Warnindhilyagwa blade of totemic motifs

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 figuring 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; blade size governs pitch, smaller blades sounding higher than larger ones. No ceremony or use is recorded for this particular object.

Les motifs ornementaux comme les pigments utilisés sont à rapprocher de ceux qui figurent sur le didjeridu récemment acquis par le musée et provenant d'une région voisine : Terre d'Arnhem, territoires du Nord.

The ornamental motifs, like the pigments used, bear comparison with those on the didjeridu the museum recently acquired from a neighbouring region: Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory.

Musée de la musique / Philharmonie de Paris, catalogue description of the rhombe, after Philippe Bruguière

Particulars

Object

Lanceolate wooden blade, 28.5 by 4.8 cm, pierced at one end for its cord.

Function

Not recorded.