Ngaadi A Mwaash Mask

Face masks of this kind are known among the Kuba-Bushoong as Ngaadi A Mwash. This is one of the three so-called royal masks of the Kuba, the others being the Bwoom and the Mwash Am Mbouy.

In reality it seems that the concept of a triad of "royal masks" has been grossly oversimplified. In truth, the Kuba-Bushoong produce a diversity of masks, and many can perform by themselves or in conjunction with lesser known initiatory or village masks.

The Ngaadi A Mwash mask is considered by the Kuba Bushoong to be of Kete origin,and it is indeed styled after a Kete prototype. The Kuba variant, which is much better known, is a greater work of art with far more detail and elaboration.

One interpretation of the mask is that it represents the wife/sister of Woot, the primary ancestor of the Bushoong people, and that the mask is used to reinforce social mores when danced with the other royal masks. In reality, this mask is often danced by itself, and a variant in the Capital, where the mask has a different headdress, extols the virtues of female divinatrixes.

The Ngaadi A Mwash is the property of the dancer who owns it, and though a female mask, it is always danced by male performers wearing a costume made of bark cloth, with wooden breasts applied to it.

This fine old mask probably dates to latter part of the reign of Nyimi Kwete Mabinch (died 1939) and was rebeaded by order of Nyimi Bope Mabinch (1939 – 1959) shortly before being collected.

Masks of this style and form were from the villages close to the Bushoong capital at Mushenge, though this is not a royal mask, but from one of the many Bushoong and Kete/Bushoong villages near the capital, and owned by a highly affluent individual or chief due to the quality of the beadwork.