Iatmul water drum New Guinea / Tambour d'eau Nouvelle-Guinée / Wassertrommel Neuguinea

„Water drums and mud-beater drums are technically stamping drums and are found only in the middle Sepik area, most notably among the Iatmul.(...) the sound is regarded as the voice of a spirit. The mud-beater drum is like an upturned wooden bowl tied to the end of a long, thick rattan or bamboo handle and stamped into the muddy bottom of a hole about a metre deep, producing ´a very low pitched sudden bang(...).
This is done inside a screen fence which the novices must break through to gain their way to the secret.´(G. Bateson - Social Structure of the Iatmul People of the Sepik River, Oceania II – 1932)“
excerpt from the book: Barry Craig – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes. p.198.
The Masterpieces Exhibition – Papua New Guinea National Museum And Art Gallery. University of Hawaií Press - Honolulu

A very similar drum can be found in the Musee du quai Branly under the inventory number:72.1969.2.4


Die Wassertrommel kami wird bei der Initiation der Jungen verwendet.
Ins Wasser gestoßen erzeugt sie einen dumpfen Klang, der mit den Stimmen der Wassergeister assoziiert wird. Die kami muss vor Frauen und Nicht-Initiierten verborgen werden.
Eine sehr ähnliche Trommel befindet sich im Musee du quai Branly unter der Inventar-Nummer: 72.1969.2.4


Bibliography:
Barry Craig – Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes.
The Masterpieces Exhibition – Papua New Guinea National Museum And Art Gallery ; University of Hawaií Press - Honolulu
Christian Kaufmann, Philippe Peltier, Markus Schindlbeck (Hg.) : Tanz der Ahnen - Kunst vom Sepik in Papua-Neuguinea. p.273 Hirmer Verlag
Newton, Douglas : Crocodile and Cassowary. The Museum of Primitive Art, New York