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TRIBAL AFRICAN ART
BEMBE (BABEMBE, BEEMBE, CUABEMBE, WABEMBE)
Both Congo Republics
The Bembe
form a small group of 60 to 80,000 people; they live on the plateaus situated to the north
of the Zaire River, as well as on the shores of Stanley Pool and in the cities of
Brazzaville, Dolisie, and Pointe-Noire. The Bembe had close contacts with their neighbors
the Teke, but Kongo contributions were essential to their culture and traditions. Their
social organization was based on the matrimonial clan, whose members could live in several
villages. The family unit generally included three generations. The chief in charge of the
village, the nga-bula, mediated with the ancestors. Hunting was the main activity;
before leaving on a hunt, the leader would invoke the ancestral spirits, using as
intermediaries statuettes kneeling in the position of a hunter waiting for his prey. The
Bembe believed in a creator god, Nzambi, whom they did not depict figuratively. He was the
master of the life and death – unless the latter was due to the act of a sorcerer, ndoki,
who could magically “eat” the life force of clan members. The ancestors had
close ties with the living and received offerings through the “priest,” who made
appeals to statuettes, the kitebi or bimbi, consecrated by the sorcerer.
These figurines were the idealized images of the ancestors and would often wear attributes
that allowed them to be identified as medicine men or hunters. The ancestor worship among
the Bembe is older, though, and precedes the use of magic statues, nkisi, by the
sorcerers.
Bembe art
is profoundly religious; its purpose is to maintain contact with the dead. The art is quite original, consisting mainly of
minutely carved ancestral figures that can be identified by extensive scarification on the
abdomen. Such body decoration no longer exists today but survives as a style
characteristic of the sculpture. The Bembe statuettes are divided by size and sex. As long
as the spirit lives in the statue, it watches over its descendants and punishes
transgressors of customs or precepts. The statuette is dressed in a skin or fabric
loincloth and a beaded necklace, and wears a beard. The palms of the male sculptures’
hands are turned toward one another or they carry objects: a rifle or knife in the right
hand and a calabash in the left. Sometimes two braids frame the face, sometimes the hairdo
ends in a long braid at the back of the head. The figure usually is upright with knees
slightly bent, its large feet with carefully articulated toes standing on the base; the
seated position occurs less frequently. Female statuettes have a pronounced, almost
square, chin, a large nose and mouth, finely sculpted ears, and hair carved in relief on
the forehead. The muziri is an anthropomorphic power figure, composed of plant
material covered in red fabric, which contains relics of the ancestor and receives, under
a small purpose-built shelter, regular libations of palm wine and food offerings.
Nevertheless, an ornamental, secular art does exist and includes pipes, spoons, earplugs, and musical instruments.
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