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The Songye people, some 150,000 of them in all, live for the most part in Eastern Kasai, in Katanga and also in a small area in South Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo). They are divided in about 35 groups and subgroups, most of them of Kalebwe origin.. They relied mostly on farming and hunting for subsistence and produce manioc, maize and millet.In order to protect themselves again evil spirits and to encourage female fertility, the songye have created vast quantities of anthropomorphic sculptures. Songye masks appears at the investiture and death of important titled individuals and during initiation rituals of the masking society. Kifwebe masks were made for the bwadi ya kifwebe, a dominant educational society which helped to maintain control through the use of these masks.The grooved patterns on the face of the mask is a common charateristic of a female kiffwebe, a male kifwebe can be identified by its large combe or crest. |
External links
http://www.zyama.com/songye/pics..htm http://users.telenet.be/african-shop/songye.htm
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Songye.html
http://www.hamillgallery.com/EXHIBITIONS/SongyeSculpture.html