Vanuatu Slit Drum (Tamtam)
Hollowed log drum of Vanuatu, carved from a single tree trunk with a narrow longitudinal slot and open ends, struck with wooden beaters to send a deep, carrying sound across the village and reef. In the northern islands, where the great carved tamtam stand upright before the village, the drums are monuments as much as instruments: many are carved with faces and stand several metres tall as records of chiefs and ancestors. The slit drum calls people to gatherings, announces deaths and ceremonies, keeps the rhythm of dances, and in grade-taking and other graded society rites the number and size