Kwanga Area drum Papua New Guinea / Trommel Papua Neuguinea

This pre-contact and stone-carved handdrum comes from the Kwanga area to the southwest of the Abelam and north of the Sepik River. This drum is carved in the ancient hourglass form. The lug handle is pierced for the attachment of a shoulder strap. Carved with curvilinear motifs in low relief.
Drums were carved with an adze and hollowed out by a slow burning process.
Hourglass shaped Kundu drums are typically played during ritual ceremonies such as sing sings, funerals and other major events.
Held in one hand while the other is used to strike the lizard-skin drum head.
Small black pellets of beeswax, used for fine tuning the sound quality of the drum, are attached in a circular pattern around the center of the head.
Tuning is accomplished by heating the head over fire.
The use of drums are very important to all traditional ceremonies where drumming and singing relate stories of ancient ancestral beings who are invoked for protection and fertility.


Bibliography:

Craig, Barry ; Busse, Mark; Eoe, Soroi;(2010) : Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes - The Masterpieces Exhibition Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery.
Fischer, Hans (1958) : Schallgeräte in Ozeanien. Sound-producing instruments in Oceania.
Koch, Gerd: Kultur der Abelam, Die Berliner Maprik Sammlung
Martinez-Jacquet, Elena; : Invocando a los espíritus : instrumentos musicales de Indonesia y Oceanía en la colección Helena Folch.
Maaz, Klaus: Abelam: Die magische Welt der Abelam. Kunst und Kult in Papua-Neuguinea.
Hamson Michael(editor): Siobhan Campbell, Laurent Granier, Virginia-Lee Webb, and Diane Sheehan.- Art of the Abelam