Southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal 
Bambara (Bamana)

Wood, calabash
Mid 20th Century
Length of handle: 17 inches
Idiophone – Struck Indirectly – Shaken – Sistrum

The Bambara (Bamana or Banmana) are a Mandé people living primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal.   Bamana boys are initiated into early phases of their sacred age-grade society before puberty called the n’tomo youth association.  At their circumcisions, pairs of these very loud calabash disc rattles are played as the initiates leave their villages – a frightening sound one can imagine. Although Muslim, the Bambara preserve a very rich animist culture. The two-horned being at the top of this rattle is a traditional and typical Bambara/Bamana motif.