Antelope dance crest "sogi ni kun"
Museum für Völkerkunde, Hamburg, Germany (1911)
Sepp Arnemann, Hamburg, Germany (1965)
Description
wood, dim dark brown patina, miniature glass beads, attached to a grass fibre bonnet, male type because of the high towering horns, depicting a roan antelope (“hippotragus equinus”), tufts of animal hair on top, fixed by cord, slightly dam., rep. (left horn), paint rubbed off;
present antelope dance crest was collected in situ by Leo Frobenius on his III. Africa Expedition. In 1911 it was acquired by the Völkerkunde Museum Hamburg: “Kauf, d. 2. Jan. 1911: Leo Frobenius III. Reise”. The dance crest got the inventory number “11.1:429”. In June 1965 the object was given away in exchange. Each information is based on the records of the Völkerkundemuseum Hamburg. From the same Frobenius Expedition there are three comparable pieces in the Völkerkundemuseum Hamburg today (J. Zwernemann/W. Lohse, Hamburg 1985, ill. 66, 67, 68). At the Ethnographic picture library of the Frobenius-Institute, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt there is a drawing of present dance crest, which can be found with the data base “KBA 03139 Mali”.
“Sogi ni kun” describes a head crest as well as a masquerade. It came to being in the Wasolon area and was established in the neighbouring regions as well. Just like the “tjiwara” society, the “sogi ni kun” is an association of juveniles (“ton”). The mask dancers appear at working competitions which take place in the villages or on the fields.