Songye people

The Songye people, sometimes written Songe, are a Bantu ethnic group from the central Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Songe language. They inhabit a vast territory between the Sankuru/Lulibash river in the west and the Lualaba River in the east. Many Songye villages can be found in present-day East Kasai province, parts of Katanga and Kivu Province.^[1] The people of Songye are divided into thirty-four conglomerate societies; each society is led by a single chief with a Judiciary Council of elders and nobles (bilolo). Smaller kingdoms east of the Lomami River refer to themselves as Songye, other kingdoms in the west, refer to themselves as Kalebwe, Eki, Ilande, Bala, Chofwe, Sanga and Tempa. As a society, the people of Songye are mainly known as a farming community; they do, however, take part in hunting and trading with other neighboring communities.

^ Petridis, Constantine. (2008). Art and power in the Central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa ; [to accompany "Art and Power in the Central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa", an exhibition ... to be held at the Menil Collection, Houston, 26 September 2008-4 January 2009 ; the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1 March - 7 June 2009, and the de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 27 June - 11 October 2009]. Mercatorfonds. ISBN 978-90-6153-830-1. OCLC 551870212.

[:5-1] Petridis, Constantine. (2008). Art and power in the Central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa ; [to accompany "Art and Power in the Central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa", an exhibition ... to be held at the Menil Collection, Houston, 26 September 2008-4 January 2009 ; the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1 March - 7 June 2009, and the de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 27 June - 11 October 2009]. Mercatorfonds. ISBN 978-90-6153-830-1. OCLC 551870212.

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