The Oral Thing and its Digital Double in Contemporary Tiv Society: The step Forward of Ashi Waves F.M Radio, Katsina-Ala, Nigeria.

Abstract

Oral artistic expressions, in their various categories like myths, legends, riddles, proverbs, folktales etc however, seem to be disappearing in the wake of urban, cross-cultural hybridism, industrial modes of production, and the encroachments of scientific and technological scales of reference. The closely-knit oral society of the group is gradually fading away, as learning has become less restricted to the authority of memory to transmit from elders to the young ones. There temporary seems to be a ‘dead end’ to oral arts and cultures. The vibrancy of the oral artistic expressions, however, has emerged and morphed into new patterns in the new media thereby creating verdant fields and platforms for interrogating the African oral art and making meaning in the contemporary computer-mediated society. The oral thing has gained a digital double (specify what this means) in its multi-mediated orality in the electronic studios as they help shape arts and culture in Africa. This paper examines the synergy of oral artistic productions and the new media in Tiv society by exploring the implications in the ‘co-habitation’, and the vistas and potentialities of this digital double. The paper posits that the digital double, as facilitated by Ashi Waves F.M Radio, Benue State, Nigeria, points to the future of the oral artistic product and its cultural reconstruction, as postcolonial societies continue to embrace technological innovations creating their own stories.