Temne Bundu Society song

Ethnomusicological sound recording made by Cootje van Oven. Temne Bundu Society song, accompanied by one saka, three bundu drums. The photograph pictures the saka and singers. The aged leading singer (on left in the foreground of the pictures) is the local head of the Bundu Society. The meaning of the song is: "Something very important happened in town, but the chief kept very quiet about it and said no word". The saka, apparently always played by women, is a stalked gourd surrounded by a network of beads or buttons on strings. The end of the strings is held in one hand, the stalk of the gourd in the other. Rhythmic movements of the gourd produce the desired rattle of the beads or buttons against the gourd. The Bundu drum is a wooden cylindrical drum with two skins, one of which is beaten. In this case, the drums with the bigger skins are each played with one plain stick and with the hand and the drum with the smallest skin diameter is played with one hooked stick and with the hand. This drum is 22" long and has a diameter of 6.5". Corresponding measurements of the other two drums are 21.5" by 8", and 21" by 8".

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Further Information

• Type: Sound Recording, Musical instruments
• Object: Temne Bundu Society song
• Materials: No Data / Other
• Culture Group: Temne
• Dimensions: No Data
• Production Date: 1966.04.16
• Associated Places: Masingbi, Kunike Chiefdom, Tonkolili District [Place Recorded][Origin of item]
• Associated People: Cootje van Oven [Sound Recordist]; Herb Clark [Sound Recordist]; Naso Lessi Conteh [Lead singer]; Barumi Mela [Singer and saka]; Tatu Kamara and Mankapr Turay [singers]; Ruko Moi, Ruko Sira and Kadeh Koroma [Drums]
• Museum: Cootje Van Oven Collection
• Accession Number: CVO:144

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