MUS2026-363 - museum specimen
Xingu yellow-banded giant
Brazil - Xingu River, Mato Grosso - South America - Amazonia
Function not recorded
Source term: bullroarer
No local term recorded.
A narrow slot cleaves one end of this nearly seventy-one-centimetre blade; the cord passes through a second hole and loops around the split, making the suspension part of the silhouette. Faded yellow bands cross its hand-whittled faces. The particular Xingu community and the instrument’s use were never recorded, so its unusual size and rigging carry the story alone.
This bullroarer is quite long (close to 28 inches in length) in comparison to many bullroarers found around the world.
Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, item 7436, Description
- Object
- A 27.8 in (70.6 cm) pointed elliptical wooden blade with sharp edges, a thick central spine, faded yellow painted bands, a narrow two-inch terminal slot, a drilled hole below it, and a short looped cotton cord.
- Function
- Not recorded for this object. The collection page discusses regional and global uses only as background and explicitly says the particular source community is unknown.
- Source
- Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection item 7436; Xingu River, Mato Grosso, Brazil; 27.8 × 3.7 × 0.5 in; wood and twine
- Source location
Page references
item 7436; Description; Instrument Information; gallery #1 and details #1–2
- Source confidence
- low Broad Upper Xingu regional anchor; the page gives Xingu River and Mato Grosso but no community or collecting locality.