{{Short description|Musical instrument from Papua New Guinea}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} [[File:Schlitztrommel Sepik Museum Rietberg 2005-57 img01.jpg|thumb|300px|alt=A garamut with geometric carvings in the central portion and handles carved with human figures|A garamut from the Sepik region]] The '''garamut''' is a kind of slit drum made in Papua New Guinea. Carved from a single log, a garamut is beaten with sticks to produce sound from its central cavity. Garamuts have historically played an important cultural role in many Papua New Guinea communities, serving as a means of communication as well as a musical instrument. "Garamut" is a Tok Pisin word meaning "song" and "to silence". This name has become commonly understood throughout the country, although the instrument may have different names in other languages.
Garamuts may have come to New Guinea with the Austronesian peoples. Each takes multiple days to complete, and they are sometimes decorated with intricate and symbolic designs. The rhythms used can convey particular messages for many kilometres. Individuals and clans may have their own identifying patterns.
In some communities garamuts continue to hold cultural value. Their use is often gendered, restricted to men and part of male initiation rituals. An individual garamut often belongs to one individual or family, and some are played only for important events, such as births and deaths. They can be played by one or two people. When used for music, they are prominent in events such as sing-sings.
==Name== ''Garamut'' is a Tok Pisin word that may also be used to refer to the ''Vitex cofassus'' tree. It derives from the Tolai language, where {{Lang|ksd|gara}} means singing or calling out, and {{Lang|ksd|i mut}} means to be quiet and listen. This has also been translated as "song" and "to silence". The name has become used throughout the country.<ref name="Aime2016">{{cite journal |author=Alphonse Aime |date=November 2016 |title=Unwrapping the Social and Cultural Meaning of Garamut (Slit-Drums) of Papua New Guinea |journal=Contemporary PNG Studies: DWU Research Journal |volume=25 |url=https://www.dwu.ac.pg/en/images/All_Attachements/Research%20Journals/vol_25/2016-V25-5_Unwrapping_the_social_and_cultural_meaning_of_Garamut_slit-drums_of_Papua_New_Guinea.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|56–57}} In the Kaian language, garamut are referred to as {{Lang|kct|rumbung}}, which has a similar meaning of listening in silence.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|58}} In the Boiken language they are called {{Lang|bzf|mie}}, which also means "tree".<ref name="Pongiura1995">{{cite book |author=Samuel R.W. Pongiura |date=1995 |chapter=Mie Howie: Garamut Communication of the Yangoru |chapter-url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/8086bb35-89e9-4a7c-afd9-8934407d4d0a/content#page=110 |editor=Richard Moyle |title=Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology |volume=4 |publisher=University of Auckland |issn=1170-7941 |isbn=0-908689-29-2}}</ref>{{rp|111}} In English, the plural ''garamuts'' is often used.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|54}}
==Design and construction== [[File:Garamut Drum Beater, Papua New Guinea, Brücke Museum Berlin, 65040, view b.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=A cylindrical stick with a carved end|A beater stick from the Sepik region]]
Garamuts are a type of slit drum. Each is made from a single tree trunk,<ref name="Fralin">{{cite web |url=https://uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu/exhibitions/voices-connection-garamut-slit-drums-new-guinea |title=Voices of Connection: Garamut Slit Drums of New Guinea |publisher=The Fralin Museum of Art |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> hollowed out through carving or burning.<ref name="WFU">{{cite web |url=https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/2020/05/papua-new-guinea-make-a-drum/ |title=Papua New Guinea: Make a Drum |date=29 May 2020 |publisher=Wake Forest University |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> The resulting shape can be round, oval, or triangular, with a handle at each end.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|111}} The kind of tree used can accord certain meanings. Some are made in pairs, with a larger ''selek'' and a smaller ''heik''.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|111}} This results in the larger having a deeper sound with a lower pitch and the smaller having a sharper sound at a higher pitch.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|112}}
Garamuts can be placed on the ground or suspended in the air.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|111}} Sounds are made by striking beater sticks near the slit which leads to a large central cavity. This form of making music classifies the garamut a type of idiophone.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wmic.net/papua-garamut-slit-drum/ |title=Papua 'Garamut' Slit Drum |date=31 July 2022 |publisher=Hartenberger World Music Collection |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> They are also referred to as slit gongs.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|54}} A garamut can be played by one or two people.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|112}}
Specific designs vary from being plain to intricate designs, often varying by locality.<ref name="WFU"/> Markings on the logs often represent particular clans or sub-clans.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|58}} The creation process from cutting down a tree to the finished product can take two to three days.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|117}} Creation sometimes includes magic rites and other traditional practices. The beating sticks are carved from the same tree as the garamut itself. The completion of a garamut is often celebrated with music and food.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|118}} The correct execution of particular rituals is seen as key to the garamut producing a good sound.<ref name="Leach2012">{{cite journal |author=James Leach |date=2012 |title=La mort du tambour |journal=Techniques & Culture |volume=58 |issue=58 |pages=28–47 |doi=10.4000/tc.6229 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/tc/6229 |language=fr}}</ref>{{rp|39}}
