Drum Item Number: 2704/42 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Tall, narrow drum with a skin top. The circular skin top is stretched down and tied with bark to a double woven band around the middle of the drum. Into the woven band are pushed nine carved stakes. The stakes are pointed and vary in length and shade. The drum is unpainted wood, broad at the top and tapers to the base. The interior is hollow.

History Of Use

Wedge and ring style or friction drum (uni membranophone) used by the Ekpe or Ngbe (Leopard) secret society. The society was said to have originated in the Old Calabar region in the seventeenth century, spreading to southeastern Cameroon, or the grass lands, by the nineteenth or twentieth centuries among the Bamileke peoples. The drums of the Leopard secret societies played a significant role in rituals and performances, as they represented the voice of the Ngbe. From the mid-eighteenth century, with heightened trade and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade occurring in the region, the ways of the Leopard secret society spread outside of the continent. The similar Abakua society was formed in Cuba around the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. For the Abakua society, the drums guided the Ireme, an individual embodying, summoning or meditating with the spirit of ancestors. Today drums of this style are still used in performances in celebrations in various parts of the world, such as Panama and Suriname.

Item History

What

Name
Drum
Identification Number
2704/42
Type of Item
drum
Material
wood, skin and bark fibre
Overall
height 60.0 cm, diameter 24.0 cm

Who

Culture
Efik
Previous Owner
Laurice Durham-Aldridge, Anthony Durham-Aldridge, Carmel Magnusson and Terry Aldridge
Received from
Carmel Magnusson (Donor) and Terry Aldridge (Donor)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
Nigeria

When

Ownership Date
before March 19, 2008
Acquisition Date
on March 19, 2008

Other

Condition
good
Current Location
Case 98
Accession Number
2704/0042