Mende Bundu Society song

Ethnomusicological sound recording made by Cootje van Oven. Mende Bundu Society Song, accompanied by two Bundu drums, and bells on dancing devils. All the performers are female. The photograph shows the two masked Bundu devils, who had the bells on their backs. The group of girls had just been initiated into the Bundu Society, and had been round to their villages to sing and entertain. The song really appears to be two or three or more songs, one running into the other, but the same refrain persists throughout. The Bundu drum is a wooden cylindrical drum with two skins, one of which is beaten. In this case the longer and narrower drum (length 20", diameter 8") was beaten with two sticks, the shorter and wider one (length 19", diameter 9") with stick and hand.

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Further Information

  • Type: Sound Recording, Musical instruments
  • Object: Mende Bundu Society song
  • Materials: No Data / Other
  • Culture Group: Mende
  • Dimensions: No Data
  • Production Date: 1966.12.30
  • Associated Places: Ten miles along the road from Gbangbatok to Moyamba [Place Recorded]
  • Associated People: Cootje van Oven [Sound Recordist]; Herb Clark [Sound Recordist]
  • Museum: Cootje Van Oven Collection
  • Accession Number: CVO:294

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