Ovia Osese

Wow......how beautiful we women are. How talented we are together. How incredibly uplifting a circle of women can be. I am all inspired and at peace after the V.M rehearsal from tonight.

Tonight, Bola Badego came in to teach us several Nigerian songs and the accompanying dances. The songs are part of the Ovia Osese festival in Nigeria. This is a festival that celebrates young girls becoming women. It is the climax of long preparations of young maidens. Their rites of passage. In the town where Bola came from (the name escapes me right now) girls start to be initiated into womanhood at the age of 9 by elder women. From the this age till they are about 12 or 13 the girls are trained and groomed in the aspects of being a woman. Their bodies, how to take care of their husbands later and their families. The Ovia Osese Festival is the final step into womanhood for these maidens as they are called.

On the day of the Osese, the maidens dance and sing traditional songs in a large field to signify their coming of age. The girls are adorned in many beads around their necks, and in their headdress. Traditionally the girls would be bare chested with only a cloth around their waist. But as times have changed they now cover their breasts as well. On their ankles they where a band that makes a sound when they stomp their feet.

It was quite an experience to learn these songs and the dances. What an absolutely beautiful ritual. When all the women started to sing together it was truly awesome. The hair stood up on the back of your neck. It was like singing something that u had always known but never sang out loud. And when we started dancing and singing along.....wow!. Picture 24 women dancing and stomping their feet while singing in a language none of us spoke. Though Bola had put the translations into the text, it somehow didn't matter. We sang the songs anyway. As if we spoke the language fluently. Of course we have been westernized so our singing sounded like that too. But when Bola sang......what a difference. My entire perception of musical sound changed. Her voice and the way she pronounced the words was fascinating to listen to. It was like having a tiny piece of Africa right in front of your very eyes.

I cant wait to perform this particular part of the V.M. What and awe inspiring and uplifting moment that will be. For us who are performing as well as the audience.

Mystic