Info For You Lot Bamileke People: The Almost Business-Oriented Tribe Inwards Cameroon Too Their Unique Circumcision Initiation

 The Bamilekè lives inwards the grass fields inwards the western providence of Cameroon. They were known as
“the people downwards there” associated them with the percentage of habitation. The percentage is made upward of by as well as large grass fields, a mountainous plateau. The percentage is known for its hilly relief as well as rich soil.

            Bamileke people of Bandjoun inwards Cameroun celebrating their circumcision initiation

 Some of the valleys have got the richer soil but are mixed with savanna and forest. It is mutual to detect lots of volcanic rocks similar basalt.   “Bamilekè” is broken downwards into smaller tribes: Aghem, Babadjou, Bafang, Bafou, Bafoussam, Bagam, Baloum, Bamaha, Bamdendjina, Bamendjou, Bamenkoumbit, Bamenyam, Bana, Bandjoun, Bangangté,Bangoua, Bangwa, Bangwa-Fontem, Bapi, Batcham, Batchingou, Bati, Batié, Dschang, Fe'e Fe'e, Fomopea, Fongondeng, Foto, Fotouni, Mbouda. The Bamilekè percentage covers 6,196 foursquare kilometers as well as extends 5°-6° N as well as 10°-11° E. Northwest they are protected past times the Bamboutos Mountains located northwest as well as past times the Noun River on the southeast side of the tribe boundaries.

                                    Bandjoun Bamileke majestic palace inwards Cameroun

Brief history: Including some 100 kingdoms of chiefdoms inwards this bantu group. They are of varying size but similar inwards cosmology,social, as well as political structure. They all verbalize similar languages but some to a greater extent than specific to the immediate tribe. The Bamilekè refer to themselves equally Bamilekè when speaking with non- Bamilekè tribes but specify their kingdoms when speaking with other Bamilekè tribe members. The Bamilekè percentage is divided into 5 administrative divisions inwards the western province: Bamboutos, Haut-Nkam, Mifi, Menoua, as well as Nde.

                                         Bamileke people

Sexual sectionalization of production:  Both men as well as women run inwards merchandise of the marketplace identify as well as of farming the production itself. They work eight-day weekly cycles as well as inwards long distance inter-ethnic exchange. Men are by as well as large responsible for tree crops as well as clearing the fields for the women as well as edifice whatever fences that are needed. They are dominant inwards the acre of transportation; mainly men drive taxis as well as trucks since the pre-colonial interest inwards creature husbandry as well as war.

    Bamileke women of Republic of Cameroon dancing

Land tenure: The kings inwards each kingdom are the owners of all land. Then at that topographic point are quarter chiefs that distribute the province to the head males. The caput males as well as so distribute plots of province to their wives, non-inheriting brothers, as well as sisters. They nominate heirs as well as heiress who volition inherit the province as well as responsibleness of all dependents on the land.

                               Bamileke dancers

Ceramics: Religious sculptures are made for fertility, royalty, as well as wisdom.

   Lion Stool used past times notables of the Fon's (kings) of the Bamileke court. Bamileke people, Republic of Cameroon Grasslands.

The Bamileke tribe is governed past times a hamlet original who is supported past times a council of elders. In the past, the original was believed to have got supernatural powers that allowed him to plough into an creature (elephant, buffalo, or leopard). The original is responsible for the protection of his people, dispensing supreme justice, as well as ensuring the fertility of the crops as well as fields. 

Many of the fine art produced past times the Bamileke tribe associated with majestic ceremonies. Most Bamileke statues stand upward for the chief. Art objects showed the seat of a individual it the hierarchy. As a individual descended or ascended the social ladder the materials used as well as the release of pieces changed. In a chief’s residence i would detect ancestral figures as well as masks, equally good equally headdresses, bracelets, beaded thrones, pipes, necklaces, swords, horns, fans, elephant tusks, leopard skins, terra cotta pots, as well as dishware. All of this was used to assert the chief’s power. Beadwork as well as masks are mutual inwards this tribe. Masks were decorated with copper, cowrie shells, as well as beads. They were carved to stand upward for manful individual as well as woman individual heads, stag, buffalo, birds, as well as elephant. The elephant masks as well as the buffalo masks represented might as well as strength. Bamileke masks were usually worn during ceremonies as well as rituals such equally funerals as well as annual festivals. The fine art styles of the grassland tribes are had to differentiate because of the complex migration patterns of the region.             

