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Art History Virtual Exhibition

Before Conservation Traditional Kundung Xylophone Berom culture Early to mid-20th century Wood, cow horns, cobwebs, and fibers, L. 77 cm x W. 50 cm x H. 25.5 cm Davis collection #1974.051

African Kundung Xylophone: Researched, Conserved, and Repaired by Ashley McLaughlin

September, 2020 by Sarah Teel

Before Conservation
Traditional Kundung Xylophone
Berom culture
Early to mid-20th century
Wood, cow horns, cobwebs, and fibers, L. 77 cm x W. 50 cm x H. 25.5 cm
Davis collection #1974.051

 

After Conservation
Traditional Kundung Xylophone
Berom culture
Early to mid-20th century
Wood, cow horns, cobwebs, and fibers, L. 77 cm x W. 50 cm x H. 25.5 cm
Davis collection #1974.051

 

Xylophones are instruments that originated in West Africa by the mid-14th century, and their use subsequently spread to the central and eastern regions of Africa.  The kundung xylophone was introduced to the Berom people of Nigeria by the Bagirmi people of Chad in the 1930s. While many musical traditions vanished through British colonization and the spread of Christianity in the region, playing of the kundung was tolerated and even promoted by the British for its native sounds. This instrument has endured in the social practices of the Berom, and today skilled musicians play the kundung in such rituals as marriages and naming ceremonies as well as for entertainment.

The kundung xylophone differs from other idiophones because it can be tuned, and because it is also portable and a wearable instrument. The instrument hangs around the neck of the player by a fiber strap, and mallets are used to play wooden keys that lie on top of the specially selected cow horn resonators. The wooden keys are unfortunately missing from this kundung, but now that the instrument has been cleaned and repaired, the addition of keys would restore this xylophone to function again.

 

 

For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu

Filed Under: 2019 Fall, ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts Tagged With: africa, berom culture, conservation, early 20th century, kundung xylophone, mid 20th century, nigeria, xylophone

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  • 2014 Fall, ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts
  • 2015 Fall, ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts
  • 2016 Fall, ART 385: Art of the Americas
  • 2016 Spring, ART 386: Art of Africa
  • 2017 Fall, ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts
  • 2018 Fall, ART 385: Art of the Americas
  • 2018 Spring, ART 386: Art of Africa
  • 2019 Fall, ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts
  • 2020 Spring, ART 386: Art of Africa

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