{"id":"MBENDJE2016-003","label":"Pové bupoti, guarding the pregnant","people_or_site":"Pové (Powé, Bapouvi)","country_current":"Gabon","historic_region":"Ogooué-Lolo: forests west of Koulamoutou, between the Lolo and Ogooué rivers","macroregion":"Africa / Central Africa","local_name":"joambila; bupoti","source_term":"rhombe; joamiala","source_language":"French","object_description":"A blade on a cord, whirled to drone; once an iron bar, later a strip of bamboo.","function_summary":"Among the Pové, used ritually to protect pregnant women against sorcerers.","attestation_type":"secondary_catalog","source_key":"mbendje2016_laban_joamiala_pove","source_type":"comparative_secondary","source_url":"https://bantoozone.org/culture-art-gabon-afrique/joamiala-le-rhombe-musique-du-gabon/","page_or_plate":"Joamiala entry (Noms populaires; Matières et mensurations; Fonctions); Kialo 1999 interview extracts","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Koulamoutou (Ogooué-Lolo) as anchor for the Pové forests west of the town between the Lolo and Ogooué (Deschamps 1962 p. 40); no rite site named.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Pové of central Gabon the bullroarer stood guard over the unborn. Whirled on its cord until it droned, the blade they called joambila or bupoti was sounded in a rite that protected pregnant women from sorcerers. It was once cut from a bar of iron; the Pové gave that up as too dangerous and made it instead from a strip of bamboo. They live in the forests west of Koulamoutou, between the Lolo and the Ogooué, where elders say people in the mountain protect them still, and where part of the forest is closed to women and to all who have not been initiated.","pull_quote":"chez les Pové, usage rituel pour protéger les femmes enceintes contre les sorciers","pull_quote_translation":"among the Pové, ritual use to protect pregnant women against sorcerers","pull_quote_cite":"Mbendje, 'Joamiala (Le Rhombe)', Bantoozone 2016, after the LABAN inventory","term_gloss":"joambila, bupoti: Pové names for the bullroarer. joamiala: the inventory's general name for the instrument.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["women_special"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":true,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Brice Emery Mbendje, 'Joamiala (Le Rhombe): instrument de musique traditionnelle', Bantoozone (2016), after the LABAN inventory of Gabonese instruments","url":"https://bantoozone.org/culture-art-gabon-afrique/joamiala-le-rhombe-musique-du-gabon/"},{"citation":"Paulin Kialo, Une double lecture de la forêt gabonaise: cas des Pové et des exploitants forestiers au Gabon (DEA, Université Omar Bongo, 1999)","url":"https://www.memoireonline.com/06/09/2138/m_Une-double-lecture-de-la-fort-gabonaise--cas-des-Pove-et-des-exploitants-forestiers-au-Gabon7.html"}],"source_citations":"Brice Emery Mbendje, 'Joamiala (Le Rhombe): instrument de musique traditionnelle', Bantoozone (2016), after the LABAN inventory of Gabonese instruments; Paulin Kialo, Une double lecture de la forêt gabonaise: cas des Pové et des exploitants forestiers au Gabon (DEA, Université Omar Bongo, 1999)","source_display":"Brice Emery Mbendje, 'Joamiala (Le Rhombe): instrument de musique traditionnelle', Bantoozone (2016), after the LABAN inventory of Gabonese instruments; Paulin Kialo, Une double lecture de la forêt gabonaise: cas des Pové et des exploitants forestiers au Gabon (DEA, Université Omar Bongo, 1999)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A blade on a cord, whirled to drone; once an iron bar, later a strip of bamboo.","function_display":"Among the Pové, used ritually to protect pregnant women against sorcerers.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"secondary catalog","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"pov pow","display_name":"Pové bupoti, guarding the pregnant","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MBENDJE2016-003_laban_gabon_rhombes.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MBENDJE2016-003_laban_gabon_rhombes_thumb.jpg","alt":"Two wooden bullroarer blades lying on grass, one red-brown with a cord, one pale.","credit":"Brice Emery Mbendje, Bantoozone (2016), after the LABAN inventory of Gabonese instruments","source_page":"https://bantoozone.org/culture-art-gabon-afrique/joamiala-le-rhombe-musique-du-gabon/","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Two Gabonese bullroarer blades from the LABAN instrument inventory; their makers are not named.","last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"mbendje2016-003-pove-powe-bapouvi"}