'ngoma, drum

Drumming system used by the Baganda people in Uganda, described in Lush (1935) and Roscoe (1911 and 1921). The instruments themselves (generally ‘ngoma in Luganda) consist of double- and single-headed membrane drums of various sizes. Lush details a system including many different drums dedicated to ceremonial music during or announcements regarding particular events; for instance, only the drum pair called Kànaːba is beaten following “the death of a princess or the son of a prince” (463). Lush does not discuss any encoding mechanism in detail. According to Roscoe (1921; in Lush 1935): “in the past ‘there were literally several hundred beats for the drums, and each rhythm was known by the people, and conveyed a definite meaning to them’” (Lush 1935:459); Lush adds that “my informants say that it would be difficult or impossible to send ordinary messages by drum beating” (473). ‘Private drums’ may be used by anyone as musical accompaniment, but signal drumming is restricted to court chiefs or designated royal drummers, including “hereditary court entertainers” (470). Content includes long-distance communication, announcements about deaths, births, and coronations, announcements and encouragements during hunting and warfare, and religious or ceremonial purposes.

Roscoe, J. (1911). The Baganda: An account of their native customs and beliefs. Macmillan.,Roscoe, J. (1921). Twenty-five years in East Africa. The University press.,Lush, A. J., Sebeok, T. A., & Umiker-Sebeok, J. (1935). 23. KIGANDA DRUMS. In Speech Surrogates: Drum and Whistle Systems. 1976. (pp. 458–473). https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110804416/10.1515/9783110804416.458.xml