France Restores a Talking Drum That was Stolen in Ivory Coast in 1916

At a ceremony in Abidjan on Friday, France returned a sacred drum that had been taken from the Ivory Coast during colonial rule. This is the first time that France has formally returned a cultural artifact to a West African nation.

The Atchan people of the Abidjan region used the Djidji Ayôkwé, often known as the “talking drum,” a large carved wooden drum, to communicate between communities. It arrived early on Friday morning in the capital of the economy.

The artifact will be stored for a month in a secure location to prevent cracks in the centuries-old wood. To reacclimate to the weather of the Ivory Coast, it must spend the majority of its time in a climate-controlled enclosure.

Your return is a message for our young people who have decided to take ownership of their history, for the communities that are rediscovering their Djidji Ayôkwé, a symbol of social cohesion, peace and dialogue,” Ivory Coast’s culture minister, Françoise Remarck, said during the ceremony.

The Djidji Ayôkwé, taken by French colonial officials in 1916, was one of 148 items the Ivory Coast legally requested from France in 2018. Serge Akmel, who came to witness the arrival, remarked, “As a young man, I am overjoyed to receive and to see this drum, as it has been gone for centuries.

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