Sunday, June 26, 1994
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Section: Travel
Page: L-12

Shopping: Tanzania and Kenya; Artistry in Ebony; Carvings Tell Lyrical Tales of African Odysseys and Attitudes;

By: LEE BROWN
Brown is a professor at San Diego State and an amateur art collector

The Makonde people came north to the Dar es Salaam area from
Mozambique, before the turn of this century, moving north across the
Ruvuma River into what then was Tanganyika. The neighboring tribes had
called them "Mahwia," the angry ones, perhaps because they had a
reputation as fierce warriors against the Mozambique colonial forces. The
carvers in each Makonde village--those who fashioned the ebony sculptures
used in adulthood initiations and other ceremonies--naturally moved north
with their fellow villagers and began a remarkable artistic tradition
that came to have many copiers, a few credible, many not.

Now, nearly a century later, the majority of Makonde-style art is not
produced by Makonde carvers, the wood used is rarely ebony, Tanganyika
now is Tanzania and the Mahwia anger seems lost, even to the contemporary
Makonde, in the harsh mists of the Ruvuma River and the oral fragments of
unwritten history.

Travelers will encounter so-called "Makonde carvings" in curio shops,
at roadside stands, dusty village markets, airports, art galleries,
street corners, hotel gift shops and museums throughout East Africa. But
"Makonde carvings" is a term that might better be expressed as
Makonde-style carvings.

Makonde-style carvings are contemporary, abstract and finely crafted,
setting them apart from most other African art.

The Makonde people tend to be associated with the tropical coastal
strip and adjoining savannah that runs from northern Kenya south through
Tanzania and Mozambique. The artistic center seems to be around Dar es
Salaam, but workshops exist throughout the area. Makonde-style carvings
now may be found everywhere in East Africa, and in particular abundance
in commercial and tourist centers such as Nairobi, Malindi and Mombasa in
Kenya, and in Dar and Arusha in Tanzania. We also shopped in Nairobi and
found some fine carvings there.

Makonde carving has come to be appreciated by Europeans, as well as
Americans, although it is not well represented in museums outside
Germany. It is said to be particularly appreciated in Asia, and a special
society was formed in Japan for lovers of the art after Expo '70, when
the Tanzanian government sent Makonde artists and artifacts to Osaka,
Japan.

The Tanzanian government established the National Cottage Industries
Corp. in 1965 to help train, support and encourage artistic and related
production at the village and cottage levels. It established connections
with Moscow and former East Germany in the early 1970s.

*

The earliest Makonde carvings were female figures--the Makonde are
matrilineal (of female lineage)--and mpiko (helmet masks). Only
later did the sculptures represent men and women in daily activities: a
drummer, perhaps, or a smoker, or a woman with a child or a pot. Some
mpiko are available in antique shops and since they are antiques, and
possibly rare, are generally quite expensive.

With the influx of tourism to Tanzania in the 1950s and 1960s, new
styles and forms merged with the old to meet a rapidly expanding,
relatively affluent market.

One of these is the stylized depiction of shetani (spirits or
devils), a particular combination of the graceful and the grotesque. In
Makonde legend, shetani are forest or bush spirits, occasionally
dangerous to man, varying from the size of a finger to larger than a man.
Depending on who one asks, there are scores or even hundreds of different
kinds of shetani.

Shetani, travelers are told, never eat prepared food (preferring
raw food, including raw meat) frequently drink blood, engage in athletic
mating and have their own societies. The shetani sculptures are
characterized by spindly limbs and, usually, at least one exaggerated
body part, usually a head, sometimes a reproductive organ. Often they are
carved carrying weapons, such as a spear or knife. Most appear fearsome
as well as fanciful, sometimes with heads resembling pterodactyls with
lip plugs. Some carvers claim to have an older relative or associate who
actually has seen a shetani.

A more recent carving development is a style referred to as
ujamaa . Ujamaa frequently is a fairly representational
depiction of a strong father or mother figure draped from shoulder to
ankle with intertwined, clinging children. Ujamaa (which is
visually represented by the tree or family of life) was part of the
national philosophy propounded by Tanzania's first president, Julius
Nyerere, and is not unlike the family values theme that characterized
George Bush's 1992 presidential campaign. Ujamaa carvings are by
no means limited to Makonde, although that is a principal association.
Many shoppers will find the stalwart ujamaa more pleasant--if
less dramatic and iconoclastic--than shetani.

A third form associated with the Makonde carvers is sometimes referred
to as "clouds" or "sky" or mawingu. The style is characterized by
a cylindrical latticework of intertwined, abstract, human figures, both
male and female, evoking a feeling of elation. The cylinder is usually
hollow or, when it isn't, the graceful figures are separated from the
solid core of wood that forms the cylinder center, almost as if they were
dancing around it. These carvings, like some ujamaa, sometimes
are more than four feet high and command prices approaching $1,000 each.

*

Size is only one of the factors that drive Makonde carving prices.
Another is quality of workmanship and attention to detail. A third is the
marketplace; a gallery quality piece offered for sale in a roadside stand
will command less than it would in a gallery. Part of the fun in the
roadside purchase, where Makonde-style pieces often sell for $20 to $30,
is the bartering. Sometimes competitors gather to listen to the
bartering, and sometimes they suggest the buyer might do better in a
neighboring stall.

