Moon mask from a mblo performance
Not on view
Mblo is a genre of popular entertainment featuring both masked and unmasked performers in a sequence of songs, dances and skits. Talented community members periodically collaborated on new, named, mblo compositions with new scripts, choreography and newly carved masks. In at least one documented mblo, titled gbagba, masks representing the moon, rainbows and other natural phenomena appeared first, warming up the audience and the performance space. Following a range of domesticated and wild animal protagonists, mblo culminated in the appearance of portrait masks representing identifiable prominent community members. Mirroring the idealized stance found in many carved Baule figures, mblo choreography typically required an upright posture, straight neck, bent knees and composed demeanor.
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