Tarawai Island Drum (East Sepik, Papua New Guinea)

This Kundu drum from Tarawai Island has the characteristic hourglass-shaped body found among many drums of northern and eastern New Guinea. The wooden body expands towards both ends and narrows strongly at the waist, where a substantial open handle is carved as an integral part of the drum. The upper end is fitted with a lizard-skin membrane secured around the rim.

The central waist is the principal area of decoration. It is covered with several horizontal bands of finely incised geometric and curvilinear patterns. Repeated lines, cross-hatched fields, diamond forms and scrolling motifs are arranged in carefully ordered zones around the body. Traces of red pigment remain within parts of the carved ornament, emphasizing the contrast between the decorated waist and the comparatively plain upper and lower sections.

Particularly distinctive is the small figurative carving on the body immediately beside the handle. It is clearly rendered as a fish, shown in profile with an elongated body, pointed head and tail, and incised details indicating the fins and internal structure of the body. Unlike the surrounding geometric ornament, the fish is a direct figurative representation and forms an unusual focal element within the decoration of the drum.

Bibliography:
Fischer, Hans (1958): Schallgeräte in Ozeanien. Sound-producing Instruments in Oceania.
Hamson, Michael (2010): Art of the Boiken.
Laycock, Donald C. (1973): Sepik Languages: Checklist and Preliminary Classification. Pacific Linguistics, Series B-No. 25. Australian National University, Canberra.
Meyer, Anthony J. P. (1995): Oceanic Art / Ozeanische Kunst. Vol. I. Köln: Könemann.