Photographs © Hamill Gallery
MBEMBE
DRUM 1
19" high x 53" long
105 lbs.
$1500
SOLD
Drums are among the most important art forms in Africa, used both as a musical instrument and as a work of sculpture significant in many ceremonial functions, including dance, rituals, story-telling and communication of messages.
Slit drums, with hollow chambers and long narrow openings that resonate when struck, often take a human or animal form in which the drum becomes the body.
This massive slit drum was used primarily as a signal gong to alert, assemble or inform the population. Variations in the thickness of the walls would vary the tones when struck by heavy wooden drum sticks.
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