Ivory Coast
Baule

Wood, Oncoba spinosa tree shell seeds 
Mid 20th Century
Length: 18 inches
Idiophone – Rasp – Scrapped

The Baule represent one of the most important tribes of the Ivory Coast. Their name is testimony to their birth – according to legend, Queen Aba Pokou led her people on an exodus towards the gold-mining areas during the 18th century and had to cross a river where she was obliged to sacrifice her son to the river god, thus giving her people the name Bauh, ‘the son is dead’. During the 19th century, the queendom disintegrated due to internal conflicts and by the beginning of the 20th century, when the French colonials arrived, they found only a network of villages, headed by councils of venerated men. Baule artists produced numerous works of art and Baule carvers are still very active today. With their great sense of stylization and attention to detail, they have produced some of the most elegant objects of all African art.

This Baule rasp stick called ‘awoko’ is surmounted with a carved figural finial on top of the stem with carved ridges.  This musical instrument is played by scraping a hollowed-out round seed (not seen here) along the ridged wooden stem and randomly affixing the shell seed from the Oncoba spinosa tree, to serve as an resonator and give another sound.