Rattle (Shekere)

Baule Bronze Dance Rattle

Ivory Coast
Baule

Bronze
ca. Early-Mid 20th century

Height: 16.5 inches
Idiophone - Struck Indirectly - Shaken

Brass dance rattle of the Baule People of the Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire). This male ancestor "waka sona" (wooden people) figure is in bronze and shows an elder with bearded face smoking a pipe. Around one million Baule occupy a part of the central Cote d’Ivoire that is both forest and savanna land. According to the Baule, sculptures allow a closer contact with the supernatural world of ancestors. The ancestral statues, male and female, have a strongly marked, traditional style revealing a slender body, delicate face and high forehead. The tribal hairdo corresponds to the hairdo still used by Baule today. Although the ancestor sculpture’s main purpose was to insure the beneficial presence of the ancestor, they had additional uses: to insure fertility, to prevent miscarriages, to bring about good harvests, and generally to promote personal well-being and prosperity.

Owner:
Catalog#: AF-IDST-178-22

© Hartenberger World Music Collection