drum
- Museum number
- Oc1990,09.464
- Description
-
Drum, hourglass-shaped, carved from wood with two raised rims towards top and bottom of drum body; membrane of marsupial skin held in place with rubber tie.
- Production date
- 20thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 90 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Drum (in the Wahgi language ‘gizing’) purchased from Ye Kurunga of the Komblo sub-group Jiruka Nganimbkanem Donzapal. Ye Kurunga made the drum himself from ‘mu’ wood. The drumskin is from the ‘bina’ marsupial, held on to the drum by ‘waiang’ and ‘koral’ vine. There are fragments of wax pellets (‘banz’) on the drumskin; Ye Kurunga refers to them as ‘ambel poison’ (girl magic): men treat their drums magically in order to attract girls to their dancing. Ye Kurunga responds indignantly to any discussion of price for parting with the drum, as ‘kelep alamb pul mal’ (‘you and I are like “source people”’: people among whom bargaining is inappropriate). For an account of the making of the collection of which this is part, see ‘Paradise: portraying the New Guinea Highlands’, by Michael O’Hanlon (British Museum Press, 1993), especially p.45 for a Pig Festival song, where ‘mu’ wood is used as a synonym for drums, and p.60-61 for the re-casting of the relationship between buyer and seller of artefacts into a kinship frame of reference.
Field collection no:456.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1990
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1990,09.464
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 456 (field collection number)