{"id":"PEPPER1958-001","label":"Kuyu / Kouyou Ngwé bullroarer, Kouyougandza","people_or_site":"Kuyu / Kouyou","country_current":"Republic of the Congo","historic_region":"Kouyougandza / Cuvette","macroregion":"Africa / Central Africa","local_name":"Ngwé","source_term":"rhombe","source_language":"French","object_description":"Wood or bone blade spun at the end of a cord.","function_summary":"Children's and adolescents' plaything, spun to mimic the panther's roar.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"pepper1958_kuyu_ngwe","source_type":"sound_archive_collection","source_url":"https://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09/","page_or_plate":"item CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09; booklet p. 16","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Kouyougandza named in the CREM record; locality anchor.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"When the sound-hunter Herbert Pepper recorded Congo life for his Anthologie de la vie africaine (1941-1956), the young people of Kouyougandza gave him the Ngwé: a blade of wood or bone spun on a cord to make 'a terrifying sound' — the imitation of the panther's roar. That roar had standing among the Kuyu, whose country divides at the river: the east under the serpent — 'the serpent created Ébongo, Ébongo created Éouya' runs the cosmogonic chain, Ébongo the first ancestor being at once snake and man — and the west under the panther, the chief's own animal, whose voice was an institution. The chief alone kept the great likouma drum that 'snores and buzzes like the voice of the panther,' and women and children who recognized it hid themselves. By Pepper's day the Ngwé was an amusement of children and adolescents, though he noted these toys had once played an important role among the adults.","pull_quote":"\"Rhombe\" - (\"Ngwé\" chez les Kouyou) est une pièce de bois ou d'os en forme de lame, qui en tournoyant à l'extrémité d'un lien, fait entendre un son terrifiant.","pull_quote_translation":"Rhombe - Ngwé among the Kouyou - is a piece of wood or bone shaped like a blade which, spinning at the end of a cord, produces a terrifying sound.","pull_quote_cite":"CREM-CNRS CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09; Herbert Pepper booklet, p. 16.","term_gloss":"Ngwé = Kuyu/Kouyou local name for the rhombe; the source says it imitates the panther's roar.","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["snake","toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":true,"sources":[{"citation":"CREM-CNRS item CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09, 'Jeux musicaux : Rhombe', from Herbert Pepper's Anthologie de la vie africaine (Congo-Gabon), recorded 1941-1956, published 1958 (3-LP set, preface by L. S. Senghor), archived 1959; booklet p. 16 with operating plate","url":"https://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09/","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260310060907/https://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09/"}],"source_citations":"CREM-CNRS item CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09, 'Jeux musicaux : Rhombe', from Herbert Pepper's Anthologie de la vie africaine (Congo-Gabon), recorded 1941-1956, published 1958 (3-LP set, preface by L. S. Senghor), archived 1959; booklet p. 16 with operating plate","source_display":"CREM-CNRS item CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004_001_09, 'Jeux musicaux : Rhombe', from Herbert Pepper's Anthologie de la vie africaine (Congo-Gabon), recorded 1941-1956, published 1958 (3-LP set, preface by L. S. Senghor), archived 1959; booklet p. 16 with operating plate","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Wood or bone blade spun at the end of a cord.","function_display":"Children's and adolescents' plaything, spun to mimic the panther's roar.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"kuyu","display_name":"Kuyu / Kouyou Ngwé bullroarer, Kouyougandza","image":{"full":"assets/objects/PEPPER1958-001_pepper1958-001-ngwe-corded-blade.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/PEPPER1958-001_pepper1958-001-ngwe-corded-blade_thumb.jpg","credit":"Drawing by Xénia Yellachich, after photographs by Herbert Pepper; Anthologie de la vie africaine (Congo-Gabon), 1958, booklet p. 16; CREM-CNRS","license":"CC BY-NC-ND (source booklet, version unspecified); crop/rotation is a derivative requiring authorization. Proposed for non-commercial research under the campaign house rule.","source_page":"https://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/collections/CNRSMH_E_1959_002_004/related/178/download/","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Ngwé corded blade from Kouyougandza; Pepper 1958, booklet p. 16."},"slug":"pepper1958-001-kuyu-kouyou"}