Design and Music in a Changing Northern Sierra Leone Chiefdom

By Simon Ottenberg

This is an anthropological and historical study of Wara Wara Balodea Chiefdoma, an ancient and formerly very isolated, hill chiefdom in northern Sierra Leone. West Africa, called Wara Wara Bafodea, with rice growing in the chiefdom's south and grain in its north. The book is based on two-year's personal study in 1979-1980, contrasting the chiefdoms music with its art and designs, to arrive at an understanding of the elements of its culture. Numerous color and black and white photographs, mostly taken by the author, illuminate the work. The book is also a study of a changing cultures, with Wara Wara Bafodea culture and language becoming overwhelmed by both Muslim and Christian influences -an African society undergoing rapid change from a an elemental indigenous society to a complex multicultural one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669822677

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Copyright © 2022 by Simon Ottenberg. 826668

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by

any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

Rev. date: 09/08/2022

I dedicate

this volume to my loving wife Carol Ottenberg who has stood by me for the many years that it has taken to prepare this volume.

CONTENTS

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Preface

Acknowledgments

The Chapters

Chapter 1 An Isolated Chiefdom?

Chapter 2 Objects, Designs, and Sculptures

Chapter 3 Major Events

Chapter 4 Popular Songs and Dances

Chapter 5 Work Music and Celebrations

Chapter 6 An Overview

Endnotes

FIGURES AND MAPS

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CHAPTER 1

1:1.MajorSierraLeoneculturalgroups

1:2. The Limba groups in Sierra Leone

1:3. Sierra Leone

1:1. The southern landscape

1:2. A northern chiefdom farm settlement

1:3. Ruins of the Old Bafodea Town

1:4. Old Bafodea Town in the 1940s

1:5. Christian religious meeting in Old Bafodea Town

1:6. As elephant killed by George Huff

1:7. A hunter, with his hunting jacket, gun, and a dead monkey

1:8. The paramount chief’s drums

1:9. Members of the congregation

1:10. A Christian memorial service in the New Bafodea Town

1:11. Muslim presence in the early days of the New Bafodea Town

1:13. Primary school children at Bafodea Town, 1980

1:14. Bafodea Town from the Wesleyan missionary residence

1:15. A Christian gravestone

1:16. A Muslim gravestone

1:17. Paramount Chief Almamy Salifu Mansaray

1:18. Pa Hamidu Kamara, the speaker

1:19. A modern rectangular home in the New Bafodea Town

1:20. Dalipoto, a northern village

1:21. Kamandia, a large village in the northern section of the chiefdom

1:22. The blacksmith is tapping on iron at a swear.

1:23. The blacksmith’s assistant is working up the ground

1:24. At another swear

1:25. Ancestral grave of Chief Hono of Kadonso

1:26. A saraka hanging at the north end of Kadanso village

1:27. Gbangbani gong used as a saraka

1:28. A raffia net saraka

1:29. A spirit figure saraka

1:30. New Iron tools made by a Bafodea Town blacksmith

1:31. The Imam at Bafodea Town and some of his family

1:32. The Imam addresses male Islam members at Bafodea Town

1:33. The Imam addresses female Islam members at Bafodea Town

1:34. A child’s Arabic prayer board, Wala

CHAPTER 2

2:1. Hukpodung basket

2:2. Interior designs on a hammock

2:3. Typical designs on a new comb

2:4. Wood hammock spreaders with incised designs

2:5. A new bamboo snuff box

2:6. House posts on a deserted traditional home

2:7.The paramount chief’s public symbol office

2:8. A boy preparing a walking stick

2:9. Gbangbani gong, Bafodea Town

2:10. Gbangbani gong, Bafodea Town

2:11. Gbangbani gongs outside of Kambalia village

2:12, 2:13. Two views of a Gbangbani megaphone purchased in Freetown

2:14. From Kadansom village

2:16. Pa Modi weaving, sitting behind the weaving frame.

