Masquerades as the Public Face Art of Contemporary Hunters’ Associations in Western Burkina Faso Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR EXCEPT WHERE OTHERWISE NOTED ebruary 25, 2007, Kankalaba, Burkina Faso. Lively warthog masqueraders wore loose bodysuits like the little mask. music by popular Malian musician Molobaly Keita However, instead of a cloth face covering, they wore wooden blared through speakers perched in a mango tree headdresses carved to resemble heads of a roan antelope and in the center of the rural, Senufo-speaking town. warthog, respectively. Hunters accompanied the two masquer- Midmorning, my research associate Ouattara aders, and each masquerader-hunter pair crouched several times Dahaba and I watched local community members before entering the performance area. assemble in the open, dusty area around the tree. We awaited The masquerade unfolded in open space beneath the mango Fvisits from members of Sesakinoufo, a Versailles, France-based tree and among the crowd, as performers looked for opportu- association dedicated to helping children in western Burkina nities to entertain or honor people in the audience. The little Faso, and from three masqueraders belonging to the dozo ton mask and hunter accompanying the masquerader often min- (sg.; dozo tonw, pl. in Mande Jula, the lingua franca) or hunters’ gled with the audience, stopping to sit with twin babies and the association of the neighboring town Noumoussoba (Fig. 1). woman with them, inspect a motorbike in need of repair, or beg The amplified music stopped shortly after 11 am. Musicians for money (Fig. 3). The roan antelope and warthog masquer- from the area prepared their instruments, including a rasp, flute, aders greeted certain people in the crowd, but they interacted rattles, and a harp lute known as ngoni. A hunter fired a single less directly with the audience throughout the performance gunshot to signal the performance’s start. Accompanied by a (Figs. 4–5). The masqueraders wearing wooden helmet masks Noumoussoba hunter, a masquerader emerged from the wooded instead took turns dancing to the musicians’ rhythms within area at the bottom of a knoll just beyond the performance area. the clearing, demonstrating their fast footwork or abilities to Called lodeni, or “little mask,” the masquerader wore a face cov- twirl without spilling a headdress. Once, the warthog masquer- ering and loose bodysuit made from dark brown, locally pro- ader dropped to the ground and imitated a warthog digging for duced cotton cloth. Porcupine quills burst from the brow of the food. The trio of masqueraders and hunters accompanying them performer’s face covering, leather and cowries trace the eyes repeatedly crouched to the ground in front of certain people and nose, and an oval of white leather marks the mouth. Before in the audience to show humility, assert goodwill, or recognize climbing the gentle incline to the performance area, the mas- especially prominent people in the crowd. querader-hunter pair stopped and crouched before continuing. Hunters’ masquerades in western Burkina Faso are multi- They stopped and crouched a second time as they reached the sensory performances that amuse crowds and strengthen hunters’ top of the incline (Fig. 2). The pair approached the musicians, relations with the public. Hunters’ associations sponsor events to then stopped and crouched again to greet the band and show greet important community members, welcome foreign visitors, their respect for the musicians’ skill. campaign for prominent politicians, honor deceased colleagues, Two additional masqueraders—dajè (“roan antelope”) and lè or acknowledge hunters’ renewed commitments to each other and (“warthog”)—followed the little mask out of the wooded area a local dozo ton. The number and type of performances a single (cf. Bailleul 1981:131, Arnoldi 1995:53). The roan antelope and hunters’ association may stage in any year varies according to invi- 46 | african arts WINTER 2013 VOL. 46, NO. 4 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00107 by guest on 02 October 2021 AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 46 8/23/13 2:27 AM tations or requests to perform it receives, its inclination to per- form within a given context, or resources available to support its bringing out the masks it owns. An association further considers specific circumstances or wishes of patrons when tailoring a day- time or nighttime performance. Hunters typically sponsor masquerades between February and May, when late dry-season temperatures are warm enough for audiences to stay outside and before the fatigue and heavy precipitation associated with the rainy season have begun. There is no steadfast rule, however, and a masquerade may take place anytime during the year. The pace and choreography of each masquerade is shaped by the reason for a particular performance as well as its location, staging, and duration. Performers’ energy levels or hunters’ perceptions of audience’s reactions to the event also are factors that influence the masquerade. Speeches from Kankalaba’s