Bamileke masquerader with a

beaded Leopard crest.

 In the Bamileke, the Kuosi society, who reports straight to the king, is responsible for dramatic masquerading displays.  This was formerly a warrior society, whose members today are made upward of powerful, wealthy men.  Even the manful individual monarch may don a mask for an appearance at aKuosi celebration which is a world trip the low-cal fantastic toe held every other twelvemonth equally a display of the kingdom's wealth.  In the picture to the left, you lot reckon the Kuosi masqueraders with their beaded elephant masks as well as feathered headressses.  These feathered headresses were also worn past times themselves with a textile costume.  The Kuosi  social club masks tin lavatory resemble elephants or leopards, both of which are majestic animals.

  

While Bamileke masks as well as masqueraders may seem inwards majestic festivals, they are commonly associated with diverse men's societies, almost of which are ultimately linked to the palace as well as the King.  The societies are unopen to outsiders, as well as only those who have got the authrization to partake inwards the diverse activities may hit so.  Each social club has its ain special house, its ain masks, costumes, dances as well as a hugger-mugger language, as well as acting on behalf of the manful individual monarch to institute monastic tell as well as to save social as well as religious structures of the kingdom.

One such social club if the Kwifo (meaning 'night') society, who acts equally a policing strength piece the manful individual monarch hears complaints as well as councils his people, carrying out punishments as well as executions at night.  Acting equally the kings agent, the Kwifo also mediates important conflicts as well as pronounces judgement inwards both civil as well as criminal cases.
Each Kwifo society has a mask which serves equally a spokesman as well as representaive.  Known as Mabu, this mask presents the decrees of the social club to the community.  It ushers the members of the Kwifo through the village, alerting the people of the approach of the group, as well as compelling them to acquit appropriately.  Other masks are credited with supernatural strength generated past times the 'medicine' of Kwifo, and embody the aggessive as well as terrifying nature of the society.  Because of the gravity of the events surrounding their arrival, the wearers hit non dance.

Stool Bamileke, 19th century,The Cleveland Museum of Art

Kwifo masks are usually worn inwards groups of anywhere from 8 to thirty, accompanied past times as well as orchestra bone drums, xylophone as well as rattles.  When they brand special apperances at the burial as well as commemorative decease celebrations of a fellow member of the group, they are viewed with awe as well as reverence.
The mask large, as well as helmet-shaped, would hold upward identify on top of the caput where it is worn at an angle, the masquerader's caput would hold upward covered with a textile through which he would hold upward able to see. The carved headdress alludes to that of a prestige cap worn past times kings as well as high dignitaries, (see below) so reminding viewers of the importance as well as high condition of this society. The Kwifo society masks are also known to hold upward carved with the basis spider motif (see pic above) which alludes to the awesome might of the ancestors as well as spirits. 

The hairstyle shown inwards this kwifo mask is commonly seen with the Bamun, Bamileke as well as Tikar, as well as a often featured on brass, bronze, as well as wooded sculpture. This majestic headdress is known as The Ndam Tcheu Dop in the Bamenda region, as well as asTcho Dung Dung in the Bandjan percentage of Cameroon.

Bamileke Forever

 It is the coiffure almost commonly reproduced past times sculptures when creating their masks as well as commemorative statues. It's root is from a majestic cap that was worn, the cap was knitted or crocheted from raffia or vegetable fibers.

 It featured 2 lobes or prominentlateral sections. It's uniquness comes from the fact that each lobe is spiked with a multitude of tails, bumps, blades, or tiny rolls of cloth, each concealing a slim wooden peg to stiffen it or continue it upright.  
To the correct is an representative of the afore mentioned cap, collected inwards the Bali-Nyonga kingdom of Republic of Cameroon in 1911. It is believed to have got been used past times royals inwards a ritual context during initiation ceremonies as well as the enthronement of an of import individual. 