2:17. The chief of Dalipoto weaving from the side of the loom

2:18. Alenke from Bafodea Town, using a standing loom

2:19. The beginning of a native thread band

2:20. A role of native thread weave woven by Bulu of Bafodea Town, mixed native and European thread

2:21. Four-strip woven gara-dyed shawl with the ends knotted

2:22. Paul Hamidu Mansaray of Bafodea Town holding up a tarantula

2:23. Raffia bag made by Mando Mansaray of Bafodea Town

2:24. Raffia fibers drying on a porch in Kakpongpon village

2:25. Muctaro Mansaray preparing raffia to make a basket

2:26. Making an hutansi basket

2:27. A woman with incisions on her back called kabindu

2:28. Mpoti hairstyle of initiating girl

2:29. Girl from Kandanso village with makontuno hairstyle

2:30. Basket hairstyle, Bafodea Town

2:31. Five-scatter hairstyle, Bafodea Town

2:32. Daba Kamara pounding clay to soften it

2:33. Smoothing the pot bottom with a round stone

2:34. Working on a second pot

2:35. Adding clay by the coil method

2:36. The two pots are enclosed in bark, ready to be fired

2:37. Pulling out the pots

2:38. Surface finds decorated potsherds, Bafodea Town

2:39. Some of the paramount chief’s silver rings

2:40. Pa Sorie Barrie stamping a design on aluminum, Bafodea Town

2:41. Yeniba Kamara preparing a headband

2:42. Kuta belonging to the wife of the chief of Kadankan village

2:43. A headband with triangles moving in one direction

2:44. A man’s headband with triangles going in both directions and a narrow band

2:45. An unusual style beaded band on a girl from Bafodea Town

2:46. Pre-initiation girls at a dance in Bafodea Town, both wearing a cloth saraka

2:47. Girl at a pre-initiation dance, Bafodea Town, Freetown

2:48. A woman wearing a hanging type of headband at a boy’s pre-initiation dance.

2:49. Boys dressed up for their pre-initiation dance, each wearing two beaded bands, Bafodea Town

2:50. A woman’s musical gourd rattle, Bafodea Town.

2:51. A girl’s half-gourd beaded rattle used to collect money, Bafodea Town.

2:52. Mabala, a European bead necklace worn by girls

2:54. Two ancient traditional hunter’s hats of native cloth

2:55, Outer wall designs, Serekude village home

2:56. Outer wall designs, Kambalia village home

2:57. Pa Salifu wearing a native-made Kaftana gown or tuntola

2:58. A meeting of chiefdom Muslims awaiting the visit of P. H. Kamara

2:59 Fula hats purchased at Bindo market, near Guinea

2:60. Another Fula form of embroidered hats

2:61. An older style design on a storage chest, Kamagbonsi village

2:62. An assistant of the Fula blacksmith working in a storage chest

2:63. A new chest by Kaparana

2:64. Hatumere, Bafodea Town

2:65 Hatumere owned by the Imam of Bafodeam Town

2:66. Leather amulet with a parallel line design

2:67. Leather amulet with stamped design

2:68. Possibly an early form of Huronko shirt, photo by George Huff ca. 1950s

2:69. Suma Mannio carving an APC Hurinko stamp, Bafodea Town

2:70. Suma Mannio stamp in a Huronko shirt, Bafodea Town

2:71. Huronko shirt with sun and cross design Bt Pa Wosi, Bafodea Town

2:72. Innovative bird design by Dunto, Bafodea Town

2:73. Mohamed Bangura’s Janus-faced head, Bafodea Town

2:74. Mohamed Bangura’s Janus-faced heads, Bafodea Town

2:75. By Mohamed Bangura, unfinished work, Bafodea Town

2:76. Mohamed Bangura sculpting, Bafodea Town

2:77. Sculpture by Salifu Mansaray, Bafodea Town

2:78. Sculpture by Salifu Mansaray, Bafodea Town

2:79. Pa Hamidu Mansaray crocheting a wool hat, Bafodea Town

2:80. Hats for sale made by a different Pa Hamidu Mansaray, Bafodea Town

2:81. Imported wool hats brought to Bafodea Town by a trader from Kabala

2:82. Mabo, the Mande weaver, working at Bafodea Town

2:83. Some of Mabo’s cloths

2:84. A Fula cloth from Kamandia in the north of the chiefdom

2:85. A Fula weaver in Kamandia in the north of the chiefdom

2:86. A used cloth dealer from Kabala awaits buyers in Bafodea Town

CHAPTER 3

3:1. Boys in their pre-initiation dress, Bafodea Town

3:2. A pre-initiation boy observing his initiate gown being measured

3:3. Measuring the cloth for the boy’s initiation gown

3:4. Initiating boys dressed up for their pre-initiation dance. A woman is giving them coins as gifts, Serekude village

