Kundu is a pidgin name in Papua New Guinea for an hourglass drum used to accompany formal occasions, religious ceremonies and for celebrations (such as the Sing-sing). [1] This drum is emblematic of Papua New Guinea and it appears on the country's coat of arms. [2]
The sizes of a kundu drum vary. A small finger-drum might measure 30 cm (11.81 in), while a large drum might be 200 cm (74.84 in) long. [3]
The drum is made of carved wood with a possum or lizard-skin drumhead, with some instruments possessing a handle placed on the narrowest part of the drum. [1] Not all kundus have handles, depending on the instruments' style. [3] Traditionally, the lizard skin was held in place with a layer of human blood (as glue). [4]
Depending upon who made it and where it was made, a kundu may be carved plainly, or decorated with "high-relief" carved handles, or relief carvings on the instruments' bodies with open mouthed crocodiles, human faces, dancers, and "spirit figures." [3] Often, the kundu is decorated with animal figures on its edges. On some instruments the handle may have intricate sculpture in (openwork style).
For the Papuans, the sound of the Kundu represents the voice of "spirits". [5] [1] Examples of formal religious or civil occasions where one might hear the Kundu include burials, the opening of a new house or the launching of a new boat. [1]
The hourglass drum is widespread in New Guinea and many surrounding islands, a land with more than 700 different languages. [6] There is no tradition for the instrument in "New Ireland, Manus, Buka / Bougainville or Rossel Island." [3]
While different people's may have the drum, their names and traditions for the instrument vary. Other names include the apa (Elema People, Papua Gulf) [7] and the warup from the Torres Straits. [3]
In the Indonesian western end of New Guinea, the tradition of making kundu drums has been affected by the drum-making tradition of other Indonesian Islands, especially the Maluku Islands. The Maluku Iskands drums are known under the name tifa . That name has become used for some New Guinean hourglass drums.
The Asmat people in the Papua province of Indonesia, make hourglass drums covered with decorative symbolic carvings, including the handle. [8] One thing that is different on the Asmat's drums from the kundu drums is that the Asmat secure the skin with a tightly fitted, slip-on ring of rattan, after the skin is glued down. [4] [9]
They use tifa for their carved hourglass drum. [6]
Although drums such as the Asmat's and Marind's are now called "tifa", it may not be appropriate to use the word as a synonym for all kundu drums. The Indonesian word has been applied to hourglass drums, but not exclusively. Other drums that tifa applies to include goblet drums, and to the barrel drums played in the Maluku Islands' Tifa totobuang ensemble and in the Papuan Sing-sing .
Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the sovereign state of Papua New Guinea to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the north, Cenderawasih Bay to the west, and the provinces of Central Papua and Highland Papua to the south. The province also shares maritime boundaries with Palau in the Pacific. Following the splitting off of twenty regencies to create the three new provinces of Central Papua, Highland Papua, and South Papua on 30 June 2022, the residual province is divided into eight regencies and one city (kota), the latter being the provincial capital of Jayapura. The province has a large potential in natural resources, such as gold, nickel, petroleum, etc. Papua, along with five other Papuan provinces, has a higher degree of autonomy level compared to other Indonesian provinces.
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. It contained what are now Indonesia's six easternmost provinces, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua, which were administered as a single province prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya, and now comprise the Papua region of the country.
The music of Papua New Guinea has a long history.
Indo-Pacific is a hypothetical language macrofamily proposed in 1971 by Joseph Greenberg and now believed to be spurious. It grouped together the Papuan languages of New Guinea and Melanesia with the languages of the Andaman Islands and, tentatively, the languages of Tasmania, both of which are remote from New Guinea. The valid cognates Greenberg found turned out to be reflexes of the less extensive Trans–New Guinea family. Recently the Kusunda language, which is generally seen as a language isolate, is also included in the Indo-Pacific proposal. Greenberg did not include "Australian" in his original 1971 proposal.
West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya Barat, is an Indonesian province located in the land of Papua. It covers most of the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea, the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula and the whole of the Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby smaller islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province's capital and largest city. With an estimated population of 561,403 in mid-2022, West Papua is the least populous province in Indonesia after Southwest Papua, which was a part of West Papua until separated off in 2022.
Biak is the main island of Biak Archipelago located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak has many atolls, reefs, and corals.
