jungle finds: garage sale at the witch doctor's
Frank
2,370 Posts
Not really record related I know but I thought I'd share these kinda "different" finds with you guys. I've been cruising through the Guinean forest region last week trying to find some stuff to decorate the venue of my future Afro-Funk night in NYC. This is only a small selection of fetishes that belonged to an old witch doctor. He didn't have a successor so all these things ended up in the back room of a small store in Kissidougou. Besides this, I got a whole bunch of statues, masks and other stuff...Various fetishes, probably around 50-100 years old and frequently used in ceremonies as the orange residue in the centre of the pieces demonstrates. The fetisheur would chew kola nuts and spit the stuff onto the fetish. Sometimes local moonshine, distilled from fermented palm sap would be used along with the nuts. I spent a night drinking this highly potent stuff with some of the locals and well, let's just say it was something else...
This is probably the most impressive item I found on this trip. It was so covered in red dust that only after arriving back home and after carefully removing layers of dirt with a soft brush that I discovered the monkey skull in the centre. The snails around here grow to a size of about 6 inches so don't get a wrong idea about the size of this object, it's fairly big.
A pouch decorated with teeth from a wild boar. Hidden inside is a small mask made of stone
Small stone statuettes that were designed after the death of important local figures. People would use them to communicate with the deceased and to ask for help and advice. Tese were made and used by the Kissi people and they called them "Pomdo" or "Vieux Cadavre"
This is probably the most impressive item I found on this trip. It was so covered in red dust that only after arriving back home and after carefully removing layers of dirt with a soft brush that I discovered the monkey skull in the centre. The snails around here grow to a size of about 6 inches so don't get a wrong idea about the size of this object, it's fairly big.A pouch decorated with teeth from a wild boar. Hidden inside is a small mask made of stoneSmall stone statuettes that were designed after the death of important local figures. People would use them to communicate with the deceased and to ask for help and advice. Tese were made and used by the Kissi people and they called them "Pomdo" or "Vieux Cadavre"
Comments
I'm not sure that's a good idea, but interesting stuff for sure.
Why not?
When I read that I immediately thought, "What an awesome idea, how come I never thought of that?"
I'm going to be at this party every week if there are monkey skulls AND dope afro funk records.
Sure but that kind of looks like the reish to me.
anyway... thanks as always for the pictures and stories. its like living the trip with you... but from 5000miles away in the comfort of our homes and businesses.
see you later this year homie...
Yes. As always, super interesting stuff goin on. Thanks again for all the pictures and tales, and las tbut far from least, all the great music.
peace.
i dunno i just wouldn't want drunken beckys knocking shit over and shit.
I'm totally fascinated by that kind of religious african art.
Those in these pictures are of extraordinary quality. Genuine ones, which have been used in rituals have an incedible charisma which entirely missing on the ones made for tourists.
I think you should reconsider using these as decoration for your future parties. Keep in mind that those were made for sacred reasons and showing these as an oddity at a party full of drunken people could be highly disrespectful towards the religious feelings of the people who made it and used it. As far as I know most of these fetishes were used for worshipping the deceased ancestors. They were seen as an vessel for the soul of a perished loved one.
According to their belief, the souls of the deceised live on and are always present in their everyday life.
I'm sure they would not only look corny at your parties but also bring some kind of a bad charma.
By the way this kind o african art had a huge influence on early german expressionism. You can find a lot of similarities between the artwork of "Die Br??cke" (especially Karl Schmidt-Rottluffs, Emil Nolde)and traditional african art.
those are truly amazing...do you have any pics of the jungle places where you got them? its a shame the people whose store they were in didnt see a value on keeping them....why do you think they were willing to let them go? from your past posts, i know you look out for people, so im not trying to imply anything shady on your part...just wondering why seemingly sacred and beautiful objects arent kept safer by those who utilized them.
peace,t
hahaaaaaaaaaaa
Yeah, there is some truth to this, I work in the museum world and some of these countries have restrictions when it comes to taking artifacts that may be considered historically valuable. These may pass through customs as tourist junk, or be shipped fairly easily with out detection, but, you never know about customs. You might want to look in to it a little or at the least prepare to bring extra money or ship some ahead of you. Really though- great story, awesome finds.
What horror movie creature does that remind me of? Not Critters, not Monkey Shines...
All artifacts shown in these pictures are genuine and won't be put on display at a nightclub, I might make posters and frame them and use those, though.
The stuff I'll be using for the most part are genuine-looking but recently made wooden statues and masks. I met an old man in his 70s who does incredible, authentic carvings that were passed down for generations. He then treats his pieces with old engine oil and other not so easily identifiable liquids. He lets them lay around his house, behind bushes and some even on his fields. After a few years, these things look genuinly used and he sells them as antiques... good enough for club-use.
I always have long conversations with the people who sell me original artifacts to find out as much as possible about their former use and where they come from. I also tell them for what purpose I purchase them.
Same goes for records, I always explain that this stuff will be used and put on display in the US and in Europe and everybody so far seemed very pleased with this.
Even genuine artifacts that have been used for rituals loose all their power once they are no longer in the posession of the Fetisheur. I once told a man in Benin that I'm buying up old fetishes in the Guinean forest, he smiled at me and said "no, you're not buying fetishes, you're just buying pieces of wood or stone".
Animistic practices have mostly been given up by the Guinean people since their (not always peaceful) conversion to Islam. What remains are vaguelly supersticious beliefs and the usage of a mild form of Gris-Gris. Witch doctors or Fetisheurs rarely have successors and items like these can end up on the market. It is a sad fact but what can you do. The country is 90% Islamic and the first president and liberator Sekou Toure who eventually became a crazed dictator was a fierce anti-animist who "cleansed" most villages of animistic artifacts and had them destroyed. I would never even think about trying to buy artifacts here in Africa that are still in use. In Guinea, genuine artifacts are rare, genuine artifacts that are still in use are even rarer. In Togo and Benin, where animistic practices still to this day are predominant in local culrure, some some dealers even employ thieves who steal fetishes from shrines especially in Benin and Togo. What happens to them if they get caught is not pretty. I would never even think about buying religious artifacts that are still being used even if they would be offered to me by their legitimate owner. Shit is way too powerfull to mess with.
The point for me is that most people have a very wrong idea about what African culture looks like. Most tourists never leave the beaten paths (as far as there are any) and buy fake items from "artist boutiques" close to the few big hotels. This stuff for the most part consists of fake drums, masks and statues. Very popular are red wood statues of women with silicone-enhanced looking breasts. I'm certain that most "artists" behind those atrocities use playboy magazines and not local women as models.
Luckily, I'm in a position, where I don't have to worry about customs at all.
I'm very un-educated in this field but have heard about this before. Picasso, Gauguin and Matisse supposedly also were heavily influenced by African art.
Diplomatic Baller!!!
Whats up Frank?
Spending the day at the internet cafe today to do some online research for an apt in Brooklyn, Friday I'm off for a one-month trip to Ghana, Togo and Benin. Since the end of my stay down here is now in sight, I'm doing all I can to leave as few records behind as possible...
Don't forget Modigliani.
"You put your weed in there!"
4 stars
That is all.