Southern Highland, Papua New Guinea
Southern Highland People

Wood, skin, textile
ca. early-20th century
Length: 30 in; Diameter: 7.5 in
Membranophones – Directly Struck

A kundu (generic name for drum) from Southern Highland, Papua New Guinea, used at sing-sing events.  This kundu is hourglass form, with a long neck and a circular rim that separates the neck from the wide flaring base. An animal skinhead is affixed with textile and cloth binding.  The thin waisted drum is free from surface decoration and has no handle, but there is a textile sling.

Sing-sing is a gathering of tribes or villages in Papua New Guinea.  The people of Southern Highland, PNG, come together once a year peacefully to show and share their different costumes, dance, and music, as each island, region, or village has its own traditions.  Sometimes there are as many as 100 tribes, all disguised in anthropomorphic body paint, dressed in the most colorful headdresses with jewelry made of shells and boar tusks, as they perform their traditional dances.