authorities thanking the visitors from Versailles for their donations to the town’s school dis- tinguished the February 2007 performance and impacted the event’s program. Performers emerged from the wooded area just as vans carrying the French donors drove into the town. After dancing for about an hour, performers retreated to the wooded area. Shortly before the speeches ended, the masqueraders qui- etly emerged from the wooded area. They greeted the musicians and waited at the edge of the crowd so that they would be ready to start dancing as soon as the oration ended. In an interview after the Kankalaba performance, Coulibaly Missa, a well-known hunter from Noumoussoba and the perfor- mance’s director, explained that he had deliberately managed the timing of transitions. He implied that he had wished to maintain the French donors’ enthusiasm for the event while respecting local performance practices. Coulibaly ensured masqueraders had sufficient time to greet musicians prior to dancing, honoring 1 Map showing the research area for this study in western Burkina Faso and within the larger three- corner region created by the nation-state borders of Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali. ILLUSTRATOR: MICHAEL C. JOHNSTON, APRIL 2010 2 Little mask cloth masquerader of the Nou- moussoba hunters’ association and accompanying Noumoussoba hunter crouching before entering the performance space. Mask prepared by Ouat- tara Souleymane Sanga’an. Performer unidentified. Kankalaba, Province of Léraba, Burkina Faso, Febru- ary 27, 2007. VOL. 46, NO. 4 WINTER 2013 african arts | 47 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00107 by guest on 02 October 2021 AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 47 8/23/13 2:27 AM 3 Little mask cloth masquerader of the Nou- moussoba hunters’ association (right) inspecting a motorbike while the motorbike’s operator (center) and hunter accompanying the little mask (left) watch. Mask prepared by Ouattara Souleymane Sanga’an. Performer unidentified. Kankalaba, Province of Léraba, Burkina Faso, February 25, 2007. to flaunt his skill among his peers could transform a human bystander into an ani- mal to capture and kill. Ouattara under- stood that his father wanted to protect his children from such a fate. In formal interviews and casual con- versations, people in western Burkina Faso repeatedly distinguished activities of today’s dozow from activities of earlier hunters.2 They said hunters’ activities have shifted in recent decades. Elder dozow a respectful practice that local audiences expect from any mas- and non-dozow alike recalled that young hunters previously querader or other individual whose remarkable skill could pro- dedicated years to apprenticing with master hunters, learning to voke jealousy or fuel rivalry.1 observe dangerous animals and navigate the wilderness alone or The February 2007 performance of Noumoussoba hunters in in small groups. Hunters of the past also developed skills to help Kankalaba offers just one example of a dynamic art that allows non-hunters by distributing meat, securing communities from hunters to respond to singular contexts and mobilize support threats of wild animals, or using their knowledge of divination, within and beyond their local communities. In Noumoussoba plants, and other locally available resources to help heal people’s and other towns, western Burkinabe hunters have invested in illnesses and afflictions. an art that resonates with and innovates upon locally familiar Hunters’ success also depended on their abilities to manage visual strategies. They continue to develop the art today, and nyama (in the Mande Jula language) or nyàmbe (in the Senufo Noumoussoba hunters reportedly added to their repertoire as Sìcìté language), an invisible energy that people told me exists recently as 2011 a mask of tankon or “hartebeest,” a large antelope in an animal and is released when the animal is killed. Failure to with curved horns (cf. Binger 1892:81, Travélé 1913:246, Arnoldi counter an animal’s nyama was understood to result in disfigure- 1995:53). ment, disease, or other misfortune for either the hunter respon- Hunters’ masquerades reinforce hunters’ image as highly sible for taking an animal’s life or for a member of his family. This trained specialists with unparalleled knowledge of how to navi- definition arose consistently during interviews, but the complex gate dangerous, uninhabited places and kill formidable wild ani- term refers to more than the energy released only when an animal mals. Yet, recent investments in masquerades also coincide with is killed. Many scholars and other writers have explored the term’s hunters’ efforts since the 1980s to institute a network of town- meanings; the linguist Charles Bird compellingly defines nyama as based dozo tonw in a campaign to position themselves as orga- “energy of action” (Camara and Bird 1974:vii–ix).3 nized pursuers of thieves and protectors of the common good The impression that hunters of the past developed exceptional within and beyond their local communities.