Healer's Drum
Details
- Origin: Eswatini
- Date: N/A, acquired by Duke in 2003
- Collection: DHB 49
Description
Drum made of metal, leather, hide, and hair. This drum was most likely made from a Boer cooking pot, and is tuned by heat (sun or fire). The animal hide is imported, presumably antelope or cow skin.
This instrument was played by women only, during Healing Ceremonies. Healing Ceremonies are practiced throughout Southern Africa by traditional healers. Traditional healers fulfill various roles in southern African countries, including divination, healing physical emotional and spiritual illnesses, and more.
Healers typically use this drum as part of a prayer to ancestors. During celebrations, a sangoma (healer) will be called to dance and celebrate their ancestors. Sangomas enter a trance (channeling their ancestors), which is followed by ancestral songs. The songs are performed by the Sangomas, who use call and response with the audience in order to echo songs back to their ancestors. The Sangoma wear traditional ancestral clothing, and participate in vigorous dancing, drumming, and singing.
Sources
- Meintjes, Louise. “South African Music Lecture.” 3 March 2007, Duke University, Page Auditorium. Lecture.
Levers, Lisa Lopez. “Traditional Healing as Indigenous Knowledge: Its Relevance to HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa and the Implications for Counselors.” Journal of Psychology in Africa 16, no. 1 (2006): 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2006.10820108.
Janzen, John M. “Self-Presentation and Common Cultural Structures in Ngoma Rituals of Southern Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa 25, no. 2 (1995): 141–62. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006695×00173.
Cumes, David. Africa in My Bones: A Surgeon’s Odyssey into the Spirit World of African Healing. Claremont South Africa: Spearhead, 2004.
Kuipers, Ludo. “Photos of Sangoma and Inyanga – Traditional Healers of Swaziland.” OzOutback. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://ozoutback.com.au/Swaziland/sangoma/.
