EXH2026-059 - secondary catalog
Bagbwa (egburuburu)
Democratic Republic of the Congo - NE Congo (Bira borderlands) - Central Africa
Function not recorded
egburuburu / arumvu-rumvu English
Source term: bullroarer (Grove enumeration)
egburuburu (Bagbwa) and arumvu-rumvu (Mamvu) are onomatopoeic names imitating the whirring drone of the spun bullroarer; recorded as Central-Sudanic / NE-Congo terms in de Hen's Tervuren organology.
Etymology. egburuburu imitates the bullroarer's whirring, roaring sound; it is one of a set of onomatopoeic NE-Congo / Central-Sudanic names for the instrument. (medium confidence)
Among the Bagbwa of the Bira borderlands in northeastern Congo, the bullroarer carries the name egburuburu, an echo of its own whirring drone; the neighbouring Mamvu call their version arumvu-rumvu. Both names were gathered in F.J. de Hen's 1960 Tervuren survey of Belgian Congo instruments as part of a cluster of onomatopoeic Central-African bullroarer terms. What the Bagbwa did with the instrument, who was allowed to hear it, and whether it belonged to initiation are not recorded in that source; the wider Congo pattern of secret, men-only bullroarer cult is documented elsewhere but is not tied to the Bagbwa in the surviving evidence.
egburuburu / arumvu-rumvu
K. A. Gourlay, 'Bullroarer,' Grove Music Online (after F. J. de Hen, 1960).
- Object
- Bullroarer, called egburuburu.
- Function
- The Bagbwa name for the bullroarer is recorded; no use is described.
- Map confidence
- low_medium - NE DRC, approximate
- Source location
Page references
de Hen 1960, Schwirrholz (bullroarer) section (onomatopoeic name cluster incl. egburuburu); cited via Grove, s.v. "Bull-roarer"