{"id":"BLENCH1987-001","label":"Idoma ohumhum, fish-shaped plaque of the alekwu dead","people_or_site":"Idoma","country_current":"Nigeria","historic_region":"Idoma country, Otukpo, Benue State","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"ohumhum / ofumfum","source_term":"ohumhum = ofumfum (Blench 1987, tone-marked)","source_language":"en","object_description":"A fish-shaped wooden plaque bullroarer.","function_summary":"Sounded by members of the alekwu ancestral society and forbidden to women. The alekwu are the returning dead of the Idoma lineages, present among the living in masquerade.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"blench1987_idoma_musical_instruments","source_type":"ethnomusicology_journal_article","source_url":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/30249783","page_or_plate":"printed p. 49 (running head 'IDOMA MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 49' on a genuinely paginated PDF, rendered and read)","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Otukpo anchor for Idoma country, Benue State.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Idoma the dead do not leave; they return as alekwu, ancestors present among the living, guardians of the lineages. Their society's bullroarer is a wooden plaque carved in the shape of a fish, and women are forbidden it. Around it stands the village's whole taxonomy of whirled sound: the cult plaque of the ancestors, the boys' copy knocked together from a school ruler, and the children's spinning disc — three noises, one secret.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Roger Blench, 'Idoma musical instruments,' African Music 6(4) (1987): 42-52, at p. 49 (section IV, free aerophones)","url":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/30249783","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013002546/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30249783"}],"source_citations":"Roger Blench, 'Idoma musical instruments,' African Music 6(4) (1987): 42-52, at p. 49 (section IV, free aerophones)","source_display":"Roger Blench, 'Idoma musical instruments,' African Music 6(4) (1987): 42-52, at p. 49 (section IV, free aerophones)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A fish-shaped wooden plaque bullroarer.","function_display":"Sounded by members of the alekwu ancestral society and forbidden to women. The alekwu are the returning dead of the Idoma lineages, present among the living in masquerade.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"idoma","display_name":"Idoma ohumhum, fish-shaped plaque of the alekwu dead","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-096_qb_217063_guri.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-096_qb_217063_guri_thumb.jpg","alt":"The Guri: a softwood blade tapering to a point, with a small pierced diamond-shaped terminal for its cord at the opposite end.","credit":"© Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, 71.1933.40.188 (coll. Henri Labouret, entered 1933)","license":"N/A","source_page":"https://collections.quaibranly.fr/?action=search&field=/Record/ObjectNumber&label=N%C2%B0%20de%20gestion&value=71.1933.40.188","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"The Guri — a softwood blade tapering to a point","pool_id":"auto-MUS2026-096_qb_217063_guri","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-03"},"slug":"blench1987-001-idoma"}