kundu

The shell of this kundu is carved from a solid block of hardwood using metal tools and fire to produce its tubular hourglass form and thin walls. This form includes an integral handle (detail 3). Further reductive carving with metal tools is used to produce the symbolically-rich surface decoration. One end of the drum is left uncovered (detail 2), while the other is covered with a head made of a lizard skin that is glued with tree gum or other natural substances to a 1-inch wide exterior band around the rim of the opening (detail 1). 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 (three of these, and signs of three further ones now missing, are visible in detail 1). There is no indication of this drum having ever been painted; several of the kwangu in museum collections are decoratively painted. If seated, the kundu player places the drum across his lap and strikes the drumhead with the open palm of the hand nearest the drumhead. If standing, the drum can either be held with one hand by its handle or cradled horizontally with one arm across the player’s chest, leaving the free hand to strike the head. In general, as well as amongst the Iatmul, a beater or beaters are not used to sound the drum. Tuning is accomplished by heating the head over fire and by applying the above-mentioned tuning pellets. The origin of hourglass drums in Oceania is lost to history. It can at best be pointed out that this form of drum is distributed primarily in Melanesia (Papua New Guinea and the islands to its north) and Micronesia (primarily the eastern island groups, including the Marshalls). King, McLean, and Montagu (2014, p. 715) imply that, in Oceania, this form of drum spread from Melanesian cultures to Micronesian ones. It does not appear possible at this time to link the evolution and spread of these Oceanic hourglass drums to those of other regions of the world—primarily Africa and South and East Asia—where they are found. Craig, Barry, ed. 2010. Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Accessed 16 April 2019: . Geary, Christraud M., ed. 2006. From the South Seas—Oceanic Art in the Teel Collection. Boston: MFA Publications. “Hand drum (kundu), 20th century.” Minneapolis Institute of Art website, accessed Aug. 7, 2019: “Hand Drum.” Los Angeles County Museum of Art website, accessed Aug. 7, 2019: Iatmul (Melanesia, Papua New Guinea) Kundu (Hand Drum) , 20th century. PDF accessed Aug. 7, 2019: “Iatmul/Chambri hand drum.” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston website, accessed Aug.7, 2019: “Instrument, percussion, Iatmul, Kararau, Middle Sepik River, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.” Museums Victoria Collections website, accessed Aug. 7, 2019: King, Anthony, Mervyn McLean, and Jeremy Montagu. 2014. “Hourglass drum.” GDMI v.2: 714-715.