{{Short description|Hollow percussion idiophone instrument}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Redirect|Tongue drum|the steel variant|Steel tongue drum}} [[File:TamTam.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Bamileke drummers in Cameroon's West Province.]] A '''slit drum''', or '''slit gong''', is a hollow percussion instrument, often made out of wood or bamboo. In spite of its often being called a drum, it is not a true drum, because it lacks a ''drumhead'', the membrane (made out of animal skin or plastic) stretched across the top of a true drum. It is classed instead as an idiophone in which the entire instrument vibrates.
==Description== A slit drum is usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood, in the form of a mostly closed hollow chamber with one or more slits in it. It is played by striking near the edge of the slit. In some designs, the slit is a single straight line; in others, the slit is used to create one or more "tongues", achieved by cutting three sides of a rectangular (or similar) shape and leaving the fourth side attached. Most slit drums have one slit, though two and three slits (often resembling an "H" and thereby forming two tongues) occur. Tongues of different areas or thicknesses will produce different pitches. Slit drums are used throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. In Africa, such drums are situated in strategic locations for optimal acoustic transmission (e.g., along a river or valley), in order to be used for long-distance communication.<ref>Hart, Mickey; p. 52.</ref>
The ends of a slit drum are closed so that the shell becomes the resonating chamber for the sound vibrations created when the tongues are struck, usually with a stick or mallet. The resonating chamber increases the volume of the sound produced by the tongue and presents the sound through an open port. If the resonating chamber is the correct size for the pitch being produced by the tongue, which means it has the correct volume of airspace to complete one full sound wave for that particular pitch, the instrument will be more efficient and louder.
The people of Vanuatu create a similar instrument out of a large log. In most islands, the drum lies horizontally on the ground.<ref name="album">See p.77-78 of François & Stern (2013).</ref> In the central islands, slit drums are erected vertically, and adorned with carvings on the outer surface, representing spirits. While traditional on one island only, this adorned type of drums have become one of the national emblems of Vanuatu as a whole.
thumb|right|Chromatically tuned slit drums, range C3–C4
==List of slit drums== ===African=== *Enók - Manyu Division (Cameroon) *Alimba – Zairean (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Ekwe – Igbo (Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea) *Ikoro – Igbo (Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea) *Krin or Kolokolos – Guinea *Lokole – Congo Basin *Lukombé<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lukombé (slit drum) | Tetela, Kasai or Kusu|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/506173|access-date=2023-02-18|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|language=en}}</ref> – (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Mondo – West Africa *Mukoku – Yaka people (Congo) *Sudanese slit drum<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - A History of the World in 100 Objects, Mass Production, Mass Persuasion (1780 - 1914 AD), Sudanese slit drum - Episode Transcript – Episode 94 - Sudanese slit drum |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/49z6q5kgX7gbsJCZ2CQzF4V/episode-transcript-episode-94-sudanese-slit-drum |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> – Sudanese (Sudan)
===Austroasiatic=== *Grōg (木鼓, 克罗克, 库洛, 克拉) – Wa (China and Myanmar)
===Austronesian=== *Agung a Tamlang — Maguindanaon (Philippines) *Atingting kon — Ambrym (Vanuatu) *Garamut — Papuan and especially Tolai people (Papua New Guinea) *Kagul — Maguindanaon (Philippines) *Kohkol — Sundanese (Indonesia) *Kentongan — Javanese (Indonesia), used to wake people for sahur meals on Ramadan *Kulkul — Balinese (Indonesia) *Lali — Fijian (Fiji) *Pahu — Māori (Aotearoa / New Zealand)<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Pahu or Gong |work=Victoria University of Wellington |via=New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC) | url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d9-d2-d1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714140623/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d9-d2-d1.html | access-date=2024-12-26 | archive-date=2014-07-14}}</ref> *Pate — Samoa, Cook Islands, and other parts of Polynesia *Tagutok (Philippine) — Maranao (Philippines) * Tōʻere — Tahitian (Tahiti), also ''Tōkere'' by Tuamotuans, Mangarevans and Cook Islanders<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McLean |first1=Mervyn |date=2010 |title=Music, Dance and Polynesian Origins: The Evidence From POc and PPn |journal=Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology |publisher=Archive of Māori and Pacific Music, The University of Auckland |issue=8 |pages=53–4 |issn=1170-7941}}</ref>
===Mesoamerican=== *Huiringua – Mexico *Mayohuacán – Taino people (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Caribbean) *Teponaztli – Mesoamerican
===Modern=== *Gato – 20th-century American, originally a brand name, later generic<ref>{{cite web |title=Gato drum |url=http://www3.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/504433 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309120533/http://www3.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/504433 |archive-date=March 9, 2016 |language=en}}</ref> *Tongue drum
===Sinitic=== thumb|Wooden fishThe wooden fish works like a slit drum but is rarely classified with the other slit drums.
==Gallery== {{Gallery |title=Slit drums from different cultures |width=160 |height=160 |File:Two Teponaztli.jpg|Two Aztec slit drums, called ''teponaztli''. The characteristic "'''H'''" slits can be seen on the top of the drum in the foreground. |File:Kagul.jpg|An example of a slit drum from the Philippines known as a kagul by the Maguindanaon people<ref>{{cite web |last = Mercurio |first = Philip Dominguez |year = 2006 |url = http://www.pnoyandthecity.blogspot.com |title = Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines |work = PnoyAndTheCity: A center for Kulintang – A home for Pasikings | access-date = June 12, 2006 }}</ref> |File:Wooden slit drums from Vanuatu, Bernice P. Bishop Museum.JPG|Wooden slit drums from Vanuatu <small>(Bernice P. Bishop Museum)</small> |File:Ekwe.jpg|Ekwe drum of the Igbo people |File:Yangere slit drum Louvre MH96-28-72.jpg|Banda-Yangere animal-shaped slit drum }}
==See also== * Bamboo musical instruments * Drums in communication * Tank drum * Wood block
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{Citation | last1 =François | first1 = Alexandre | last2 = Stern | first2 = Monika | author-link = Alexandre François | author2-link = |date=Nov 2013 | title =Musiques du Vanuatu: Fêtes et Mystères – Music of Vanuatu: Celebrations and Mysteries | type =CD album, released with liner notes and ebook | publisher =Maison des Cultures du Monde | publication-place =Paris | pages = | series =label Inédit | volume =W260147 | url =https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00874941 | ref =album | accessdate = }}. * Hart, Mickey, and Fredric Lieberman, with D. A. Sonneborn (1991). ''Planet Drum: A Celebration of Percussion and Rhythm''. New York: HarperCollins. {{ISBN|9780062504142}}, {{ISBN|9780062503978}}, {{ISBN|9780062504623}}. {{OCLC|23357061}}.
==External links== {{Commons category|Slit drums}} * [http://www.kalimbas.com/drums.htm Collins Rhythmcraft page on slit drums] * [http://www.drummuseum.com/ Drum Museum Siebenborn, Infos about antique slit drums and hand drums from Africa and New Guinea] * [http://joelgarten.com/blog/?p=20 Beauty of Life Blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611070620/http://joelgarten.com/blog/?p=20 |date=11 June 2017 }} – A few examples of wooden slit gongs from Asia, including elephant bells.
{{Culture of Oceania}} {{Tube percussion idiophones}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Slit drums Category:Melanesian musical instruments Category:African percussion instruments Category:Bamboo musical instruments Category:Oceanian percussion instruments