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A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of its often being called a drum, it is not a true drum because it lacks a drumhead, the membrane stretched across the top of a true drum). It is classed instead as an idiophone in which the entire instrument vibrates, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood, in the form of a mostly closed hollow chamber with one or more slits in it. It is played by striking near the edge of the slit. In some designs, the slit is a single straight line; in others, the slit is used to create one or more "tongues", achieved by cutting three sides of a rectangular shape and leaving the fourth side attached. Most slit drums have one slit, though two and three slits occur. Tongues of different areas or thicknesses will produce different pitches. Slit drums are used throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. In Africa such drums, strategically situated for optimal acoustic transmission, have been used for long-distance communication.
Manokwari is a coastal town and the capital of the Indonesian province of West Papua. It is one of only seven provincial capitals of Indonesia without a city status. It is also the administrative seat of Manokwari Regency. However, under proposals currently under consideration by the Indonesian Parliament, it is planned to split Manokwari town off from the regency and turn it into a separate city. The majority of Manokwari residents are Christians and the town is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manokwari–Sorong.
Hourglass drums are a sub-category of membranophone, or drum, characterized by an hourglass shape. They are also known as waisted drums. Drumheads are attached by laces, which may be squeezed during a performance to alter the pitch. The category also includes pellet drums such as the damaru, although not all pellet drums are hourglass shaped.
The national emblem of Papua New Guinea consists of a bird-of-paradise over a traditional spear and a kundu drum. Designed by Hal Holman, an Australian artist working for the Papuan government, Holman was also involved in the design of the National flag. Both the emblem and the flag was accepted by the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea and signed into law as the National Identity Ordinance by the Administrator Sir Leslie Johnson on 24 June 1971. The ordinance came into effect after its publication in the Papua New Guinea Gazette of 1 July 1971.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Indonesia:
The Marind or Marind-Anim are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia.
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South Papua, officially the South Papua Province, is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of the Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2022 and including the four most southern regencies that were previously part of the province of Papua and before 11 December 2002 had comprised a larger Merauke Regency, it covers a land area of 117,849.16 km2, about the same area as Pennsylvania. This area had a population of 513,617 at the 2020 Census, while the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 534,416, making it the least populous province in Indonesia.
This is a list of emblems or coat of arms used in Indonesia. Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, and each province is divided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota). There are 416 regencies and 98 cities. Each province, regency, and city has its own emblem.
Sultan Zainal Abidin Alting Syah was the 26th Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands, reigning from 1947 to 1967. He was also the appointed Governor of Irian Barat in 1956–1962 before the actual inclusion of Irian Barat in Indonesia, serving official Indonesian claims against Dutch colonial rule.
A tifa totobuang is a music ensemble from the Maluku Islands, related to the kulintang orchestra. It consists of a set of a double row of gong chimes known as the totobuang and a set of tifa drums. It can also include a large gong.
The tifa, tiwa or tiva is a single-headed goblet drum used throughout the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia, where it is traditionally the "dominant instrument" in Maluku province music. The term tifa has been used outside of the Maluku Islands, including on the island of Java and on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Papua province.
Jew, also known as the Single House, is Asmat traditional house originating from the Asmat Regency, particularly from Agats. Jew, also known by several other names such as Je, Jeu, Yeu, or Yai, is a rectangular elevated house made of wood, with walls and roofs made of woven sago palm or nipa palm leaves. What's unique about the jew is that it entirely avoids using nails, instead using rattan roots as connectors.
This wooden carving depicts the current Papua New Guinea emblem/coat of arms. The new emblem was created as a result of the National Identity Ordinance that passed into law in 1971. The emblem was retained after Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975 and is still in use today. The coat of arms depicts a Bird of Paradise, traditional spear, and Kundu drum.
In the summer of 2007 two members of the Holmes Museum of Anthropology at Wichita State University traveled to the Asmat region of New Guinea. They recorded the making of a drum by an Asmat man named Robbie.
Papuan musical instruments are resonant instruments that emit rather low-pitched sounds usually representing the voices of spirits. They are played by initiated men and are used in ceremonies.
In the summer of 2007 two members of the Holmes Museum of Anthropology at Wichita State University traveled to the Asmat region of New Guinea. They recorded the making of a tifa drum by an Asmat man named Robbie.
Single-headed, hourglass-shaped drums...found only in Melanesia. In New Guinea and surrounding islands they are called by various names including apa and kundu ...drumheads are made of reptile skin in the lowlands and of opossum hide in the highlands.
[Photograph of an Asmat drum]
[Photo of the drumhead on an Asmat tifa, with rattan ring and waxy drops (that change the sound of the drumhead.)]