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Songye

The power-figure carvers of the Lomami — whose nkisi statues bristling with horn, nails and copper are among Africa's most formidable objects, and whose kifwebe striated masks belong to a society that could police a chief.

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Songye people

Songye people

Image of an African Songye Power Figure in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (2005.21)-EDIT.jpg · Wikimedia Commons

Identity

Population: ≈ 1–1.5 million in south-central DRC

Location: Between the Lomami and Lualaba rivers in Kasai-Oriental, Lomami and Haut-Lomami provinces — Kabinda, Lubao and Tshofa

Language: Kisongye (Songye)

Language family: Niger-Congo → Bantu (L23)

Traditional governance: Chiefdoms under the yakitenge/kikoshi with councils; the bwadi bwa kifwebe society — masked, feared, and empowered to enforce, tax and discipline, including against chiefs themselves; patrilineal descent with strong clan structures.

Clans, Sections & Sub-groups (3)

Most African peoples are federations of named sub-groups (clans, sections, chiefdoms or sub-tribes), each with its own dialect, territory and traditions.

Eastern Songye (Kalebwe, Eki)

Of the Lomami-Lualaba interfluve; makers of the classic power figures.

Belande, Tempa, Sanga

Regional groups with distinct mask and figure styles.

Bwadi bwa kifwebe

The masking society that cuts across chiefdoms, holding policing and ritual authority.

Culture

Clothing: Raffia cloth and hides historically; chiefly regalia of skins, feathers and copper; kifwebe dancers in full raffia costume with the striated mask and beard; copper and iron ornament from the region's rich metal tradition.

Food: Cassava and maize with palm oil, beans and river fish; the Lomami's fishing and the savanna-forest gardens; palm wine and maize beer at ritual.

Ceremonies: Kifwebe masquerades at investitures, funerals and moments of social crisis; the commissioning and 'charging' of nkisi power figures by ritual specialists; chiefly enthronement and ancestor rites.

Marriage customs: Bridewealth in copper, cloth and livestock; patrilineal descent and residence; chiefly polygyny binding lineages to the court.

Initiation rites: Entry into the kifwebe society by grade, with mask lore and the society's secret language; boys' initiation with circumcision; apprenticeship to the nganga ritual specialists who charge the power figures.

Food & Recipes

Every dish the Atlas publishes for Democratic Republic of the Congo, at national rather than community level — 12 in all: the staple a household eats daily, the dish the country names as its own, street food, what is cooked for a wedding or Eid, regional specialities and a drink. Quantities and method are given for every one, so these are recipes rather than descriptions, and each has a photograph from Wikimedia Commons. The Food page carries the whole continent, searchable by country and by ingredient.

StapleDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Fufu

Cassava and maize flour beaten into a firm dough, the daily food of most of the Congo. Rolled in the fingers, dented with the thumb, and used to scoop.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

StapleDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Madesu

also Congolese beans, Haricots

Red beans stewed with onion, tomato and palm oil until thick, the cheapest and most eaten dish in Kinshasa. Served with fufu or rice and a spoon of chilli.

Serves 6 · 2 hours, plus overnight soaking

National dishDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Poulet à la Moambé

also Moambe chicken, Nsusu na mwambe

Chicken cooked in palm nut pulp with chilli and garlic, the national dish of both Congos. The palm oil rising orange to the surface is the sign it is ready.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

National dishDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Ntaba

also Grilled goat, Chèvre braisée

Goat marinated in mustard, garlic and lemon then grilled slowly over charcoal, the Kinshasa nganda dish, eaten late with plantain and beer.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 4 hours marinating

Street foodDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Mikate

also Beignets

Fried dough balls sold from basins by women at every Kinshasa junction, eaten hot at breakfast or as a snack with sweet coffee.

Serves Makes 24 · 2 hours 15 minutes

Street foodDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Makemba

also Grilled plantain, Banane braisée

Plantain grilled over charcoal until blistered and served with a fierce pili-pili, sold outside every Kinshasa bar and bus stop.

Serves 4 · 25 minutes

Festival & feastDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Liboke ya Mbisi

Fish steamed in a banana leaf parcel with onion, chilli and lime, the Congo river's signature method. Opened at the table so the steam and smell arrive together.

