Lusolo, a lutumbo lwa kindi, wearing hat known as sawamazembe, near Kalima, Congo (Democratic Republic)

The photograph depicts Lusolo, a lutumbo lwa kindi (the highest grade in Bwami association) (Biebuyck 1973, 270), wearing an unusual hat of black goat manes known as sawamazembe. The hat, worn by men at the kindi level, duplicates a woman's mazembe hairstyle. Attached to the front are mussel shells that publicly proclaim the status of the wearer. In this instance the mussel shell that usually identifies the wearer's high rank has been replaced with buttons (Cameron 2001, 74). The necklace is made of imitation leopard teeth carved from elephant bones (Biebuyck 1973, 270). During his trip to Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Elisofon visited the Lega people at Pangi and its surroundings in the Maniema district. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from early December 1966 to early February 1967.