Pre-Contact Massim Drum (Katunenia, Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea)

The Massim cultural region extends across the islands and coastal areas of southeastern Papua New Guinea, including the Trobriand Islands, the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, the Louisiade Archipelago and neighbouring parts of the mainland. The Trobriand Islands, also known as the Kiriwina Islands, form one of the best documented areas of the Massim region, particularly through the pioneering fieldwork of Bronisław Malinowski during the First World War.

In Trobriand society, music, singing and dance are closely integrated into ceremonial and social life. Drumming accompanies public dances and songs and forms an essential part of the musical ensemble. Traditional Trobriand drum ensembles are based on contrasting drum voices rather than on a single instrument. Malinowski distinguished the large kupi, also called kasausa'u, from the much smaller katunenia. The two drums are played together, each contributing its own rhythmic and tonal voice. Later ethnomusicological and museum documentation confirms this distinction and identifies the katunenia as the smaller drum, generally producing a higher-pitched sound.

The katunenia therefore occupies a specific musical position within the Trobriand ensemble. In traditional dances, changes in drum rhythms can correspond to changes in the movements of the dancers. Ethnographic descriptions distinguish circular dances, in which singers and drummers occupy the centre while dancers move around them, from other forms of performance involving only a small number of male dancers. Malinowski recorded ensembles in which several large kupi drums were accompanied by a single katunenia.

The importance of the drum extends beyond its purely musical function. In the Trobriand Islands, drums are valued possessions and may be passed down within matrilineal clans as heirlooms. Museum documentation further records that individual drums can possess distinctive tones by which they are recognized, and that some drums may be regarded metaphorically or ritually as the voice of an ancestor within the lineage.

Ethnographic source

"The drums (...) consist of: (1) the large drum called kasausa'u or kupi (this latter word being an obscene synonym for the glans penis): and (2) the small drum, about one third the size of the larger, called katunenia. All their drumbeats are a combination of the two drums, the kupi and the katunenia leading each its separate voice. There are two main types of dance in Boiowa. The circular dances, where the orchestra (the drums and the singers) stands in the middle, and the performers go round them in a circle, always in the opposite direction to the hands of a watch. These dances are again subdivided into: (1) bisila (pandanus streamer) dances with slow movement,(2) kitatuva (two bunches of leaves), with a quick movement; and (3) kaidebu (wooden painted shield), dances with the same quick movement. In the bisila dances women can take part (very exceptionally), and all the performers wear women's petticoats. The second group of dances are the kasawaga, where only three men dance, always in imitation of animal movements, though these are very conventionalized and unrealistic. These dances are not circular, there are no songs (as a rule) to accompany them; the orchestra consists of five kupi drums and one katunenia."
Malinowski, Bronislaw (1916) : Baloma - the Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands.


Comparative ethnographic source

"Bij de traditionele dansen waarbij de mannen in een cirkel tegen de klok in dansen staan de trommelaars en zangers in het midden van de kring. Andere dansen zijn de dansen waarbij drie mannen een dier uitbeelden, en de modernere ontwikkelingen van dansen waarbij de dansers in rijen achter elkaar staan, zoals bij cricket wedstrijden of bij optredens voor toeristen. Voor alle ritmes worden de twee soorten trommels altijd in combinatie met elkaar gebruikt met ieder een eigen stem (Malinowski in Young, 1989:93/97). De lange trommen worden met meerdere vingers bespeeld, de kleinere slechts met een vinger (Norick, 1976:209). Malinowski (1930:29) beschrijft een opvallend gebruik in verband met Trobriand trommels. Op de ochtend voordat de oogstfeesten beginnen moet het taboe op de trommels in een eigen ritueel worden opgeheven. De dansers treden in vol ornaat op met de zangers en trommelaars. Maar het trommen is van korte duur want de vrouwen uit het dorp die nog in rouw zijn beginnen bij de eerste trommelslagen al snel hevig te weenen en van achter de huizen kommt een menigte schreeuwende vrouwen te voorschijn die de mannen met stokken slaan en met stenen en kokosnoten bekogelen. Volgens het ritueel moeten de mannen snel vertrekken achtervolgd door de vrouwen, een leeg dorp achterlassend. Damit ist das Tabu gebrochen, am selben Nachmittag beginnt das Erntefest mit der ersten vollständigen Tanzaufführung."
copyright: collectie@wereldculturen.nl - http://collectie.wereldculturen.nl/#/query/3225a1d2-a3e9-430e-a0b4-b6fcfaef9bfe


Bibliography:
Beran, Harry (1980) : Massim Tribal Art. Wollongong - Wollongong City Gallery.
Hamson, Michael and Richard Aldridge. (2009) : Art of the Massim & Collingwood Bay. Palos Verdes Estates, Cal.: Michael Hamson Oceanic Art.
Malinowski, Bronislaw (1930): Das Geschlechtsleben der Wilden. Leipzig und Zürich.
Malinowski, Bronislaw (1916) : Baloma - the Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands.
Newton, Douglas (1975) : Massim - Art of the Massim Area - New Guinea. New York : The Museum of Primitive Art.
Norick, Frank Albert (1976) : An analysis of the material culture of the Trobriand Islands based upon the collection of Bronislaw Malinowski. Ann Arbor, Michigan and London. University Microfilms International.
Finsch, Otto (1888) : Reisen in Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und Neu-Guinea an Bord des Dampfers Samoa.
Finsch, Otto (1888) : Ethnologische Erfahrungen und Belegstücke aus der Südsee - beschreibender Katalog einer Sammlung im K.K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseum in Wien.

Comparative Museum Collections:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Massim drum, accession no. 1979.206.1768, identified as katunenia, Trobriand Islands / Massim region. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Katunenia, accession no. X 26674, Trobriand Islands, collected by Bronislaw Malinowski, 1915–1918. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}
Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Kupii, accession no. X 26673, Trobriand Islands, collected by Bronislaw Malinowski, 1915–1918. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Kundu drum, Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay Province, early 20th century. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}