Baga bird called a-Bamp or a-Bemp, Guinea
48" tall x 15" wide
wood, pigment
This object is being sold on consignment from a private collection.
"At adolescence, young boys of the Baga enter a new stage. They form wrestling groups, and much of their ritual has to
do with combat.
They also continue to conduct their own ritual, some of which involves masquerade. A headdress shaped as the figure of
a large bird has long been one of the most popular masquerades of young men and boys. It is called 'the bird' -'a-Bemp'
or 'a-Bamp'.The basic headdress is simply a bird form with a long neck, a long beak, a pot-bellied body, and broad striped
wings over the back. A stake extends down from its belly, used to insert into an armature that the dancer wears on his
head.
The headdress can range in form from softly naturalistic to extravagantly abstract and composite. Many of these figures
bear twin miniature birds on their backs, often in conjunction with a miniature house. A checkerboard pattern often
appears on the bird's front.
There are infinite departures from this basic form. Attachments may depict the Baga woman, model canoes, and
airplanes. Some examples are almost completely abstract and extremely complex, incorporating bird and serpent forms as
well as indeterminate geometric shapes.
One detail stands out, as a curiosity, in all this; the model house. A house is also seen on another headdress, the Banda.
The house is the symbol par excellence of the gratification of sexual desire. Traditionally, it was only at marriage,
preceded by the requisite initiation, that the young man built his own house. It was to this house that his brothers carried
his bride on their shoulders following her marriage, and it was this little house that his marriage was consummated.
The a-Bamp headdress does not consistently represent any particular bird in nature. Many examples have head crests,
suggesting the elegant large stalking birds of the sea inlets with their crowning tufts of feathers. The dance of the a-Bamp
is athletic. The dance skips around the perimeter of the circle formed by the audience. He crouches and then leaps up; or,
crouching, he tilts to the right and left. Occasionally he may twirl, accelerating his steps, and end by lifting the headdress
above his head and spinning it around. Accompanying the dancer are men beating the large slit gong, box drums and
smaller drums suspended under their arms. The dance generally takes place at night, so a young man may follow a-Bamp
with a torch made from a lit bundle of grass."
Source: Art of the Baga
$400 (Please note: this object is too large to ship out of North America)
To inquire about this object, send an email to RAND@DiscoverAfricanArt.com with a subject line of "Baga bird"
Despite it's appearance, I believe this object was made specifically for the collecting market.
If you're in the market for an old and authentic Baga a-Bamp, click here to go to one for sale at the Hamill Gallery.
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