Martial Arts of the Somba
West Africa 2000: A Somba village in Northern Benin
After we had looked around the village, Alberto got the idea to offer money to the men if they would fight. The Somba are known to be fighters and still use their old weapons. The man in the foreground was keen to fight, but the man facing him was not. Evidently, the man in the crouch was the champion and the other man did not relish the idea of being beaten in front of a bunch of strangers.
The standing man holds a stick with a leather thong attached and he uses it as a whip. The other man also has a stick and he also has a shield. The shield is the small round disc that he holds in front of his face. After a minute or so of jousting, the standing man received a sharp blow and apparently it hurt like hell. He wanted to quit fighting. He looked as if he might cry with pain and humiliation. He hadn’t wanted to fight, but he had wanted some money.
Bring it On!
Here’s the champion with a smile of victory, even before the fighting began.
Before the Battle
This man didn’t fight but he did bare his teeth at me and they were filed to sharp points. All I could think of was that the filing of his teeth must have been painful and how did they affect his chewing and biting of his food? I think if he bit his enemy, he would draw blood easily.
Those straw hats are good protection. I bought one and it is hard. It could protect your skull quite well from a blow with a stick.
No camera skills were required here. Just get a good viewpoint, use a high shutter speed and shoot continuously during the action. I wanted to get the two men in action and I’m happy with the action shot. I could have shot a tiny bit wider, but I’m prone to get in tight. My friend, Torie, would have loved the shadow of the fighter in the crouch. It is rather nice and reminds me of a petrograph. Maybe that’s how ancient artists got their ideas!
These are scanned slides and it took a bit of work to get the colors right. I finally chose to do black and white on the portrait. When the color goes ‘wonky’, try black and white. It just might do the trick.