Korhogo is the capital of the Savanes District and the Poro region and is today the fourth largest city in Côte d'Ivoire in terms of population and economy. In 2020, it had 430,000 inhabitants, 95% of whom are animists, mainly indigenous Senufo (Tiembaras, Fodonons, Nafaras, Kafires) and Malinkés, as well as non-indigenous people from various regions of Côte d'Ivoire, but also Burkinabe, Senegalese and Malians. There are five typical Senufo surnames: Soro (fetish animal: the panther), Tuo (fetish animal: the warthog), Silué (fetish animal: the black monkey), Sékongo (fetish animal: the ground squirrel) and Yéo, whose fetish animal is the red antelope with white stripes and spots (www.fatom.org).The Sénoufos. The Senufo community is essentially peasant, animist and hierarchical in castes of initiates, with a strong socio-religious cohesion that has long aroused fascination and questions. And in fact, to go up to the "Great North" is, for many people, to meet the real Africa, impregnated with the supernatural and the mystical, where the sacred and the daily life maintain a permanent dialogue that will always escape the Western Cartesians. Mount Korhogo, ancestral guardian of the city, is never far away in the sky. At the bend of a street, the sacred wood reaffirms the importance of traditions and the Poro. This initiatory society, which acts as a moral authority, a social regulator and a repressive apparatus, bases its teaching on respect for elders, collective work and obedience to rules. While embracing modernity and development, Korhogo still lives in this village spirit. Communities live together in harmony. Here, pacifism is a family tradition, since the illustrious patriarch Péléforo Gon Coulibaly signed a peace pact with Samory Touré before sealing with Félix Houphouët-Boigny the historic alliance of the North and the South. However, the Sénoufos do not let themselves be counted out. Their sisters are not lacking in courage or ardor, and their brothers are among the most feared warriors in the country. In the region, they cultivate and breed, of course. But they also forge, sculpt, weave, paint, polish, knead and knead... The Senufo is often a farmer as well as a craftsman, and vice versa, and it is not for nothing that blacksmiths, masters of the flame and of iron, occupy such a special position within society: it is the tools they produce that make agriculture possible. In Natio, they prepare shea butter, and to do so, "you have to be in a good mood, otherwise the dough won't rise. In Waraniéné and Katia they weave, in Koni they forge. Kapélé and Napié with clay beads, and finally Fakaha, for its Korhogo canvases, beautiful to cry over. "Our grandmothers spin cotton, our fathers weave it, and we paint it. Here, memories weigh less than dreams... Welcome to Senufo country: fotamana! The local economy. It is essentially based on agriculture. Cotton, also called "white gold", cashew nuts and mangoes are the main cash crops of the region, where rice, corn, millet, peanuts... are also grown. But livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry ...) and trade are particularly dynamic in this crossroads city. The department is also renowned for its rich craft and artistic traditions. The Sénoufo has often a double vocation of farmer and craftsman The worldwide reputation of Senoufo art. In November 2014, at an auction organized by Sotheby's in New York, a Senufo female statue (Debele) from the collection of businessman and hair salon chain magnate Regis Corporation, Myron Kunin, fetched 11 million euros: an all-time record for an African work of art at auction worldwide. Dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this piece, which transcends the corpus of classical African art, sold for $1 million in 1989. It is now considered one of the greatest masterpieces of world art. It was owned by some of the greatest collectors of African art of the 20th century, including psychiatrist Werner Muensterberger, curator and art historian William Rubin, and artist Armand Arman. For the past sixty years, she has been exhibited in the world's leading museums. The quintessence of Senufo sculpture, recognized worldwide as a masterpiece of abstraction, it belongs to a rare body of work attributed to the "Master of Sikasso," of which only two other works are known to date. The minimalism and purity of the lines make this unique piece one of the most emblematic manifestations of African genius. As in the mountainous regions of the West, masks and statues are of primary importance in Senufo country. Intermediaries of a permanent dialogue with the spirits of the beyond, these carved wooden supports, whether figurines or faces, reaffirm by their multiple and obscure functions the permanent incursion of the sacred within daily life, to the point that for many, sculpture has become like a second language. And it is necessary to recognize that everywhere in the North men show innate aptitudes to this art. Every villager is thus able to handle with a minimum of skill the adze, the rasp and the chisel to make rudimentary utilitarian objects. The professional sculptors (known as Kpembélés) who make masks and statues belong to a very specific caste, that of the Koulés, and are grouped into corporations in clearly defined areas

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Pictures and images Korhogo

Fabricant de perles d'argile à Waraniéné, près de Korhogo. Jean-Paul LABOURDETTE
Village de tisserands. Jean-Paul LABOURDETTE
La tempête se lève sur Korhogo. Elodie VERMEIL
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