EXH2026-046 - secondary catalog
Andowi (atuamba chain)
Democratic Republic of the Congo - NE Congo (atuamba belt) - Central Africa
Function not recorded
kundrukundru English
Source term: bullroarer (New Grove cross-entry)
kundrukundru: the Andowi word for the bullroarer.
Etymology. The reduplicated form imitates the instrument's whirring roar (Andowi, Mangbetu cluster). (medium confidence)
Whirled on its cord, this eastern-Congo bullroarer was said to growl like a leopard — a spirit voice raised at circumcision and other secret ceremonies, and kept from the eyes of women and the uninitiated. The Andowi, one of several closely tied peoples of the northeastern Congo, call it kundrukundru, a name that imitates its droning whir; the same word carries across to their Adoi, Amanga and Andebogo neighbours. What the leopard's roar stood in for stayed with the initiated men.
kundrukundru
New Grove / Grove bullroarer term or cross-entry, local audit locator in page_or_plate
- Object
- Bullroarer; recorded for the Andowi only by its name, kundrukundru.
- Function
- Source-checked bullroarer term/cross-entry for the Andowi; wider regional ritual context is not row-specific in the recovered evidence.
- Map confidence
- low_medium - Mangbetu-area microgroup, approximate
- Source location
Page references
New Grove / Grove, Andowi entry (term kundrukundru)
- Forbidden to women