The Bambara tribe of Mali live mainly in the triangle created by two tributaries of the Niger River, known as the Bambara region. Although their economy is sustenance-based, they are a people of great ritual and tradition, and it shows in their uniquely beautiful artifacts.
Their tribal initiation requires years of studies of ancestral knowledge. Each stage of the initiation has its own ritual, and its own mask. Dancing is a large part of their culture, with the public witnessing masked dances of the Bambara in celebration of the end of a man’s seven-year initiation. Several areas of Bambara society are represented in their figures and masks. The thin lipped ntomo, the koré masks are often shown as animals, and the nama are for spiritual protection. Their statuary, often celebrating the female figure, is to ensure fertility among couples.
