Oko are side-blown horns and Akohẹn are flutes, however since the instruments look very similar they are grouped together here. Oko are frequently used by priests to evoke spirits and by traditional doctors to drive away witches when attending to a patient that may have been afflicted by a witch. Oko can also serve as an object of commemoration; when a new Ọba sends an ivory Oko to be kept at the Olokun Shrine in Ughoton, it is to commemorate his accession to the throne. Akohen, on the other hand, is a flute. Egharevba (1968:40

) dates the Akohen to the era of Ọba Eresoyen.

Side-blown wind instruments, sometimes referred to as trumpets, horns or flutes in English, were used in Edo ritual to ‘call the ancestors’. Although typically carved from ivory, there are also a number which are cast in bronze – whether these were also usable for sound-making purposes is not clear. Trumpets are depicted on relief plaques, providing an insight into how they were worn as part of ceremonial attire. Furthermore, there are also some horn-blower or flute-player figures depicting court musicians playing these objects.

Akohẹn/Oko

Horn or Flute

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The British Museum’s archives are held in various locations across the institution. The items listed here aim to give an overview of the main locations where relevant archival and photographic material relating to objects from the Kingdom of Benin is housed. Key areas relevant for cultural objects from the Kingdom of Benin are: Corporate Archives; Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas archives; Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory archives; and the Anthropology Library and Research Centre.

Website

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas 

Online Catalogue

Library & Archive

British Museum

Internal Data (eng)

Beddington, Herbert 

Collector

Donor

British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

Member of the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

Wikidata Link

Moor, Ralph Denham Rayment

Member of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force (NCPF)

Collected in the field

Colonial administrator

Suggestion: The word juju in itself is not harmful in as much as it refers to the belief system. It can be used in a harmful or derogatory way and is context dependent. Please assess the context of this word as a user of the platform.

 more about the background of this statement here.

juju 

Suggestion: Replace with, “a person of short stature,” “little person” or "someone with dwarfism". (See 

Read more about the background of this statement here.

dwarf

Suggestion: Replace with First Nations, First people, or particular community name. (See 

aboriginal

Suggestion: Replace with the name of the particular community and delete where it is used to reference an already identified group, e.g Igbo ~~tribe.~~

tribe

This word was redacted from the catalogue as a derogatory racialised word.

DB_redacted_word

Suggestion: Be as specific as possible in terms of country, population etc. (See 

non-western

western-art

western museum

tribal

hofzwerg

For more information on this term and its violent and inherently harmful context to indigenous communities, see 

expedition

exotic

negro

Suggestion: Replace with the word Africa.

Black Africa

Warning: This word is used in a historic context of a title for a book, exhibition, institution name or book description etc. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities.

Read more about the background of this statement here

primitive

Suggestion: Replace with traditional healer, spiritual healer, or specific name that particular communities use to define this role. (See 

medicine man

Suggestion: Replace in cases where it used to describe human beings, with the term indigenous communities, first people or particular community name.