Adoi (kundrukundru)

kundrukundru

Source term: bullroarer (Grove enumeration)

kundrukundru: Adoi (NE Congo) name for the bullroarer, onomatopoeic for its whirring roar; the Amanga, Andebogo and Andowi share it.

Etymology. kundrukundru imitates the bullroarer's whirring roar rather than carrying a decomposable meaning; the Amanga, Andebogo and Andowi share it, and it belongs to a family of reduplicated Congo names collected by de Hen.

For the Adoi of the northeastern Congo, the bullroarer is "kundrukundru" — one of a cluster of onomatopoeic Congo names (egburuburu, mbirimbiri, kunzukunzu among them) collected by de Hen, each simply echoing the instrument's whirring roar.

the varied names collected by de Hen suggest an onomatopoeic derivation, for example, the Adoi, Amanga, Andebogo and Andowi kundrukundru

K.A. Gourlay, "Bullroarer," Grove Music Online (after F.J. de Hen, Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Musikinstrumente aus Belgisch Kongo und Ruanda-Urundi, Tervuren, 1960)

Particulars

Object

Bullroarer, called kundrukundru.

Function

Not recorded.