A sacred object looted by French colonial authorities more than a century ago has been returned to Ivory Coast in one of the most important cultural restitutions made to a former French colony in years.
The Djidji Ayôkwé, a talking drum confiscated in 1916 by French administrators, landed at 8:45 a.m. on Friday at Port Bouët airport, on the outskirts of the economic capital, Abidjan. It was handed over to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month after being removed from the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum.
Aboussou Guy Mobio, head of the Adjamé-Bingerville community, said: “After a long stay away from this land, he returns to his own people and it is an honor and a relief for us to welcome him. This is the missing piece of the puzzle that returns today… Receiving this sacred instrument is a relief, but it is also another form of connection with our ancestors who were very close to this instrument.”
Talking drums are hourglass-shaped pressure drums designed to imitate the tone, pitch, and rhythm of human speech. The 4-meter Djidji Ayôkwé, which weighs 430 kg, had a cultural and political meaning for the Ebrié people, who give their name to the Abidjan lagoon, as a symbol of resistance. Before and during colonial times, it was used to send messages several kilometers away to announce deaths or celebrations and, in some cases, alert villages of imminent danger. After villagers resisted forced labor on a road in an incident in 1916, colonial authorities confiscated it and took it to France.
French President Emmanuel Macron promised to return the can in 2021, but it took four years of discussions and lobbying for the French parliament to ratify and approve the decision.
“I feel a deep emotion. We are indeed experiencing a moment of justice and remembrance,” Françoise Remarck, Ivory Coast’s Minister of Culture and Francophonie, said in her speech on Friday. He thanked President Alassane Ouattara and Macron for what he called “a historic day.”
Then he turned to the drum and said: “Djidji Ayôkwé, today your return is a message for our youth who have chosen to recover their history, and for the communities… a symbol of social cohesion, peace and dialogue… March 13 is just one step.”
As a forklift operator rolled the wooden box containing the drum off the plane, a cultural group broke into the traditional tchaman dance. Another ceremony is expected to announce the permanent installation of the drum at the Ivory Coast Museum of Civilizations in the administrative district of Plateau, at a later date believed to be in April. To prepare for the public exhibition, UNESCO has donated $100,000 (£75,400) through its Abidjan office for research and training at the museum.
Sylvie Memel Kassi, former museum director and founder of the TAPA Foundation for Arts and Culture, said the drum’s return to Ivorian soil paved the way for more restitutions. “We are studying eight other objects,” he said, referring to authorities in Ivory Coast and France.
