Bass line

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bassonge , also known as Songye or Songyé , are an African people who live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Lomami Province . In 1985 the number of Bassongs was estimated to be between 150,000 and 217,000 who lived on both sides of the Lualaba River .

history

According to the tradition of the Bassonge, the Bassonge reached the upper reaches of the Lualaba in the 15th century and subjugated the people living there. In the 16th century a part of the Bassonge separated from the tribe and has formed the Baluba people since that time .

Language and tribal administration

The language of the Bassonge is the Bantu language Kisongye . The supreme power in traditional tribal culture is the Yakitenge . At the local level, the chiefs are known as Sultani Ya Muti .

Culture and craft

Songye mask

The traditional economy of the Bassonge is based on agriculture and animal husbandry. They are known for their wood carving art, which finds its best-known forms of expression in the manufacture of ceremonial masks, magical figures such as nail fetishes and other objects for the practice of ceremonies. Traditionally only men hunted with a poisoned arrow. The hunters mostly use a wooden ocarina ( epudi , pl. Mapudi ) as a signaling instrument .

literature

  • François Neyt: Songye: The Formidable Statuary of Central Africa . Prestel, Munich / Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-7913-4361-7 .
  • Allan Wardwell: Three African Traditions: The Art of the Dogon , Fang and Songye , Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich (Connecticut) , USA, ISBN 0-9665144-2-4 .
  • Hildegard Klein (Ed.), Leo Frobenius : Ethnographic Notes from the Years 1905 and 1906 , Volume 4, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1990 ISBN 3-515-05383-2 . Pages 87 to 161 deal with the bass line.
  • Muepu Mibanga: Songye. Livre des Proverbes , in French. Éditions Bouwa, Kinshasa, Zaire 1987.
  • Sonya Hersak: Songye Masks and Figure Sculptures . Ethnographica, London 1985. ISBN 0-905788-50-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alan P. Merriam: The Epudi: A Basongye Ocarina. In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, No. 3, September 1962, pp. 175-180