Sacred “talking drum” looted by France returned to Ivory Coast

A hundred and ten years after it was looted by French troops, the Djidji Ayokwe, a “talking drum” sacred to the Ébrié (Atchan) people of Ivory Coast has been welcomed home in a ceremony timed to coincide with country’s national independence day, August 7th.

On Friday, it was carried in a military parade through the Yopougon district of Abidjan, before continuing on to the village of Adjame, where it was made.

The black, white and red instrument was transported in a glass-fronted case on a large, decorated float and welcomed by Culture Minister Francoise Remarck, traditional leaders and hundreds of local residents.

A dozen people performed a libation ceremony, pouring a few drops of liquid onto the ground as an offering to their ancestors.

“A nation cannot develop if it doesn’t preserve its memory and promote its heritage,” said Adjame mayor Farikou Soumahoro.

He said he felt “deep emotion and great pride”.

“We want to see the drum with our own eyes so we can truly believe it belongs to us,” 69-year-old villager Jacqueline Akrebie told AFP.

Carved from hard native iroko wood, the Djidji Ayokwe is slit drum 3.3 meters (10’10”) long and weighing 430 kilos (948lb). It is not just a musical instrument, it was a culturally and religiously significant means of communication, hence “talking drum.” It could be heard from great distances, more than 10 miles away, and was used to warm of danger, as a clarion call to battle or to call people to important ceremonial invents. France declared Ivory Coast a French colony in 1893 and dispatched troops inland to establish outposts and French settlers. Native Ivorians were subjected to forced conscription for work in mines, on plantations and to serve in the military. Djidji Ayokwe was used to alert villagers that conscription forces were coming.

When France sent a punitive expedition to quash resistance in 1916, the drum was deliberately confiscated to assert colonial dominance over the Ébrié people. It was sent to France where it was absorbed into the national collection and placed on display at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris which was so overloaded with looted cultural artifacts from France’s colonial conquests that the Djidji Ayokwe was just one of many. It was moved to the Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac Museum in 2006.

The official handover between the Ivory Coast’s Minister of Culture, Françoise Remarck, and France’s Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, took place at the Quai Branly Museum in February. The drum was shipped to Abidjan in March, where it was welcomed by traditional Ebrie leaders and dancers but it was packed in a wooden crate. It was not actually seen in public until it made its grand ceremonial entrance on Friday.

UNESCO played a key role in the negotiations for the drum’s return, and has also put up $100,000 for its preservation and to spread the word about its return. Now that it has had its official welcoming ceremony, it will go on display at the Musée des Civilizations de Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan which has been renovated specifically so it can properly accommodate this great cultural treasure.

* This article was originally published here