Aka eagle-flight monkey scarer

Source term: rhombe à singe

monkey bullroarer

Aka families live by net-hunting, honey and gathering in the rainforest of the Lobaye, in the southwest of the Central African Republic, and are known far beyond it for the dense interlocking polyphony of their singing. Away from that repertoire sits a working sound. In Engedi camp, near Kenga village, on 1 November 1976, Serge Bahuchet recorded a monkey whip, tòmbó, and a monkey bullroarer used together to counterfeit the flight of an eagle overhead and frighten the monkey, kémà.

Fouet à singe (tòmbó) et rhombe à singe (utilisés pour imiter le vol de l'aigle et pour faire peur au singe) ; singe (kémà).

Monkey whip (tòmbó) and monkey bullroarer (used to imitate the eagle's flight and frighten the monkey); monkey (kémà).

CREM-CNRS item CNRSMH_I_2020_084_009_02, collected by Serge Bahuchet, recorded 1 November 1976.

Particulars

Object

A bullroarer recorded in performance alongside a monkey whip in the Lobaye forest at Engedi camp, near Kenga, Central African Republic; the instrument's own form and vernacular name are not recorded.

Function

Whirled with a monkey whip to imitate an eagle's flight and frighten a monkey.