81
FIG. 34 (below center): Bell and percussion ring, ekpande.
Kabre; Togo. Mid 20th century.
Iron, plant-fiber cordage. H: 28.5 cm.
Private collection. Image © courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2018.
FIG. 35 (right): Initiate performing in waa ceremony, Kuwdé, Togo.
Photo © Tom Joyce, 2010.
FIG. 36 (below):
Blacksmith Kao Kossi
forging ekpande, Tcharé,
Togo.
Photo: © Tom Joyce, 2010.
This distinctive type of bell,
based on the shape of large
yam hoes (aku) used in northern
Togo, is performed in Kabre male
initiations including waa, the
fourth of five arduous ceremonies
boys undergo. Every five years
Kabre families gather at mountain
villages for the event. The bell
is tethered loosely to the wrist
and energetically released in a
downward spiral that recoils the
bell, with a snap, back toward
the open palm to strike an iron
ring, worn on the thumb, with a
resounding tone. At waa, this bell
and an antelope horn headdress
festooned with feathers and
recycled objects announce the
arrival of a new generation of
cultivators and family heads.
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths was organized
by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and its curatorial
team led by artist Tom Joyce, with co-curators Allen F.
Roberts, UCLA Professor of World Arts and Cultures/
Dance; Marla C. Berns, Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director,
Fowler Museum; William J. Dewey, Director, African
Studies Program and Associate Professor of African
Art History at Pennsylvania State University; and Henry
J. Drewal, Evjue-Bascom Professor of Art History and
Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin
Madison. A 512-page interdisciplinary volume with
some 475 illustrations (both studio photography and
field photos) accompanies the exhibition and includes
chapters by sixteen authors including all of the exhibition’s
co-curators and advising scholars. It was edited
by Allen F. Roberts, Tom Joyce, and Marla C. Berns,
with William J. Dewey, Henry J. Drewal, and Candice
Goucher.
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths
Through October 20, 2019
National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
africa.si.edu
November 19, 2019–March 29, 2020
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris
www.quaibranly.fr
/africa.si.edu
/www.quaibranly.fr