NGIE KAMGA JOSEPH
Fon of Bandjun
Cameroun
The Fon( King ) is the brother of courageous and powerful animals. At night, he has the power to transform himself into a panther, where he haunts the forest, runs through the savana and drinks from torrents. When a panther is killed by a hunter, the Fon from Bamileke region are afraid. Will one of them not perish from the death of his double.
Formerly a chief administator and cabinet chief for the finance Minister of Cameroun in 1964, Kamga Joseph is the thirteenth Fon of Bandjun. On the day of his predecessor’s funeral, he was stopped in the Bandjun market by two Bamileke chiefs, “the hangmen”, in the middle of the nobles and princes who wept the deceased King. Wearing a head dress made of sisal as a sign of humility, he was taken to the noblemen, the “tafo meru”, where he learned during nine weeks how to be a King. Formerly this apprenticeship lasted nine months. During his retreat, the souverain is accompagned by the “nrounq”( love ), a woman he married before his coronation, and the “djvikam”, the wife of a nobleman who becomes the first queen. He then returns to the palace, “tsa”, where he is responsible for the wives of the defunct Fon, who become his wives.
BOUBA ABDOULAYE
Sultan of Rey-Bouba
Cameroun
The Baba( sultan ) of Rey-Bouba rules over fifty five thousand subjects, and his territory is as large as Belgium and Luxemburg reunited ( 35 000Km2 ).
It is wrong to call him Lamido, because he was never a vassal to Sokoto.
A former parliamentarien in the Camerounian Assembly, Bouba Abdoulaye had to leave everything and renounce modern life in order to suceed his father. His great-grand father, Bouba Ndjidda came from Mali in 1799, with his Fulani warriors, and decided to settle on the borders of Adamawa, at the edge of the Mayo-Rey river. He placed a white flag, a silver drum, a sword and a basket containing the royal secrets, and built a palace with a surrounding wall that was 800 meters long and seven meters high.
Today these walls shelter one of the most traditional soverains of Africa. He exercises an invisible and permanent power. He is only allowed to go out three times during the year. The Baba is the center of the world and the kingdom. He knows everything, and has to know everything. Hundreds of agents keep him informed of all the movements and acts in his kingdom.
NYIMI KOK MABIINTSH III
King of Kuba
D.R. Congo
The Nyimi Mabiintsh III is fifty years old. He acquired the throne at the age of twenty.
As a descendant of god the creator, the king is attributed with supernatural powers.
Due to his top position he is restricted by several contraints: he does not have the right to sit on the ground, and he cannot cross a cultivated field. Apart from his cook, no one has seen him eat. Moreover he never travels without him, and his personal cooking ustensils.
It took me three weeks to photograph the Nyimi( king ) of the Kuba in his royal apparel, the “bwantshy”. The outfit made out of material stitched with beads and “cauris”( small shells used as money in Africa ), weighs 160 lb. It takes more than two hours to dress the King, and two days of spiritual preparation to be sufficiently purified in order to wear the outfit.
The weight and the heat of the bwantshy is such, that it is impossible to wear it more than one hour. The preceeding King had only worn it three time during his entire life.