Marriage: Bamileke practise polygynous marriage. At a immature historic menstruation the man child to men volition seek to gain a championship as well as coin to hold upward respected to buy a bride. There are married adult woman givers as well as married adult woman receivers. “In bride-price marriage, the groom gains reproductive, sexual, as well as domestic rights by giving gifts of palm oil, goats, blankets, firewood, as well as coin to the solid unit of measurement of his bride.” The bride’s manful individual parent as well as the groom never do
the bride cost exchange. The manful individual parent of the bride gains rights over the wedlock on the patrilineal side of his daughter. “Christian marriage tin lavatory nevertheless select identify with or without bride-wealth, wedlock past times a judge of the peace, elopement, as well as unmarried parenthood.” The bride cost depends on the amount of pedagogy the adult woman has but also on how much the groom might to pay is. The term for marriage is to “to create inside” that symbolizes the women’s confidence to her kitchen. This is a literal term for the adult woman to create each repast for
her married adult man but to also “cook” or procreate children.

 Bamileke initiates dancing at Bandjoun

Inheritance patterns: The Bamiléké people have got emphasis on the manful individual lineage through agnatic relations. Patrilineal decent determines the membership of the hamlet equally good equally who gets ownership of the titles, land, compound, as well as wives. “For non-heirs, the obligation to sacrifice to patrilineal skulls ceases after 2 generations. Matrilineal descent determines inheritance of titles, movable property, and moral as well as legal obligation to lineage members.”

                          Bamileke chief

Parent-offspring interactions as well as conflict: There is some competition with wives of i human being but inwards some cases at that topographic point is tight relations as well as warm companionship. Some older co-wives are assigned to younger ones equally a “foster” mother. Full siblings tend to have got a close bond to the woman parent as well as solid unit of measurement piece one-half siblings grapple for attending as well as inheritance. “Social roles are learned through representative and through stories told only about the mother's hearth at mealtimes. Bamiléké written report especially warm relations with total siblings, as well as refer
to hearthside commensality as well as storytelling equally the source of this solidarity.” Mothers pay the role inwards kid rearing but sometimes the an older sibling or co-wife volition assist with aid piece the woman parent is working. The Bamiléké are exogamous, preventing patrilineal links upward to the quaternary generation from marrying. Also preventing wedlock with the matrilineal kin.

       Bamileke women wearing their traditional indigo wearing clothing as well as performing trip the low-cal fantastic toe at their Weh festival inwards Yaounde

Father is called heir as well as the woman parent is the heiress. Cousins are referred to past times sibling names but are
distinguished inwards everyday language. There are special sibling terms that are referred to inwards monastic tell of birth. Also some other shout out for twins, children born next a laid of twins, as well as at that topographic point is a complex scheme of praise names that denote the hamlet root of woman parent and father. Generations also have got a given shout out to specify kingdoms as well as divisions age.

Circumcised initiated Bamileke boy

Patterns of descent (e.g., bilateral, matrilineal) for for certain rights, names or associations: “The political implications of hometown associations focuses on manful individual elites.” The Bamiléké have got emphasis on the manful individual lineage through agnatic relations. Patrilineal decent determines the membership of the hamlet equally good equally who gets ownership of the titles, land, compound, as well as wives. “For non-heirs, the obligation to sacrifice to patrilineal skulls ceases after 2 generations. Matrilineal descent determines inheritance of titles, movable
property, as well as moral as well as legal obligation to lineage members.” Sons seek to institute province close their father. “Young men were organized into warrior associations such equally mandjo.”

 Kareyce Fotso, bamileke musician


Political system: (chiefs, clans etc, wealth or condition classes):  There were kings who owned all province as well as so trickled downwards a laddered hierarchy to women of the province owning men. Bamilekè boys inwards their youth acquire out seeking jobs inwards render for cash to purchase consumer goods, bride wealth, as well as to gain title.

                        Bamileke Chief Hapi  IV

Village as well as solid organization: The kingdoms are divided into quarters, villages, compounds, as well as houses. The kingdom government and direction alive inwards the “quarter” also referred to equally the “village”. If the solid unit of measurement were monogamous as well as so the living arrangement would consist of a conjugal house, a kitchen, as well as an outhouse. If the solid unit of measurement were polygynous the living scheme would consist of just “the husbands solid surrounded past times a semi-circle or 2 rectangular “quarters” of his wives’ kitchen-houses.” The wives alive inwards their kitchen houses with their children. The children (boys an
d girls) volition alive at that topographic point until they acquire married or travel off to school. The kitchen solid has i room with a hearth inwards the middle as well as a granary of raffia bamboo inwards a higher identify the hearth.

