Luba Kifwebe Mask OLD African Headdress Congo

"When one, familiar with African Art, sees a vertical rectangular white wooden mask with a striated or striped surface (painted or engraved), a bulging forehead and a jutting mouth, one automatically assumes that it is a Songye Kifwebe mask. Indeed, the majority of masks that present these characteristics were carved and used by the Songye people and are generally called Kifwebe. But they are not alone. There are also very similar white-faced striped masks with a rectangular boxy shape made by some of the neighboring Luba peoples, who likewise call these masks Kifwebe or Chifwebe. Linguistically the Songye form part of the Luba world, itself part of the Bantu 'L' group as classified by Gutherie and other linguists. Indeed, there is a centuries-old inter-relation between the Songye and Luba and they therefore share many cultural traits. Some art forms are part of this heritage. The Lube and Songye share borders (and thus ideas) over a large part of their territory. According to oral tradition, the founding chieftains of the first Luba kingdom were of Songye origin and it is the Songye who introduced the idea of social stratification to the Luba and consequently the first Luba chieftains are said to be of Songye ancestry." In certain areas, there is even a symbiosis between Songye and Luba villages. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Songye are not the only Congolese people to make masques with striations covering the surface. There are also very similar white-faced striped masks with a rectangular boxy shape made by some of the neighboring Luba peoples, who likewise call these masks Kifwebe or Chifwebe. The Kifwebe icon will also appear on Luba cult objects and emblems of rank, such as shields, plaques, and miniature masks in wood.

Marc Leo Felix notes his beliefs that the Luba possessed animal-shaped masks for centuries, well before the more organized invaders changed their culture, with animal or animal-human hybrids predating human masques in the evolution of mask figurations in this part of Central Africa. And further, that the Luba later superimposed the Kifwebe form on their existing zoomorphic mask styles. Animal figurations are obvious among the Luba and related peoples living south of Ankoro. Female masks have been observed performing in conjunction with these animal masks. No 'male' masks are found in these areas. Then there is the fact that the ratio between animal and female masks is about ten to one in Lubaland, a proportion similar to the ratio of 'male' and female masques among the Songye, where no obviously animal masks are found. Felix then raises several interesting questions in the possibility that the so-called male Songye masks might depict animals or an icon combining human male and animal - or, in one word - a beast? Consider that the mask is only one component of the entire Kifwebe costume where animal elements predominate in the bulging eyes, sagittal crest, snout, striped skin, plumed horn, fur-covered loins and only three fingers on each hand. And that among the Luunda-speakers the female mask sometime perform with the males as the beautiful, fertile, gentle woman in opposition to the hard-featured, powerful, aggressive, virile male. Yet during other performances she represents the 'civilized' world of the village, dancing in opposition to animals that represent the 'wild' world of the bush. The dichotomies of male/female and wild/civilized found in the Luunda example could also exist among the Songye and Luba. Could the Luba and Songye have combined the animal and the male into a composite beast to dance with the beauty? Are Songye male masks in fact beasts in disguise? Have women actually been dancing with animals all along? We highly recommend Felix's Beauty and the Beasts for a detailed account of these fascinating forms.

Luba Tribal History
The Luba Empire was founded in 1585 and rapidly expanded to include all the territories on the upper left bank of the Lualaba River. At its peak, roughly one million people of several tribes were paying tribute to the Luba king. The king (Mulopwe) and court notables (Bamfumus) reigned over Luba subjects through clan kings (Balopwe) who could symbolically become the Mulopwe's son in a creation of clients states throughout the empire. The Bambudye were a secret society who kept the memory of the Luba empire alive and permeated throughout the territory to bond the diverse populations together. The complex Luba economy was based on a tribute system and the redistribution of resources from agriculture, fishing, hunting, and mining with the production of salt and iron held completely under the king's control. In contrast to the frequent use of male figures among neighboring cultures, almost all Luba objects depict the female form figuratively or by allusion to women's scarification through incised or raised designs, thus reflecting the Luba belief that 'kingship is a woman', for political authority is a delicate and deliberately ambiguous mélange of female and male elements - in that order of significance. In the late 19th century, the influx of Angolian peoples, along with the East African Muslim slavers combined to weaken the empire which then collapsed when the Belgian colonials seized power.

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