Daniel Kanjo Musa 

The Musa carvers and the Musa Heritage Gallery

by Peter Musa

The Musa gallery was opened in 1996 in memory of the carvers Daniel Kanjo Musa (1930 - 1995) and John Yuniwo Musa (1956 -1996), and is the only place where works of art devoted exclusively to Nso’ culture of the Western Grassfields of Cameroon can be viewed. It is also one of the few museums existing in the country.

Daniel Kanjo Musa, an educationalist and public administrator took up wood carving in 1973 and astonished the local population of Kumbo with his ability. Inspired by this, his three sons then started wood carving as a serious hobby, and the gallery serves to perserve and display the artistic output of the Musa family.

It houses over 300 artefacts of mostly wooden statues and masks, as well show casing Nso' traditional sculpture. There is little art of the Nso' from the past because there were few woodcarvers, and what was carved was practised in secrecy for either for functional use the palace or for religious use.

It houses over 300 artefacts of mostly wooden statues and masks, as well show casing Nso' traditional sculpture. There is little art of the Nso' from the past because there were few woodcarvers, and what was carved was practised in secrecy for either for functional use the palace or for religious use.

Daniel and John were unique because the few Nso' carvers that exist are illiterate. Daniel and John were intellectuals who wanted to show society that woodcarving was not only for the less privileged. They mainly carved statues and masks although John did other things like the Flying Monster, a one metre by one metre, 40 centimetre high, three legged lizard-like figure; and the Sportsman, a small human figure seated on a chair with its head on its knees; both which are on display at the gallery.

...Depending on the type of wood, tools, and what is in the mind, wood carvings by the Musas take from a couple of hours, to day, weeks or months to complete. The first item to be carved by Daniel took him six months to carve, and then took him an additional six months to have it entirely beaded.

Peter Musa writes:
We mainly get our wood from saw mills, although Daniel used wood from local trees cut down by the villagers. Our carving is done without any visual design or sketch.

Everything is focused on the mind and is gradually brought to life
as the wood-carving progresses.

Presently, there is a workshop at the gallery which is not completely constructed and this has hindered us in our work, although I have recently completed some wall plaques which were made in my home.

The first relates to the African Unity Heads of States and Government Summit which the Cameroon hosted in 1996. Its title is: Agony of Africans at the end of this Century and bears the faces of 53 faces over a map of Africa. Most of the faces express sadness. The point of the tableau is to illustrate that Africa is blessed with an abundance of natural and human resources, but that it suffers from under-development, poverty, war, and disease, and so on.

The second wall plaque, completed in October 1997, is titled Aids Victim and illustrates the severity of the epidemic. An infected figure portrayed in many colours in the centre is surrounded by four faces (symbollizing north, south, east and west) which form a globe with 4 smaller white, brown, black and yellow figures in each corner. Aids is presented as a global issue and we need a worldwide, concerted effort to fight it.

...Few Cameroonians appreciate artworks to the extent that they will bother to visit an art gallery or museum, so there is a low attendance at the gallery. One of our priorities is to help the Cameroonians understand a gallery or museum is much more than a mere recreational facility...
It is an arts and culture information centre for the residents of the city of Kumbo as well as artists, researchers and students...

We believe, with a lot of hard work as well as advertising, the gallery will be able to attract a lot more visitors, both among the Cameroonians and the foreigners.

In addition to the permanent exhibition, the gallery runs a small souvenir shop for the sales of contemporary art. These include carved wall plaques, carved cups (pen-holders), raffia bamboo toys, leather bracelets, heck chains and wallets. Items such as tumblers and flower vases produced out of cut bottles as well as plaster moldings are also to be found at the souvenir shop.

The permanent exhibition is only for display and generates income mainly from an entrance fee.
As for the financial situation of the gallery, the income from the entrance fees and sales at the souvenir shop is very low, so the family are the main financiers at the moment. A lot of work has been done on the gallery but there is still much more to do in developing it further. These include making stands for the bigger artefacts, providing glass storage facilities for some smaller artefats (glass cases), renovating the five-room building that houses the gallery, providing good lighting for the gallery to ensure the items are properly conserved. There areitems are still to be catalogued and security of the building needs improvement.

The family is unable to do all these alone. If anyone has advice or suggestions we are willing to learn from the experiences of other established museums and galleries.

You can contact us at: Director, Musa Heritage Gallery, P.O. Box 21, Kumbo - Nso, NWP, Cameroon.

Excerpts from Arts Dialogue, June 1998,
pages 7 and 10.