Kundu Drum
Hourglass hand drum of Papua New Guinea, carved from a single block of light hardwood with a membrane of lizard or snake skin stretched over the open head and held with wax and resin studs, which also tune the drum. It is played with the palm and fingers, its patterns of beats belonging to the village and its ancestors; in the Sepik region the Iatmul associate the drum with the crocodile-creator, and the instrument is used in initiation rites, spirit cults, mourning and the sing-sing gatherings that draw communities together. The kundu is so emblematic that it appears on the national coat of a