Source [1-3]: @amyasnaegele (amyasnaegele.com)
Source [4]: (www.poussecornet.com)
Source [5-6]: Victor Bloomfield Photo (victorbloomfieldphoto.blogspot.com)
Source notes [1-3]: “The Kabiye live on the northern plains of Togo east into the hills that form the border with Benin and in the countryside immediately across the frontier. They are Togo’s second largest ethnic group after the Ewe and related to the Gurunsi of Burkina Faso. Iron ore deposits in the region such as in Banjeli in the neighboring Bassar ethnic region provided early material for the development of black smithing skills. Every five years the Kabiye celebrate Habye, an intense male dominated exhibition of magical power involving dance, demonstrations of deliberately strange behavior and intense percussive music involving gongs of this type accompanied by flutes and horns. This rare gong, with its original striker was collected by the art dealer Ibrahim Kao, himself a Kabiye by birth, in the 1990’s. 12.5 in long.”
Source notes [4]: “Ceremonial gong made of two wrought iron plates joined at the top and base by a handle. This gong was also used as a medium of exchange. Dim: 33.5x21 cm.”
Source notes [5-6]: “Sunday, April 14, 2019. Kabye Blacksmithing and Pottery. We visited a Togo village inhabited by the Kabiye people. They are noted for doing blacksmithing with rocks instead of hammers and anvils…”
