The Watutsi

Watutsi Woman (Songs of the Watutsi cover)
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

The Watutsi (or Tutsi) belong to an ethnic group (shared by the Hutus) who live predominantly in Rwanda and neighboring Burundi. The Tutsi, among the tallest people on earth (average height 5'9") don't live too far from the forests where pygmies live (rather Central African Foragers, a rather sort people at an average of less than 4'11".) The text accompanying the previous painting of a Watutsi woman (unfortunately labeled as Watusi Girl) dealt with (the unfortunate history of) exoticism. Then, the woman, represented a young woman's voice from Burundi. The voice belonged to a Rundi not Tutsi singer. That painting, done from a postcard, became again a postcard as it was selected by me to represent the Top 100 2015. Now, for this year's Top 100, the Tutsi woman I painted actually represents a Tutsi singer. The image moreover, is taken from the cover of the record the song appears on. That song, Uwejeje Imana, is sung by women and girls from the royal court at Shyogwe. Before writing these pages I usually do a bit of (superficial) research as not to blunder on remembered information. The image used by Wikipedia on their Tutsi page features an image that also is found on Songs of the Watutsi (Ethnic Folkways, 1963) and was probably taken by Leo Verwilghen, who recorded the tracks on the album and, I assume, also wrote the texts. I also assume he's from Belgium, as Rwanda was a Belgian colony until 1962.