==Use and meaning== [[File:Slit gong drum finial, Papua New Guinea, Iatmul people, Middle Sepik River region, carved wood, Honolulu Academy of Arts.JPG|thumb|alt=A wooden handle disconnected from a drum, carved as a crocodile|The handle of a garamut from the Sepik region]]
Garamut are found throughout Papua New Guinea, particularly in coastal and island areas. Playing styles differ, with the instruments sometimes being used individually and sometimes being used within a wider ensemble.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.routledge.com/Becoming-a-Garamut-Player-in-Baluan-Papua-New-Guinea-Musical-Analysis-as-a-Pathway-to-Learning/Lewis/p/book/9780367591236 |title=Becoming a Garamut Player in Baluan, Papua New Guinea Musical Analysis as a Pathway to Learning |publisher=Routledge |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> The sound can be heard for multiple kilometres,<ref name="Watson2015">{{cite journal |author=Amanda H. A. Watson |author2=Lee R. Duffield |date=27 December 2015 |title=From Garamut to Mobile Phone: Communication Change in Rural Papua New Guinea |journal=Mobile Media & Communication |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=270–287 |doi=10.1177/2050157915622658 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2050157915622658|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|272}} and so they are traditionally used for communication as well as for music.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|111}}
The concept of the slit drum likely came to Papua New Guinea with the Austronesian migration.<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|30}} Historically, garamuts played important cultural roles, and may have served as homes for spirits.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|54–55}} The sound of a garamut is considered its 'voice',<ref name="Fralin"/> which can represent spirits or ancestors.<ref name="WFU"/> A damaged garamut can be said to have 'died'.<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|40}}
A single garamut can become closely linked to an individual or to a family or kinship group.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|61-62}} Some are passed from fathers to sons,<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|62}} and have a strong association with gender due to being carved outside the view of women and girls.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|63}} In the Sepik area they are involved in male ritual initiations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/4530/slit-drum-papua-new-guinea |title=Slit Drum (garamut), 20th century |publisher=Minneapolis Institute of Art |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> In some cultures obtaining a signature drum beat that identifies you as an individual is part of this male initiation, symbolising a measure of respect.<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|31–32}} Obtaining a personal garamut, often after a wedding, is another symbolic moment.<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|34–35}} This male exclusivity is not universal. Among the Kaian people, individual instruments are named by female elders. Garamut can be carved with female motifs as well as male ones, with the logs sometimes representing human bodies.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|63–64}} When garamuts are produced in pairs, sometimes the smaller one is played by women.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|111}}
Among the Tolai people, special garamut are reserved for ceremonial roles, such as announcing the death of an important community member. In one Tolai origin story for the instrument, it was created by To Karvuvu, whose brother To Kabinana told him "the deaths of our children will be drummed out on it when they die".<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|58}} Other events which may be commemorated in different communities include births, new houses, and launching a canoe.<ref name="WFU"/>
In modern times, they have in many cases lost this association, being viewed as merely musical instruments, although especially among older generations they retain an association with spiritual power.<ref name="Aime2016"/>{{rp|58–59}} Their use and handling is still sometimes governed by a series of rules, including situations such as when someone is sick when they should not be played, For musical purposes, they are often played at sing-sings, sometimes being used to announce the sing-sing will take place.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|112, 115}} In some parts of Madang Province garamuts were used for daily communication until at least the 2000s, with different rhythms indicating different messages.<ref name="Watson2015"/>{{rp|276}} They provide a way for coastal communities to communicate with upland ones up to {{convert|10|km|mi}} away,<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|31}} and are compared by locals to the concept of phones.<ref name="Watson2015"/>{{rp|272}}<ref name="Leach2012"/>{{rp|31}} Other areas saw use decrease as early as the 1970s. Individual garamuts have unique and recognisable sounds, and so the use of a particular garamut can indicate the intended recipient.<ref name="Watson2015"/>{{rp|277}} Individuals or clans may also be identified through specific rhythms.<ref name="Pongiura1995"/>{{rp|113}}
==See also== * Kundu (drum)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp2HL6pC_PU Performance video] (YouTube)
{{Percussion|state=collapsed}}
Category:Oceanian percussion instruments Category:Papua New Guinean musical instruments Category:Slit drums