 They are almost commonly made out of mud bricks as well as roofed with thatch or tin. The solid used to hold upward made of raffia bamboo with sliding doors as well as thatch with conical roofs. They would all hold upward square. During the pre-colonial era, rural compounds commonly had a fence. They rarely hit nowadays. All of the
royal houses follow a specific flooring computer program as well as are ever located/built on a slope. “Below an entry gate made of spines of the raffia palm ("bamboo") as well as either thatch or corrugated iron, a broad path (the "foot" of the compound) divides the 2 wives' quarters, each quarter ruled past times titled queens.”

Bamileke Sharing of Love (this functioning with my husband, serge olivier fokoua, is the proof of the highest expession of dearest betwixt a human being as well as his wife. the "NKUI", viscous sauce from Bamiléké people is at the pump of this exchange. this traditional repast is eaten during pregnancy or after childbirth)


Specialized hamlet structures (mens’ houses): “A gate leads to the king's palace, a multifariousness of coming together houses of hugger-mugger societies, a traditional courtroom building, as well as a sacred H2O source used only for the king's meals.” They consider the are inwards a higher identify the gate to hold upward “dry and infertile” piece the surface area below the gate is considered “rich, moist, fertile, as well as spiritually complicated.”

                   Bamileke Chief`s palace

Bamileke human being inwards his traditional dress

COUNTRY OF THE WEEK: Bamileke: The "Jews Of Cameroon"

Trade: The Bamiléké merchandise agriculture goods, game, pocket-sized livestock for salt, palm oil, as well as Fe hoes. Trade markets grew during the colonial as well as post-colonial eras. “Both local as well as European goods were bought or bartered.” The entrepreneurs are known for being aggressive. They dominate the taxi as well as transportation inwards almost sectors they are associated with.

Drum, Bamileke, Cameroon

 Bamileke art, woman parent breastfeeding her child

Specialization (shamans as well as medicine): The community had diviners as well as spirit medians that create upward one's hear the demand for a ceremony and in healing. Healers as well as witches job the same supernatural powers.Many healers combine divination with herbal medicine. In the past, diviners, spirit mediums, as well as religious specialists had higher condition than herbalists. This relation is at i time reversing, along with a tendency toward to a greater extent than private as well as fee-for-service treatment. Contemporary Bamiléké seek medical assistance from both private as well as world hospitals as well as clinics equally good equally from their rich array of traditional practitioners (see “Religious Practitioners”).

KAREYCE FOTSO ''KWEGNE'' (CAMERUN,2010) @ [256k]

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KAREYCE FOTSO 
''KWEGNE'' 
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Kareyce Fotso's Afro-folk
H5N1 rising novel star from Cameroon
Paris
04/11/2009 -

Aspiring immature Cameroonian vocalizer Kareyce Fotso has made it to the finals of RFI's "Découvertes" honor (to hold upward held inwards the Togolese capital, Lomé, on 25 November.) After honing her functioning skills touring with the grouping Korongo Jam, Kareyce has at i time launched a promising solo career. RFI Musique profiles the rising novel star of Afro-folk.

Kareyce Fotso's phonation has a soothing character to it, enveloping the room inwards a sense of calm the infinitesimal she starts to speak. Kareyce famously worked her charm on the jury at the sixth "Jeux de la Francophonie" competition organised inwards the Lebanese working capital alphabetic character inwards Oct 2009, her soft, velvet tones winning her the silvery medal inwards Beirut's prestigious "chanson" contest. Too nervous to hold back upward front end with the balance of the audience for the results that night, the Cameroonian vocalizer fled backstage to her dressing-room. "People kept coming as well as knocking on my door," she remembers, "but I couldn't select myself to travel out. When they announced the winners my showtime reaction was to interruption downwards inwards tears. At that instant all I wanted was to hold upward dorsum domicile with my solid unit of measurement as well as friends, sharing my happiness with everyone who'd believed inwards me. I wanted to allow them know they'd backed the correct horse, after all!"

