Haj Ali represents the barber Mai-Aska shaving Yerima in photograph38, 1914
Haj Ali stands behind the seated Khameis and enacts the barber Mai-Aska shaving Yerima. The photograph depicts named people representing spirits, not an independently photographed supernatural barber.
Overview
Mai-Aska, the One with the Razor, is called Wanzami, the Barber, more commonly in Nigeria according to Tremearne. He is the spirit community’s barber, scarifier and circumciser. The account identifies Yar-Maso and Nana Tsamiya as his wives and says some contributors make him a son of Kuri and Uwar-Dowa. Those varying parentage statements are retained as attributed, rather than reconciled through the songs.
At the dance his human representative pretends to shave Yerima and other attendants after water is brought. The court then dances, moves on its knees, reaches outward and strikes elbows on the ground. After a cloth intervenes and Yerima resumes his chair, the barber sits before him while other attendants gather nearby. A red cloth covers the company before sneezing and withdrawal. His songs combine praise, bodily operations and payment by enslaved clients. The book’s speculation that he was an ancestor supplies no identified ancestor biography.
Origins & earliest records
A. J. N. Tremearne reports interviews and ritual performances during four months in North Africa, alongside comparisons to Nigeria. His foreword credits local assistance and photography but these passages do not identify an individual speaker for every statement.
Records & interpretation
The Ban of the Bori, chapters XXI–XXII, complete selected account pp. 316–317; foreword pp. 13–14 and catalog publication date checked.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa
Chapters XXI–XXII, pp. 316–317; role descriptions, performed representation and attributed explanations.
Family, evolution & connections
Attributed sons of Kuri and the forest Doguwa aspect
Tremearne’s distinct informant qualifications in the 1914 notices, pp. 316–318.
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- Kuri + Uwar-Dowa / Doguwa Na Daji (reported parents; version qualified)
Mai-Aska is a son of Kuri/Uwar-Dowa according to some; Sambo is a younger son of Kuri/Doguwa Na Daji according to most. Joint root groups two named parents. The labels preserve different attribution strengths. Some instead call Sambo the forest aspect’s husband; this contradictory marital version is recorded separately in prose, not drawn simultaneously as descent. The two son reports do not independently state full brotherhood or a shared universal pantheon. House and forest aspects are not silently interchangeable. This is textual religious genealogy, not biological evolution.
Nana Tsamiya
The Mai-Aska notice lists Nana Tsamiya alongside Yar-Maso as his wives. Its tentative additional parentage is a separate attributed claim, not required to establish this marriage.
Kuri
Tremearne says some informants call Mai-Aska a son of Kuri and Uwar-Dowa. The translated barber song supports those names, but the qualifying attribution remains visible rather than converting it into universally agreed parentage.
Doguwa
Some informants name Uwar-Dowa as Mai-Aska’s mother, and the barber song names Doguwa. This retains the collector’s attribution and manifestation scope instead of treating every Mother title as literal parentage.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Digitized historical ethnographic account with interviews and performance descriptionsTremearne — Mai-AskaResearch access: 2026-10-05
- Library catalog metadataInternet Archive catalog — The Ban of the BoriResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Historical ritual performance photographHaj Ali represents the barber Mai-Aska shaving Yerima in photograph38, 1914
Haj Ali stands behind the seated Khameis and enacts the barber Mai-Aska shaving Yerima. The photograph depicts named people representing spirits, not an independently photographed supernatural barber.
