The Bullroarer Atlas

EXH2026-015 - secondary catalog

Bakumu (Komo)

Democratic Republic of the Congo - NE Congo (Babali initiation belt) - Central Africa

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A dark wooden board bound with cord near its perforated end: an African bullroarer of the general type, not the Bakumu (Komo) instrument...
Representative image. A dark wooden board bound with cord near its perforated end: an African bullroarer of the general type, not the Bakumu (Komo) instrument documented here. © The Trustees of the British Museum (E/Af1962-17-72) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Image source

Source term: rhombe

The Bakumu — better known as the Komo — ran their own forest-initiation society deep in the northeastern Congo woods. Édouard de Jonghe counted them among the Babali's neighbours who shared that droning initiation complex, the roarer whirled on a cord. Whether the Komo turned the instrument to their own rite or merely stood within its reach, he never said; here they surface only as a name on his list.

le rhombe est lié au complexe d’initiation tribale qui «se rencontre avec quelques variantes chez les voisins des Babali: Bakumu, Babira, Wanyanza, Bangelima, Barundi, Bapopoi, Wagenia et Lokele»

the bullroarer is tied to the tribal-initiation complex which "is found, with some variants, among the neighbours of the Babali: Bakumu, Babira, Wanyanza, Bangelima, Barundi, Bapopoi, Wagenia and Lokele"

Söderberg 1956:184-185, quoting de Jonghe 1936:62
Object
Rhombe of the NE-Congo tribal-initiation complex.
Function
Rhombe tied to the tribal initiation complex of the Babali and their neighbours (de Jonghe).
Map confidence
medium - Komo country SE of Kisangani
Source location
Soderberg pp. 184-185; de Jonghe 1936 pp. 62-63

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