Although Kareyce was pleased equally punch with her silvery medal, she nearly did non brand the trip to Beirut for "Les Jeux de la Francophonie." To earn her identify on the Cameroonian delegation, she was required to qualify at a preliminary competition organised past times the Ministry of Culture inwards her homeland at the halt of 2008. Kareyce did non fancy her chances equally good much as well as it was only after much insistence from a sculptor friend that she agreed to seat her shout out downwards inwards the showtime place. On the morn of the competition Kareyce turned upward belatedly as well as got roundly ticked off past times the jury. What's more, dissimilar her competition candidates, she turned upward to perform alone, accompanying herself on phase on guitar. "I never made a deliberate conclusion to perform solo," she says," That's only the way it happened. I didn't desire to telephone yell upward my musicians to travel with me because I was feeling a fleck rushed into things, a fleck pressurised to seat inwards an appearance. But I got a standing ovation after my solo functioning as well as it was at that shout out for that I started thinking perchance I didn't demand a backing band on stage."

From biochemistry to musical chemistry

H5N1 few weeks after the national rut for the "Jeux de la Francophonie", Kareyce applied to select purpose inwards the "Visas pour la création" programme organised past times CulturesFrance. Her dossier was accepted as well as the immature Cameroonian vocalizer won a grant to come upward to French Republic as well as select upward a three-month residency inwards Bourges inwards May 2009. Here, Kareyce got to run with the French percussionist François Kokelaere (renowned for forming a release of groups including Les Percussions de Guinée) who took on the role of her artistic director. "François got me to hold back inwards the mirror as well as reckon myself equally I actually am," Kareyce recalls, "That experience helped me avoid falling into whatever form of caricature. And it went way beyond music, too. I felt equally though I'd genuinely discovered myself for the showtime fourth dimension inwards my life."

Prior to her arrival inwards Bourges, Kareyce spent 6 years honing her functioning skills equally a dancer as well as backing vocalizer with Korongo Jam (a Cameroonian grouping to whom François Kokelaere also acted equally an advisor.) Her talent was originally spotted piece she was nevertheless a educatee at the University of Yaoundé. Here, she started out studying biochemistry which she describes equally "the worst fourth dimension of my life - I was literally bored to tears!" Kareyce eventually swapped to hit a course of instruction inwards audiovisual communication but music remained the non bad dearest of her life. Her father, a professional person sculptor all equally good familiar with the precariousness of the artistic life, had banned his children from pursuing a career inwards the arts. But Kareyce's brother, who was sent to boarding schoolhouse to acquire him away from the music scene, in conclusion persuaded his parents to allow his sis follow her dreams. Kareyce was allowed to indulge her passion for music so long equally she got skillful grades at schoolhouse as well as the talented youngster managed to hit both at the same time, keeping her classmates amused inwards schoolhouse past times performing her ain versions of cartoon subject tunes.

Kareyce, who grew upward listening to traditional lullabies sung past times her woman parent (a Bamileke "weeper" hired to mourn at funerals), also claims the Cameroonian bikutsi vocalizer Anne-Marie Nzié equally i of her greatest mentors. "Anne-Marie Nzié has i of the greatest voices inwards the world," Kareyce declares, "She was the i who taught me to sing. I never came into personal contact with her, but I listened to her music all the time." Kareyce also cites Miriam Makeba, B.B. King, Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, Ismaël Lo, Cesaria Evora as well as the famous Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona equally formative influences. After 6 years with Korongo Jam, Kareyce says she felt "psychologically as well as emotionally ready" to embark upon a solo career, fifty-fifty if that meant financing the recording of her debut album herself. Her acoustic Afro-folk sound took shape inwards the studio with Mulato, an album lately released inwards Cameroon. "'Mulato' way someone of mixed root similar myself!" Kareyce says, "I'm a Bamileke, but I was born as well as grew upward with the Beti. What I wanted to hit on my album was limited how incredibly rich life becomes when you lot tin lavatory push clit on both cultures at once!"
Bertrand Lavaine
Translation : Julie Street
Source

1. So'a

2. Peu Be

3. Mayole

4. Lomdiieu

5. Parler Frances

6. Sea Chant

7. KoDJieu

8. Kuichoueu

9. Goun

10. Po'a Lag

11. Mindzouck Missi

Source:https://haftshappenings.blogspot.com/search?q=kareyce-fotso-camerun2010-256k

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