Musical Instruments of the Indigenous People of South Africa. Percival Kirby

      together with the drug caused the doctor’s dance to become more and more violent. He began to perspire freely and to cast aside his clothes, until he was clad only in his girdle of tails and his collar of lions’ teeth. He suddenly flung himself down on the floor of the hut, seized his pipe, and began to inhale more of the drug. This was followed by a second and a third repetition of the drumming and chanting, during which the doctor’s dance became still more unbridled; at one point he actually danced in the glowing embers without apparently being conscious of the fact. Then he fell down in what seemed to be a semi-comatose state and the drumming stopped. In a few moments he slowly raised himself up to a sitting posture, shot his right arm forward, pointing his finger towards one of the company, and began to prophesy. The remainder of his performance, although interesting in itself, is rather beyond the scope of this work; the main point being that the drums were in this case manifestly used on the doctor himself in order to induce in him a state of ecstasy favourable to his divinations.

      The last type of drum found in South Africa is a cylindrical drum with two heads called isigubu. The only reference to this instrument that I have been able to trace, apart from occasional dictionary definitions, occurs in the work of the late Father Franz Mayr.⁵¹ This drum consists of a resonator, more or less cylindrical in shape, which is generally made from a hollowed-out section of some soft-wooded tree trunk with a ‘head’ of calfskin or goatskin drawn over each end, the skins being secured by a lacing of thongs which connects them with each other, after the manner of the rope in an ordinary European bass drum. The size of the isigubu varies. I have examined four specimens, the one described by Mayr, which is preserved in the Natal Government Museum, Pietermaritzburg, and which is shown in Figure 2.22; a particularly fine specimen of large size, which was used in the Zulu Rebellion of 1906; and two now in my own collection, one of which was made by a Zulu near Compensation, Natal, and the other by a Xhosa in the Transkei. According to Bryant,⁵² isigubu means a ‘gourd or calabash, emptied of its pulp and used as a beer or water vessel’, and he adds that in modern times it may mean ‘drum, as of a military band’. Colenso⁵³ contents himself with defining isigubu as a ‘hollow vessel, as a gourd or a pumpkin; drum’. But Mayr’s description adds much to our knowledge of the instrument, for not only does he tell us of the shape and size of the isigubu, but he also states that it is often made from the umsenge, or ‘Cabbage’ tree (Cussonia spicata), or from the umhlonhlo (Euphorbia grandidens), on account of the softness of their wood. He further notes that it is played with small drumsticks, which in the photograph are seen to have padded heads, a most unusual feature in South African drums. The fact that no mention of the isigubu is made by the early writers, together with the fact that it is a double-headed drum, with the heads laced together, and beaten by two padded sticks, caused me to suspect long ago that it was not an original Zulu instrument, but had been deliberately copied from the European military drum, in all probability from the bass drum. While in Pietermaritzburg in December 1931, I had an opportunity of checking this conclusion. While photographing the specimen in the Natal Government Museum, it occurred to me to ask an old Zulu who was present if he knew the instrument. Not only did he know it, but he had himself played one in his younger days. I thereupon asked him to show me how it was sounded, and he then took the isigubu, hung it round his neck, and held the sticks as shown in the photograph in Figure 2.23. This picture shows clearly.that the instrument is modelled upon the European bass drum; everything is there, the two ‘heads’, the lacing, the padded sticks, and even the swagger. The maker of my own Xhosa specimen has even aped the painted decoration of the European drum by stitching brightly-coloured cloth entirely round the ‘shell’. The isigubu is still known to-day in many parts of Natal, even as far north as St. Lucia Bay. Nowadays it is sometimes played at weddings by one of the umtimba, or bride’s party, which consists of males, as well as females, when the bride comes to her wedding dance.

      Figure 2.22. Zulu isigubu and sticks. Photograph by W. P. PAFF.

      Figure 2.23. Zulu playing upon the isigubu. Photograph by W. P. PAFF.

      Dr. Vedder sent me a description of a similar double-headed drum, formerly made and played by the Herero, and called by them ongoma. It consisted of a hollow cylindrical resonator of wood fitted at each end with a ‘head’ of calfskin from which the hair had been removed. These ‘heads’ were placed upon the resonator while wet, and secured in position by strips of hide which encircled both the overlap of the ‘head’ and the resonator. To tighten the ‘head’ all that was necessary was to draw the edge from below the strip, which acted as a hoop. An alternative method was to make holes in the edges of the two ‘heads’ through which a single long strip of hide would be laced from end to end of the drum, after the fashion of the rope used on a military side-drum. This method enabled the player to obtain a more efficient straining of the ‘heads’. The ongoma was beaten with two small sticks carved after the manner of knobkerries. Only the maker of a drum might beat it, but he had no official position. However, on occasions of religious celebration among the Herero, when all the men were gathered together, a drummer would be engaged to play. The men then sat in a circle round the sacred fire. The drummer seated himself by the side of the circle, placed his drum in front of him with one of the ‘heads’ resting upon the ground, and beat upon the upper one with his sticks. Thus the ongoma was never beaten upon both sides. It was also played upon a stand, or while hung round the neck of the performer. A drummer, who was called omutone ongoma, would often be called upon to play at a wedding, when he would beat his instrument within the circle of celebrants. This performance was, however, merely intended to give pleasure; it had not any ceremonial significance. At the ceremonies engaged in by sorcerers the ongoma played no part, being considered of no consequence. It was likewise never used in tribal dances.

      1Borcherds, P. B., Autobiographical Memoir, Capetown, 1861, pp. 114–15.

      2Burchell, W. J., Travels in the Interior of South Africa, London, 1824, vol. ii, pp. 65–7.

      3Stow, G. W., The Native Races of South Africa, London, 1905, p. 110.

      4In the South African Public Library, Capetown. I quote from it by permission of the Trustees of the Library.

      5Backhouse, J., Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa, London, 1844, p. 445.

      6Bleek, W. H. I., and Lloyd, L., Bushman Folklore, London, 1911, p. 351.

      7Bleek, D. F., The Naron, Cambridge, 1928, p. 22.

      8 Dapper, O., Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche gewesten, &c, Amsterdam, 1668, p. 653b.

      9Schreyer, J., Neue ost-indianische Reisebeschreibung, &c. Leipzig, 1681; reprinted in Reisebeschreibungen von deutschen Beamten und Kriegsleuten, &c, Haag, 1931, p. 38.

      10Grevenbroeck, J. G., Latin MS. in South African Public Library, Capetown. In Dutch translation, by Van Oordt, in Het Z.A. Tijdschrift, Kaapstad, Feb. 1886, p. 7.

      11Thunberg, C. P., Les Voyages de Thunberg, Paris, 1796, vol. i, p. 233.

      12Kolbe, P., Caput Bonae