MUS2026-083 - museum specimen
Warnindhilyagwa
Australia - Groote Eylandt, Arnhem Land, N
Function not recorded
Source term: bull-roarer
A lanceolate wooden blade, just under thirty centimetres long and pierced at one end for a cord, made by the Warnindhilyagwa of Groote Eylandt off Arnhem Land and now held at the Musée de la musique in Paris. Two-thirds of its surface is covered in geometric motifs that the catalogue records as totemic symbols. Swung overhead on its cord in a wide sweep of the arm, the blade spins on its own axis to produce the instrument's characteristic roar; the museum notes that blade size governs pitch, smaller blades sounding higher than larger ones. No ceremony or use is recorded for this particular object.
Ce rhombe est recouvert sur les deux tiers de sa surface de motifs ornementaux géométriques figurant des symboles totémiques.
This bull-roarer is covered over two-thirds of its surface with geometric ornamental motifs representing totemic symbols.
Musée de la musique / Philharmonie de Paris, catalogue record E.2002.6.1 (Rhombe, Groote Eylandt)
- Object
- Bull-roarer of the Warnindhilyagwa, Philharmonie de Paris (acc. #CM:0157905).
- Function
- Not recorded.
- Map confidence
- medium - approximate culture/locality centroid
- Source location
- #CM:0157905