{"id":26648,"date":"2010-09-03T10:58:42","date_gmt":"2010-09-03T08:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?p=26648"},"modified":"2011-07-21T15:19:56","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T13:19:56","slug":"akele-songs-of-the-njembe-rite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2010\/09\/akele-songs-of-the-njembe-rite\/","title":{"rendered":"Akele songs of the Njembe rite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Njembe (or Niembe<\/em>; Ndjembe<\/em>) is a rite executed exclusively by women, in Gabon. It stands in some way as a response to the male-only Mwiri and Bwiti rites. All three basically consist in two versions of the initiation through which a child becomes an adult.<\/p>\n

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In the Njembe, the initiation takes place under authority of a “spiritual mother”, guardian and defender of the traditions. The instruction handed down aims to help women solve common daily issues, and face possible hardship with wisdom\u2026<\/p>\n

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The world of ancestral spirits flows at the center of this rite, thus bearing a strong spiritual tone. Spirits first need to be eased and satisfied for human beings to eventually find peace and quiet.<\/p>\n

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The ceremonies consist in a procession of chants and dances produced by women wearing body paint. The following video features a group of women singing along some of the songs produced during the Njembe, and although they were filmed outside the context of the actual rite, these songs still shed a light on the themes handled by the initiation: transmission from mother to daughter, cooking, the loss of virginity, etc.<\/p>\n

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One of the songs stands out; the one mentioning scars, as a probable down-to-earth reference to the actual wound inflicted by female circumcision (Do you see any scars upon me? Any wound? Look at me. Nothing wrong. Do you see an abscess ? Look, nothing wrong\u2026<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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In addition to these songs by Akele women, you\u2019ll find another video<\/a> on sorosoro.org showing one of the actual ceremonies of the Njembe rite, only this time, as it is practiced by the Punu, another Gabonese community settled a little further south.<\/p>\n

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<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

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Linguist<\/span>: Jean-Marie Hombert
\nCamera and sound<\/span>: Luc-Henri Fage
\nTranslation<\/span>: Hugues Awanhet
\nEditing<\/span>: Caroline Laurent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Njembe (or Niembe; Ndjembe) is a rite executed exclusively by women, in Gabon. It stands in some way as a response to the male-only Mwiri and Bwiti rites. All three basically consist in two versions of the initiation through which a child becomes an adult. In the Njembe, the initiation takes place under authority […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-of-the-week"],"yoast_head":"\nAkele songs of the Njembe rite - Sorosoro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2010\/09\/akele-songs-of-the-njembe-rite\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Akele songs of the Njembe rite - Sorosoro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Njembe (or Niembe; Ndjembe) is a rite executed exclusively by women, in Gabon. 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