A study of the art and performance of an Ohafia Igbo singer of oral epic songs, Kaalu Igirigiri of Okon, in the light of four aesthetic principles (functionality, authenticity, variety and clarity) voiced by listeners at performances and articulated by means of specialized critical vocabulary by connoisseurs, critics, other singers and Kaalu Igirigiri himself. The essay demonstrates the preeminence of oral literary criticism in the the elucidation of the form, meaning and significance of oral traditional art.