Archiving Hausa Popular Entertainment Through New Media Technology: an Assessment of the Recreation of Ruwan Bagaja Into Video Movie

ARCHIVING HAUSA POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE RECREATION OF RUWAN BAGAJA INTO VIDEO MOVIE

BY

DR. (MRS) ASABE KABIR USMAN
asabekabir@yahoo.com


DEPARTMENT OF MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY, SOKOTO.
SOKOTO STATE. NIGERIA.

Abstract
The Hausa people are the largest ethnic group found in northern Nigeria. They are found in areas of Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zaria as well as other parts of north western and north central Nigeria. The Hausa language is one of the widely spoken languages of black Africa. The Hausawa as they are called by other tribes have a controversial historical origin but the Bayajidda legend is held by Hausa folklorists and anthropologists to be the true account of their emergence.   The media as a system of communication is a constituent feature directly linked to the processes of globalisation of culture due to its role in mediating a range of aspects of popular culture like the film, dance, music and other aesthetic expressions. New media technology a recent terminology is a general term used to refer to those digital media which are interactive, incorporate two-way communication and involve some form of computing as opposed to ‘old media’ such as telephone, radio, and television.
The frequent use of oral traditions by the Hausa people has proved that they are inevitable aspects of Hausa culture. One very important genre of Hausa oral tradition is the narrative/folktale a form of popular entertainment, which the Hausa people call tatsuniya. Since the advent of the Hausa movie industry it has served as one of the significant source materials for the popular Hausa video movie. Targeted mainly at, but not restricted to children, the traditional tatsuniya reflects the cultural and social life of the Hausa people, at the same time drawing attention to the salient aspects of Hausa culture and how to live it according to set down societal norms and values.... [continues]

Read full essay