Papuan Gulf Drum (Kikori Area, Papua New Guinea)

This distinctive drum comes from the Kikori area of the Papuan Gulf in Papua New Guinea. The Papuan Gulf is renowned for its highly expressive tradition of carved wooden objects, in which musical instruments, ancestral imagery and ceremonial symbolism are closely connected.

A striking feature is the open lower end, which tapers into two projecting prongs forming a shape resembling an open mouth or jaw. In the literature this feature has been described variously as a fish mouth, shark mouth or crocodile mouth. The open mouth is also associated with the idea of the instrument “speaking” during ceremonial performances, emphasizing the conception of the drum as an active participant in ritual.

The mouth-shaped opening may possibly have a connection with the pairama initiation ceremony of the Elema and neighbouring peoples. In this ceremonial context, the ancestral being known as Kaiamunu or Kopiravi, described as a primordial man-eating creature, plays an important role. The precise significance of the mouth motif on this particular drum, however, cannot be established with certainty.

Drums of the Papuan Gulf were used in ceremonial performances involving music, singing and dance. Their sound formed part of a wider ritual environment in which ancestral beings, social identity and initiation traditions were expressed through movement, imagery and sound. The present example demonstrates particularly clearly how the drum itself could become a carrier of this visual and ceremonial language.

Bibliography:
Williams, F. E. (1940): Drama of Orokolo. The Social and Ceremonial Life of the Elema.
Wirz, Paul: Beiträge zur Ethnographie des Papua-Golfes, Britisch-Neuguinea.
Welsch, Robert L.; Webb, Virginia-Lee; Haraha, Sebastian (2006): Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art and Society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea.
Newton, Douglas (1961): Art Styles of the Papuan Gulf. The Museum of Primitive Art, New York.
Hamson, Michael (2010): Red Eye of the Sun: The Art of the Papuan Gulf.
Lewis, Albert Buell (1925): Decorative Art of New Guinea.
Chauvet, Stephen (1930): Les arts indigènes en Nouvelle-Guinée.
Friede, John (2005): New Guinea Art – Masterpieces of the Jolika Collection from Marcia and John Friede.
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Kelm, Heinz (1966): Kunst vom Sepik.