CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION.
1.1 Background of the study
Human communication is simple but sometimes a complex process by which individuals exchange and share ideas, information and various forms of symbolism with themselves.
Traditional system of communication has been in use in various ways as folk media and oral media. The town crier as a traditional communicator is symbolically is an organizational media worker, who is appointed by the king or leader of a village to disseminate information and developments of all types to the people.
Town criers are mostly found in the rural settlement because of the inability of the rural dwellers to read and write. They serve as a means of disseminating news to the people. They are appointed by the king or community leader, and he is charged with the responsibility of announcing time for meetings, days of communal labour and important communication link between the opinion leaders and the people, using either the wooden gong or the drum. He is seen as the purveyor of news, and an authoritative messenger. Every message or sentence he makes is usually repeated for emphasis.
Buttressing this point, Etukudo (1989: 211) notes: “The town crier is a member of the town or village caucus with the responsibility to communicate the decisions of the town’s highest administering body to the rest of the people. He uses a wooden gong, and most times steel gong, he is sees as the purveyor of the news, with impeccable character.” 14
The town crier adopts strategies that enable him to disseminate his information; he stops at a strategic point or quiet places, strikes his instruments repeatedly in order to draw attention to himself before making any announcement. The seriousness of such announcements are usually realized when they are made very early in the morning or very late at night, these are usually periods of silence in the village.
Benson – Eluwa (2010) noted that the town crier is a person, whose job is to walk through the town sharing and disseminating news, making official announcements etc. He moves round the village beating his metal gong and making his announcements from one village the other, mostly in the evening or every early in the morning.
The town crier uses the gong, wood block, skin drum or any validated instrument as attention direction device (ADD). These instruments are beaten or played to attract attention to the audience before the headline is given. This is followed by a call to attention “Genu ntioooo’’ which means pay attention.
Finally the outcome of the town crier’s message on the receivers is that it provides them with information, education, entertainments, enlightenment and brings out integration among other effects (Burgeon,1978)
Brief history of Adazi-Nnukwu.
Adazi-Nnukwu is a town in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, and falls within the Nri-Awka Area. It has an area of 27.2sq km. It shares boundaries in the North-East with Agukwu (Nri) and Agulu, in the North-West with Nimo. In the West with Oraukwu, in the South with Neni, and in the South-East with Obeledu.
There is only one version of the tradition of origin of the people of Adazi-Nnukwu, and it speaks about a man called Okotu who had two wives, he was said to have broken off from wandering tribe of Adda people and settled with this (SIC) two wives and children at Amauka in Adazi-Enu. From the first wife came descendants of Adazi-Enu, Adazi-Ani and Adazi-Nnukwu. The second wife bore sons that were founders of ichida, and Amichi.