It is a hot Savannah night. Festive drumbeats urge people to the village square. Electric generators drone and arc lamps blaze. One after another giant animals arrive, their grass costumes fly as they swing and sway.

Spectators dance out into the square, teasing and glorifying the animals. Hidden inside each frame, men dance and work the puppets. The animals will compete with each other through the night.

Once, villagers hunted the dangerous beasts of the bush. The puppets celebrate those victories and athletic performers now capture the essence of the animals.

Find out more

- Bamana puppets in Brighton Museum's collection
- Find out more about Bamana puppet performance

How are the Bamana puppets displayed in Performance Gallery?

	Bamana antelope puppet displayed in Performance Gallery WA508370

These puppets were purchased as carvings without their large animal bodies (in Segou, the animal heads and puppet figures are kept from year to year and renewed for new performances, the animal bodies are made afresh for each performance). A large antelope headdress is mounted on a wooden frame, dressed with straw to recreate the body as it would have been performed. This is covered with cloths from Mali, contemporary brightly coloured printed cloth, with status-symbol motifs including cell phones and stiletto shoes. On top is a Bogolanfini mud-painted cloth, a traditional high-value cloth.

Alongside this antelope, three other animal head puppets are displayed: hunters, twin figures and a bird. These are shown without their animal stage reconstruction, and show how the heads are manipulated.