The Makonde are an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique. The Makonde developed their culture on the Mueda Plateau in Mozambique. At present they live throughout Tanzania and Mozambique and have a small presence in Kenya.
The Makonde successfully resisted predation by African, Arab, and European slavers. They did not fall under colonial power until the 1920s. During the 1960s the revolution which drove the Portuguese out of Mozambique was launched from the Makonde homeland of the Mueda Plateau. At one period this revolutionary movement known as ‘Frelimo’ derived a part of its financial support from the sale of Makonde carvings. The Makonde are best known for their wood carvings and their observances of puberty rites.
They speak Makonde, also known as ChiMakonde, a Bantu language closely related to Yao. The Makonde are traditionally a matrilineal society where children and inheritances belong to women, and husbands move into the village of their wives. Their traditional religion is an animistic form of ancestor worship and still continues, although Makonde of Tanzania are nominally Muslim and those of Mozambique are Catholic or Muslim. In Makonde rituals, when a girl becomes a woman, Muidini is the best dancer out of the group of girls undergoing the rituals.
The art of the Makonde must be subdivided into different areas. The Makonde traditionally carve household objects, figures and masks. After the 1930s, the Portuguese colonizers and other missionaries arrived at the Makonde plateau. They immediately showed great interest and fascination for the Makonde wood carvings and began to order different pieces, from religious until political “eminences.” The Makonde sculptors, after noticing such interest, decided to carve the new pieces using pau-preto (ebony wood, Diospyros ebenum) and pau-rosa (Swartzia spp.) instead of the soft and non long-lasting wood they had used before. This first contact with the Western culture can be considered to be the first introduction of the classical european style into the traditional Makonde style. Since the 1950s years the so called Modern Makonde Art has been developed. An essential step was the turning to abstract figures, mostly spirits, Shetani, that play a special role. Makonde are also part of the important contemporary artists of Africa today. The most internationally acknowledged such artist was George Lilanga who (1934–2005) gained world renown with his shetani sculptures and paintings.
The unique Mapiko masks, have been used in coming-of-age rituals since before contact was made with missionaries in the 19th century. These masks are carved from a single block of light wood (usually ‘sumaumeira brava’) and may represent spirits (‘shetani’), ancestors, or living characters (real or idealized). The dancer wears them so that he sees through the mask’s mouth and the mask faces straight when he bends forward. Unusually realistic heads, they include strong, portrait-like features; real human hair applied in shaved patterns and raised facial scarification. They represented an ancestral spirit in initiation ceremonies and served to express their moral code.
Male Makonde dancers, taking the role of a woman in a ceremonial ritual would, in addition to a helmet mask, wear a female body mask. Carved thin, painted, tied onto the torso and combined with mimicry of female movements the body masks created an effective illusion.
Makonde game boards range from everyday objects with monumental, simple forms to ornate pieces bringing status to the owner. They all show the creativity and power Africans put into functional objects.
Three styles of modern Makonde wood carving can be identified:
Shetani. According to the Makonde, shetani are creatures that neither human nor animal. They occur in five forms: human, mammal, fish, bird and reptile. Shetani are believed to be still around, though most artist never actually saw one (many claim that their parents and teachers did encounter shetani). The sculptures are often heavily deformed giving it an abstract appearance. A large number of different shetani exist, each with their own purpose and powers (not always evil). There is a contemporary East African shetani cult, and reports of sightings of individual shetani are cyclical, with Popo Bawa panics having occurred in 1995 in Zanzibar and 2007 in Dar es Salaam.
Ujamaa: Ujamaa is Swahili for the ideology behind Tanzania’s socialist politics, back in the 1960’s. The name ujamaa is given to this style during a 1967 exhibition. Before this the style was referred to as dimingo (Bantu for strength). The ujamaa sculptures are characterised by poles of people, displaying everyday activities. There is always one big figure at the top of the pole, nowadays often female. The “Tree of Life” depicts the members of an extended family, including past and present generations, gently supporting each other, generation after generation, around the family ancestor. This motif speaks to a common human ancestral heritage–all that we have achieved collectively in our various civilizations has been literally built upon the backs of those who came before. “Tree of Life” carvings can be as large as six feet tall, encompassing the work of one carver for at least nine months. They exhibit an intricacy of design and detail which would not be possible to achieve in a wood less dense and strong than mpingo.
Mawingu: Mawingu is Swahili for ‘clouds’. With this style, the aim is not to depict a clear image but more to work with forms, inspired on the early morning clouds. It is nearest to the western conception of modern art.
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