1981.139.FA Drum

The Senufo used tall drums supported on four bent legs not only as musical instruments but also as a means of communication, much like a public address system. The rhythms played on drums provided a soundtrack for many activities in Senufo villages. They were played when young men prepared the fields for planting, at boys' and girls' coming-of-age rites, and at the funerals of important elders. Female drummers accompanied other women as they sang songs in a secret language to deal with gender conflicts and other frustrations.

The carved imagery on this drum includes a kpeliye face mask of a men's secret society and a python flanked by birds—message carriers to and from the spirit world. A giant lizard or crocodile symbolizes destructive forces; the turtle references water and the Creation, and the shackles refer to ancestral Senufo villagers taken captive during the Islamic jihads of the 19th century. Horns containing potent medicines to heal the body and spirit are depicted around the drum. The highly stylized human legs refer to the human support required during ceremonial usage. 

1981: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus [1], [2]

[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[2] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. In 1976, Mrs. John B. O'Hara bequest an endowment in her name to contribute to the Foundation's collection. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation's collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

A Senufo Drum and the Birth of the Blues, Gallery Talk by Roslyn Walker, UMO: 13317557

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