3:5. Initiating boys with their whistles and sleeping mats, Serekude village

3:6. The back of a boy’s initiation dress, showing hangings and fiber headdress, Bafodea Town

3:7. A boy dancing

3:8. A large number of musical instruments at a boys’ pre-initiating dance either drums or wood gongs

3:9. Boys just out of the initiation bush being greeted by the paramount chief, Bafodea Town

3:10. Some initiates wore traditional hats lined with cowry shells

3:11. Boy’s initiating gongs with their wide variety of incised designs, Bafodea Town

3:12. Recently initiated boys from Kasapena Town, who are visiting Bafodea Town in search of gifts, which they will place in their half-gourds

3:13. Girl performing her pre-initiating dance, Kasatinto (Kaka) village

3:14. Miniature knife and bell used by a girl as a saraka in her initiation, Bafodea Town

3:15. When the girls dance, women dance on the side, Kpongpong village

3:16. Girls, dressed in blue, who have finished the first stage of their initiation, watching a girl’s pre-initiation dance, Bafodea Town

3:17. The girl’s return from the washing, Bafodea Town

3:18. Watched girls dancing by twos, a woman is giving them a dash (present), Kakoya village

3:19. The dress of a recently initiated girl, Kakonso village

3:20. The bride is being dressed, Siemamaya village

3:21. A dressed bride, ready to go to the groom

3:22. A boy blowing on a cow horn, Kamagbengbe village

3:23. The bride and her followers go to the groom’s home, Kakoya village

3:24. The chief’s drum and drummer, Kadanso village on the left, and the chief’s drum and drummer Kadankan at a memorial at Kadanso

3:25. A closing rite at a memorial, Siemamaya village; Mande musicians with rattles raffia; the covering mutes the sound, Bafodea Town

3:26. Huban and nkale players, Bafodea Town. The nkale was not usually played on the ground but strung around the player’s neck with a cord, Bafodea Town.

3:27. The kongole and the huban, Bafodea Town.

3:28. A kunkuma musical group, composed of a nkale, kunkuma, and a kongole player, Bafodea Town.

3:29. Sayo Kamara playing the kututeng, Dukwu, his brother, is guiding him, Bafodea Town.

3:30. Muctaro of Bafodea Town playing the kututeng, Bafodea Town.

3:31. Muctaro’s kututeng with the back part of the instrument against his stomach and an added metal piece at the front end that rattled as he played, Bafodea Town.

3:32. Tamoi’s Kukangtan musical group at a memorial, Kakpongpon Village.

3:33. Binti dancing and singing with the Mayoi musicians, Bafodea Town.

3:34. Soda drumming with the same Mayoi musical group. He played the northern style round drum hundundu, and performed in a distinctive brown suit, Bafodea Town.

3:35. The back construction of the hundundu drum. Although it was round like the huban drum, it was one-sided, smaller, lighter, and easier to carry, Kadanso Village.

3:36. Kusung drum and kukengken gong, Kadanso Village.

3:37. Two Mande balaphone (xylophone) musicians and a crotch drummer with large metal rattle pieces, which make a noise as he drums, Bafodea Town.

3:38. Two Fula flute musicians from the Yanka area of the north of the chiefdom and three Fula crotch drum players. Two of the musicians now reside in Bafodea Town. Their flutes were called seridu, the drums yimbedyi.

3:39. A Fula dancer at Bafodea Town.

3:40. Mande musicians with raffia rattles. The covering mutes the sound at Bafodea Town.

