African art and history of the Bambara

Mali

(Bamana)

The Bambara people, also known as the Bamana form the largest ethnic group in Mali and occupy the central part of the country, in an area of savannah.  They are part of the Mande culture of western Africa.  The Bambara kingdom was founded in the 17th century wiht the establishing of Kaarta and Segou city-states. and were at their pinnacle between 1760 and 1787 during the reign of N'golo Diarra, but continued to have political influence thoughout western Sudan into the 19th century. After a continual decline, the kingdom fell to the French when they arrived in 1892.

The Bambara who still live in the rural village settlements rely on subsistence farming as theri most common means of livelihood, wiht hunting a very important supplemental to their diet.  Local markets are also filled woth local crafts people who trade their wares, potters, waevers, sculptors and leather workers all who undergo extensive training in their respective art, and in turn for a small profit supply the local communities with various utility objects required in everyday life.

THe Bambara society is structured around six male societies, collectively known as Dyow. Nearly every Bamana male had to pass through these societies in succession, until, reaching the higest rank, he had acquired a comprehensive knowledge of ancestral traditions.  Each stage of the initiation process was accompanied by the use of a certain type of mask, mostly based on animal forms.

Bambara masks - The most famous of these is the Tji Wara, antelope headress of the fifth society.  The members of this society performed ritual dances in order to ensure the fertility of the fields.  They often dance at the time of the sowing of the fields, hoping to increase the ytield of the crop. These headresses were always danced in male-female pairs, believed to sybmolize the earth and sun and their significance in human life.  It is representative of a male roan antelope, whom the Bamabra believe gave the first seeds and taught them how to till the soil, planting the seeds and so taught them agriculture.  Larger Tji Wara's were also sculpted, kept for the community and masqueraders would kepp the smaller items around them in order to 'recharge' or enhance the power of the Tji-wara. Picture Source: African Masks: Barbier-Mueller Collection: ISBN:3-7913-2709-7

Other masks of the Bambara was that of theN'toma society which had a comb like coiffure and was often decorated with cowrie shells.

The mask of the Komo society, the second society, to which members would enter after passing through the Ndomo society and having been circumsized, was adorned with a set of antelope horns on top, a long, flat mouth reminiscent of that od a crocodile, and a round head.  The Komo oversaw all key events of life, from birth to circumsision, marriage to burial, and played an important role in the ancestor cult and agrarian rites. This mask, worn horizontally on the head,  was often found to have an encrusted patina resulting from libations being poured over it in previous ceremonies. 

The zoomorphic masks of the Kore society represented a styalised animal head, with an elongated, curved, angular face and pointed ears with a rectangular mouth opening.  Masqueraders wore these masks with a net costume, from which they dangled paraphernalia such as calabash shells, iron, fruit husks, and would enter the village riding hobby horses.  Their antics were bizarre, mimicking sexual behaviour, breaking implements, eating anything they could lay their hands on, even human or animal waste.  This was the highest level of the six societies, and its members had achieved a high degree of spiritual knowledge, enabling them to experience a mystic union with divine power and enter a perpetual cycle of reincarnation.  The initiation rites into the society were often painful and included symbolic death and resurection.