garamut, slit-log drum

Slit-log drumming system used by the Kayan people of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, described by Yambisang (2015). The instrument itself is a slit-log drum (Kayan: rumbung; Tok Pisin: garamut). The system consists of a series of formalized rhythms denoting messages and the names of clans and people. It is combinatorial: "I asked one Kayan elder, Peter, how garamut messages are sent. Thisis how he explained it to me. He said first, you rattle the slit of the garamut with the garamut stick.This is a wake of waking up the garamut. Then you pound three short beats to alert the public as away of alerting the public that someone is conveying a message through garamut. After that yousend the message to the person you want the message delivered. Depending on the type of message, the beats will vary from slow, to medium, to fast pace at various intervals. After sendingthe message you would then identify yourself with your own code signal."Traditionally, most messages were drummed in the official capacity of leaders and high-status individuals (the Kukurai and big men). According to Yambisang, colonization altered the social relations entailed in garamut playing, "making it possible for many more people to beat the garamut including women, or government appointed officials at government posts, as well as personnel in mission stations" (192); this was accompanied by a loss in the decrease in the complexity of drummed messages.Content includes long-distance communication; announcements of deaths and arrivals; clan call signs and the names of individuals. The garamut also carries significance in Kayan traditional religious practice.

Yambisang, A. A. (2015). Garamut (Slit-drums) Among the Kayan: A case study of the historical and contemporary significance of garamut among the Kayan people of Madang, Papua New Guinea [PhD Thesis]. University of Queensland, Australia.