The Ozidi Saga

The Ozidi Saga is a choreographed folklore epic performed as part of the oral history of the Ijaw of the Niger River Delta composed by playwright and poet John Pepper Clark.

It is traditionally performed as a periodic festival honoring the hero Ozidi. The performance dramatized key episodes in the myth danced in a nonlinear narrative, allowing a ritual officiant dressed in white and holding objects traditionally identified with the hero to solicit participation by acolytes and audience. It was first performed in 1966.