3:41. A Baherindo group of women at a memorial event for Chief Hono, Kadanso village

3:42. A Kulongpan singing and dancing group, Siemamaya village

3:43. Two widows of Chief Hono bow down before a Mayoi musical group at Chief Hono’s memorial, Kadanso village

3:44. Warrior’s musical and dance group at Chief Hono’s memorial, Kadanso village

Fig. 3:45 A masqurading boy and his followers at Chief Hono’s Memorial

3:46. Chief Hono’s son and successor in the palanquin, Kadanso village

3:47. The Imam of Bafodea Town with other persons waiting for the arrival of the Hon. P. H. Kamara, Bafodea Town

3:48. The politician P. H. Kamara appearing before his community in a palanquin as the new chief, Bafodea Town

3:49. A rainbow group at Christmas with its leader Lawrence Kamara in a straw hat, Bafodea Town

3:50. Another rainbow group of younger girls than in figure 3:49, Bafodea Town

3:51. A modern masquerade figure during Christmas in Bafodea Town

3:52. A Christmas headpiece masquerade, the mask created by Mohamed Barrie

3:53. Naturalistic mask worn during Christmas by a Temne goods seller at Bafodea Town

3:54. A children’s Christmas bull devil masquerade figure, Bafodea Town

CHAPTER 4

4:1. A Poro musical group, Bafodea Town

4:2. A Kunkuma musical group, Bafodea Town

CHAPTER 5

5:1. Rice stalks drying before being bundled up

5:2. Rice stalks ready to be threshed

5:3. Separating the stalks

5:4. Flaying the stalks in rhythm

5:5. Taking a break

5:6. Piling up the rice

5:7. Fanning the rice

5:8. Picking up the remaining rice

5:9. Old wood storage chest for rice and other items

5:10. Dried mud cover on a rice storage basket, Kamagbengbe village

5:11. Palm wine gourds beside some saraka on the ground

5:12. Musicians at a threshing event

5:13. Senge horn

5:14. Hutamba drum

5:15. Mayoi musical group with road workers at Telia, in northern Wara Wara Bafodea. An example of productive music.

PREFACE

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T his is a study of designs on objects and of the song in the Limba chiefdom of Wara Wara Bafodea in northern Sierra Leone. They are used to develop an understanding of qualities of the chiefdom from the cultural starting point, employing the concept of expressive culture, rather than from the view of social, political, and religious aspects, a different way of viewing the chiefdom. Common concepts of art and aesthetics were discarded. A wide study of objects and designs was desirable. In order to simplify the analysis, there is a focus on the physical design on objects and on music, particular song texts considered as objects, on dance, and to a lesser extent on instrumental music. The term expressive culture will be used very broadly for any object with human-made design on it and any sculpture. Included are commercial objects, whether a dress or a bicycle, as long as it is located inside the chiefdom. Included is any object with a design, regardless of whether made by Limba or another cultural group in the region. Also, within the framework of the expression, are instrumental music, song, and dance as they are products of humans. Music and design make for interesting contrasts. Also included are proverbs, incantations, and sayings in oral literature, probably best placed under song, since they all come from the human mouth of persons living in the chiefdom.

The research and writing involved locating objects which seemed to have special qualities, observing how materials were made, their origins, the design on them, and who made them. This seemed a satisfactory beginning. The next step was to relate objects and their designs to cultural events and activities. The project grew to include song texts, major social events, and the threshing of rice, the predominant crop in the Limba chiefdom of Wara Wara Bafodea. This approach provided the opportunity to ask why its cultural elements appeared to be so limited in the chiefdom.

The study of objects and their designs are presented historically, first those that appeared to be true of Limba origin, second, of Fula, Mande, and Islamic influences on the Limba, and third of Western influences on the Limba. While the book is based on the Limba at Wara Wara Bafodea, other ethnic groups are included in so far as they had relationships with the Limba.

This extremely broad view of expressive culture does not depend upon where it was made but only on being an object of use within the chiefdom. With this information, it is possible to clearly see the highlights and low levels of expressive culture within the chiefdom and to ask why these occur, where they and when they occur in the culture, and what uses or functions they serve? This may take one back into the past to obtain answers.

It is possible that almost all of a culture’s expressive possibility, or almost all of the expressive culture, is at the same technical and creative level, a characteristic of small-scale non-Western societies, such as some Native American groups. A culture of this kind may limit an individual eager to go ahead with some new activity as being a threat to the stability of the group because it would break with cooperative norms in the society.

If elements of the culture are above the rest in technical quality, inventiveness, and importance to the inhabitants, this should be explained.

Having established the general level of expressive culture in a culture, it is possible to contrast this with that in neighboring cultures so as to see whether there is a regional pattern, and if it is due to geography, or of history or both. This might be important information even when there is no clear pattern. Unfortunately, there is insufficient information on some of neighboring chiefdoms to Wara Wara Bafodea to do so.