Serves 4 · 1 hour

Festival & feastDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Mbika

also Egusi in leaves, Pumpkin seed parcels

Ground melon seed mixed with fish or meat, wrapped in leaves and steamed until it sets into a savoury cake. A Congolese celebration dish and a market food.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Regional specialityDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Pondu

also Saka saka

Pounded cassava leaves cooked long with palm oil, smoked fish and aubergine. Eaten across the Congo basin and cooked for hours, since cassava leaves demand it.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 45 minutes

Regional specialityDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Sombe ya Kivu

also Kivu cassava leaves, Sombe

Cassava leaves pounded and cooked long with palm oil and smoked fish, the daily dish of the Kivu hills. Bitter, dark and cooked until it no longer is.

Serves 6 · 2 hours

Drink & sweetDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Malafu ya Ngasi

also Palm wine

Palm wine tapped from the oil palm and drunk the same day, sweet in the morning and sharp by evening. Poured for the ancestors before anyone else drinks.

Serves Varies · Tapped daily

Drink & sweetDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Lotoko

also Congolese maize spirit

Distilled maize or cassava spirit, made in the villages and drunk everywhere. Clear, strong and entirely unregulated — this is a description of a tradition rather than a recommendation.

Serves Varies · 5 to 7 days fermenting, plus distilling

Stories & Oral Literature

The Figure That Must Be FedRitual tradition

A Songye nkisi begins as a carving, but only becomes powerful when the nganga packs its horn, abdomen and head with bishimba — medicines of earth, plant, animal and human substances — and drives in nails, copper strips and hide. It then belongs to the whole community, kept apart, fed, consulted and feared. The Songye did not make sculptures; they made instruments.

The Masks That Discipline the ChiefSociety tradition

The male kifwebe mask — aggressive, crested, striated in black, white and red — belongs to a society that could levy fines, enforce judgements and intimidate even the chief who thought himself above the community. The female mask, white and smooth-crested, brings calm and fertility. Authority and its check, carved and danced.

Proverbs

“The figure is only wood until the medicine enters.”

Form without substance has no power.

“The mask has no relatives.”

Institutional justice is impartial — it can strike anyone.

“Copper shines because someone dug it.”

Wealth and beauty rest on labour.

Mythology & Spiritual Beliefs

Creation: Efile Mukulu, the supreme God, created the world and humanity; the ancestors and the medicines of the earth carry usable power; the nganga specialists channel this into figures and masks, while witchcraft (buchi) is the shadow the society's institutions exist to control.

Beliefs: Efile Mukulu above; ancestral spirits and the bishimba medicines that make figures powerful; the kifwebe society as spiritual police; divination to identify causes; Christianity widespread today with power-figure traditions largely historical but culturally central.

Ancestors: Ancestral substance is among the medicines that charge a community figure; chiefly ancestors legitimate the throne; the masks embody forces that outlast individuals.

Gods, Goddesses & Spirits

Efile Mukulu

The supreme creator God of the Songye cosmos

The nkisi figures

Charged sculptures holding communal protective power

Kifwebe spirits

The masked forces of the policing society — male aggression and female calm

Architecture

Traditional settlements: Villages of rectangular pole-and-mud houses with gabled thatch; the chief's compound and the society's mask-house; storage huts for the community's nkisi kept apart from ordinary dwellings.

Building techniques: Pole and daub with thatch; copper and iron smithing — the region lies at the edge of the Katanga copper belt; carving workshops producing figures and masks for chiefs and societies.

Village layout: Chief's compound and the kifwebe mask-house at the centre; the nkisi's own shelter at a careful distance; farmland and river beyond.

Artifacts

Nkisi power figures

Sculpture

Community protective statues packed with medicines and studded with copper, nails and horn.

Kifwebe masks

Masks

Striated black-white-red masks — aggressive male and serene female — of the policing society.

Copper and iron regalia

Metalwork

Axes, staffs and ornament from a people at the edge of the Katanga copper belt.

Carved stools and headrests

Carving

Chiefly furniture of the Songye courts.

Historical Timeline

  1. c. 1500–1700

    Songye chiefdoms consolidate between the Lomami and Lualaba, culturally linked to the neighbouring Luba.

  2. 18th–19th c.

    The kifwebe society and the community nkisi tradition reach their classic forms; copper and ivory trade links east and west.

  3. 1880s–1900s

    Swahili-Arab raiding and then Congo Free State conquest disrupt the region; many figures and masks are collected or destroyed.

  4. 20th c.

    Songye power figures and kifwebe masks become icons of African art in world museums; missionisation transforms religious practice.

  5. Present

    Songye communities within DRC; the art tradition continues for market and festival, and the historical figures anchor restitution debates.

Sources & Further Reading

Premium & scholarly sources