Thursday, January 16, 2020

Masks and Music from the Congo


Last Saturday I went to the Musical Instrument Museum to see a special exhibit they have showing a variety of masks and musical instruments of the various regions of the Congo.

It was a beautiful exhibit with lots of videos and audio to go with the different tribal areas.























As you can see, along with the masks and instruments, there were also full costumes worn for the masquerades.

Masquerades take place in different parts of the Congo for a variety of reasons.  Anything from simple entertainment, demonstrations of power to connections with the spirit world.

It was a fascinating exhibit.  I'll show you a few more photos tomorrow.

12 comments:

biebkriebels said...

I think they always look a bit frightening those masks...

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Some of the masks and costumes are quite frightening. I grew up in Zambia, the Congo was our neighbour 😊

Catarina said...

I have only two masks similar to those. Smaller ones.

RedPat said...

They certainly don't look friendly. I particularly like that 2nd one, Sharon.

Steve Reed said...

Love it! African masks and carvings are so interesting. I'm glad they had video & audio to go with them.

Bill said...

Pretty impressive masks. I really like the second one too. The ones that have on a costume are scary looking.

William Kendall said...

These are fascinating.

R's Rue said...

Beautiful.

Kay said...

Masks are really interesting. I imagine if you add in traditional music they're pretty amazing.

diane b said...

Banjo , my grandson,would like to see these.

Gemel said...

Love these, really arty and creative.

Jack said...

African masks can be captivating, can't they?