There is the question of how much pleasure people derive from the expressive cultural level that they are living. The assumption is that the higher the expressive level, the greater the pleasure. And those at a higher level look down on those at a lower level. But the expressive culture of the lower level is more likely to be participatory while at the higher level there are specialists, and many persons are only observers. Does participation bring more pleasure than observation? The general view may not be valid. How do you measure happiness? As my former professor, Melville J. Herskovits used to say, It is a crude tool, to be held lightly in the hand. Also evaluating levels of expressive culture is not a sure thing, only a general guide. This issue will be dealt with again later on.

Expressive culture is always linked to political organization. It requires either the indifference of leaders or their support. They may play crucial roles in determining when and where expressive cultural events occur, to what extent are the leaders surrounded by expressive culture. What are the objects and what music is associated with leadership? What events occur when a leader dies and when there is the installation of a new leader? Wara Wara Bafodea has had a simple leadership organization, one that was quite personal to its followers and consistent with the level of expressive culture. This will be explored.This was true of religion. The Limba chiefdom high god was passive. There were no other gods, no priests, no shrines, and only a few simple sacrifices. Diviners were important in dealing with spirits from the forest. Some spirits were good and would assist a person in advancing in life. Other spirits could kill a person or burn down a village or a home. Very often protective objects were obtained from a diviner. Witchcraft was endemic, something to explain misfortune. Men and women’s secret societies dealt with this, and there was a swear procedure. The same procedures often dealt with thievery. There was little public talk about witchcraft. but the wearing of objects to protect against it was common. To protect against thieves, an object might be placed on the farm or at home. Protective objects were everywhere.

Blacksmiths played important roles in the swearing and in the anti-witchcraft activities of the men’s secret society.

Attempts were made to obtain the views of the Limba on their objects. The Limba in the chiefdom rarely verbalized on these topics, and when they did, they appeared to have a limited cultural vocabulary, responding with it is fine or a similar general phrase. The failure to obtain detailed views of their expressive culture was not only that the chiefdom members had a limited vocabulary about objects and music but due to this author’s lack of skill in drawing out their views and concepts.

The chiefdom’s expressive culture approach requires a historic approach. The ancient Limba, who lived in the isolated hill country some five hundred years ago, existed without considerable intercultural contacts. They probably had only a small number of objects, designs, and limited music and musical instruments, mostly related to farming, hunting, cooking, and weaving.

An issue was why the chiefdom’s designs and music were so limited given that arts were more complex and bountiful in southern Sierra Leone as among the Mende and the Bullom and the more centrally located Temne. Then to the north of the chiefdom was the Fula state in Guinea and the remnants of the Mande empire. These more hierarchically organized cultures did not seem to have influenced Limba culture although there were some contacts with the Temne and there was trade with peoples in Guinea. But originally there was clearly little interest in these isolated hill people who spoke a different language from all the languages around them.

This number and quality of objects and musical forms increased as a consequence of Mande and Fula migration into the chiefdom from present-day Guinea, which began some three hundred years ago and has continued through the research period to this day. These newcomers not only brought new objects but Islam, the Koran with an emphasis on theology, the Arabic language, Muslim diviners, Fula cattle herders, leather, and ironworkers. Trade went from the chiefdom into Guinea in palm oil and kola nuts, and slaves came into the chiefdom, except at times when warfare stopped it.

Then some two hundred years ago, Westerners on the coast began contact with interior people, and Wara Wara Bafodea, sending slaves to the coast bound for England and America, shipping palm oil and kola nuts to Europe. In the British colony of Sierra Leone in 1897, formal government-approved chiefdoms were organized under British administrators, and Wara Wara Bafodea was administratively established.

American Wesleyan missionaries arrived in the chiefdom capital of Bafodea Town about 1948. They moved the town with the help of its citizens from cave-like quarters to an open area. The missionaries established a school, church, and church music, and writing in English. Soon, schools and churches spread to neighboring communities. Outside of the chiefdom, the towns of Kabala to the east, Makeni to the south, and Freetown to the south had or developed secondary schools, which some chiefdom children attended.

The consequences of these historic contacts were an increasing number and variety of objects, designs, and musical traditions in