Galleries rarely barter, although we were offered a discount (after we
asked) in one Nairobi gallery in which we bought two carvings in the $275
to $325 range--one a Makonde spirit made of rosewood; the other of
village elders sitting in a circle. Our savings amounted to about 10%.

We found some of the best Makonde-style carvings in the upscale art
galleries of Nairobi. It is worth noting that "good" galleries in Nairobi
or elsewhere never are crammed with merchandise, but instead choose to
give good display to quality pieces.

Shoppers need to be attentive to a number of factors in buying
Makonde-style carvings:

* Ebony trees are protected by governments in East Africa, and those
that remain

are gnarled and twisted and do not lend themselves to carving. Unless
you are in an antique shop, you probably are buying mpingo, or
African blackwood. Like ebony, mpingo is also a heavy, dense
black hardwood, and it is plentiful in East Africa. Some carvings also
are done in teak and rosewood.

* Buyers sometimes are told that they can tell if a carving "really is
ebony" by scratching the bottom through any layers of black shoe polish
that may have been applied to blacken the piece. But mpingo also
remains black when scratched and, like ebony wood, is characterized by a
black core surrounded by a much lighter bark. Even experts are perplexed
by differentiating.

* Buyers should inspect carvings for bad cuts, errant chisel marks,
poor sanding or polishing.

* Look also for flaws in the wood, particularly cracks. Both ebony and
mpingo are fairly brittle. The best carvers select good wood and
then build their pieces around flaws, incorporating the eccentricities of
the wood into the final product.

* Look for attention to detail, particularly very small detail, in any
carving. A quality effort takes time, even in the most skilled hands, and
an inspection of a carving for its detail, as well as its finish, is
crucial to an enlightened purchase.

* Similarly, look for spaces between arms and torsos, or between legs.
A piece that is solid (similar to bas-relief) rarely will have fine
detail, and should not command the price of a more intricate carving.

In Nairobi, we found the Kumbu Kumbu gallery in the Hilton Shopping
Arcade on Mama Ngina Street, or African Heritage on Kenyatta Avenue, to
have excellent quality carvings at top prices. Shops in the nearby City
Market on Muindi Mbingu Street offer a large selection, but careful
inspection before purchase is recommended.

Except for street corner vendors selling carvings, downtown Dar es
Salaam offers less than might be expected on Samora Avenue, the main
shopping street. But about eight miles north of Dar es Salaam, on Makami
Road immediately off Bagamoyo Road, is a carvers' collective: the Mwenge
Curio Shops in Mwenge village. The selection is vast, and the skill of
the carvers is varied, but it is well worth the trip for a careful
shopper who might also enjoy watching the carvers work the wood. Also
nearby on Bagamoyo road is the Karibu Art Gallery, with a good selection,
and the Village Museum, where carvers work among traditionally built
villages.
GUIDEBOOK: Details for Finding African Statues

Getting there: British Airways, Air France, Swissair, KLM and
Lufthansa all have connecting flights between LAX and Nairobi and Dar es
Salaam, through various European cities. The best service between Nairobi
and Dar is with Kenya Airways and Air Tanzania. Where to stay: In
downtown Dar es Salaam, the best places are the Hotel Embassy (24 Garden
Ave.), P.O. Box 3152, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; from U.S., telephone
011-255-51-30006 or 30035; doubles about $71.

Motel Agip (Pamba Road), P.O. Box 529, Dar es Salaam; tel.
011-255-51-23511; doubles about $90.

Kilimanjaro Hotel, which overlooks the harbor, (Kivoukoni Front), Dar
es Salaam; tel. 011-255-51-21281; doubles $79-$86. All of the above have
air-conditioning and either a restaurant or bar. The Embassy and the
Kilimanjaro have swimming pools.

In downtown Nairobi, Kenya, four excellent choices are the Hilton
Hotel (on Mama Ngina Street near Moi Ave.), P.O. Box 30624, Nairobi; tel.
011-254-2-334000; doubles to $168.

New Stanley Hotel (Kimathi Street and Kenyatta Avenue), P.O. Box
30680, Nairobi; tel. 011-254-2-33-3233; doubles to $94.

Norfolk Hotel (on Harry Thuko Road), P.O. Box 40064, Nairobi; tel.
011-254-2-335422; doubles to $160, more for cottages.

Nairobi Serena Hotel (at the edge of Central Park between Kenyatta
Avenue and Nyerere Road), P.O. Box 46302, Nairobi; tel. 011-254-2-725111;
doubles to $175.

What to read: Makonde sculpture is included in half a dozen or more
anthologies of African art. But I found an excellent book on the subject
in the library: "Modern Makonde Art" by Jorn Korn (Hamlyn Publishing
Group Limited, London; 1974). It covers the work of five Makonde artists
who carve shitani. A broader but briefer description of Makonde
carvings may be found in "Arts in East Africa" by Judith von D. Miller
(Africana Publishing Co., 1975).

PHOTO: COLOR, Statuesque: From left, a shetani sculpture,
pieces called "Makonde Spirit" and "Woman With Pot," mawingu ,
ujamaa works.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVE GATLEY / Los Angeles Times
PHOTO: Slice of life: Carver creating in Mwenge village, above.
Business at same Mwenge carvers' collective, right.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROL PERRUSO
GRAPHIC-MAP: AFRICA; VICTOR KOTOWITZ / Los Angeles Times

Copyright (c) 1994 Times Mirror Company