Any info on these 2 carved wood statues (African?)

Hi everyone-I was gifted these 2 carved wooden statues and was wondering if anyone could assist me in finding out more about them? The bottoms appear to have some initials carved into them (looks somewhat like J P or J C but I couldn't find anything about that on Google), and I believe they are African in origin but they might be reproduction, honestly I'm uncertain...size is approximately 14" tall each. Any info is appreciated (such as age guesses, wood composition, etc). Thanks everyone!

 

african..... unless they are Carribean
imo....

 

starting with some 'obvious' clues: the woman is carrying a basket of 'loaves' of some kind and wearing a head wrap... that might help narrow the cultural regions. These modern marketers are from Ghana. Even the V cut neck of the tops support a 'western' influence.

more Ghanaian...with basket.

But, that's common across Africa. So certainly not definitive.

The drummer is obviously a 'pair' made by the same artist. So, I'd try to tie the features of that to the same place if possible.

Similar?


So, at the risk of getting in deeper than I should... I'd guess Ghana tourist pieces, maybe 30 yo?

The black on the wood may be Kiwi shoe polish, i.e., something readily available to use to make the wood intentionally look more 'ebony'-like (the wood) b/c it's very hard to carve and traditionally more desirable - a common practice in the 70's by roadside carvers in Africa. This wood is unidentifiable and looser grained.

A variety of what you might see as a tourist: