfills the basic definition of costume. Everything wears by the actor will count on costume? This is another<br>issue, to distinguish the accessories belongs to props or wardrobe is quite confused. Nevertheless, costume<br>designer is often much more tend to practical-oriented. The main purpose of wearing costume is to shape and to<br>enhance the character. Costume is not meant to cloth. Unlikely to fashion, costume is not need expensive to<br>show how glamorous or fabulous of the people who wear it. Costume is needed to have such glamorous feeling<br>on screen but it could cost not much. This explains the apparent difference among both of them.<br>Fashion works on our three-dimensional world but costume is not; film Costume visualizes the actor and helps them to create their character. There are three key qualities in designing the film costume. Color shows the mood and taste; texture shows the economic status; and style shows personality and occupation. Audience get signal from the costume by the shape and color that can be revealed as welcomed or feared. A good costume is able to show the mentality of the character</p> <br><p></p>