Songo

The Songo is a group of  Bantu-speaking people who are a western neighbours of  the  Chokwe. They live in the  region of  the west of the Kwango river.
Several explorers went through this region in the second half of  nineteenth century and left some valuable notes on lifestyle of the Songo. The Songo women cultivated a variety of crops  because of  relatively fertile lands and men hunted or traded  with Malange, exchanging ivory and wax for cloth and beads. Songo chiefs were not wealthy enough to finance caravans able to reach far regions.
Although often mistaken for the Chokwe, the Songo art is of excellent quality and in spite of their small size are structurally imposing.
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