The Boula (in the center of the image) is the smallest of the three drums that form the Rada battery used in Vodou ceremonies. Vodou is a syncretic religion from Haiti that fuses beliefs and rites from Yoruba, Fon and Bantu religious traditions with some elements of Roman Catholicism and indigenous Caribbean religions. Rada is one of the main pantheons (nanchon) of deities (Loa) worshiped in Vodou. The Loas grouped in this nanchon originate from the Fon people of Dahomey, present-day Benin. During ceremonial drumming, the Boula, played with sticks, provides a repeated and stable rhythmic base in a high tone, while the Segon (middle drum) provides counterpoint, and the Maman (largest drum) leads.
Rada Drum, "Boula", for Vodou ceremonies
- Notes
- Drum for Vodou ceremonies. Of the three-part Rada battery (catalog numbers E433013- 433015) this is the smallest drum, the "boula". Body is carved from one piece of hollowed out wood, wider at the top and very narrow at the bottom. Painted white with red and green bands near the bottom. Skin stretched over the top, with 5 holes for the pegs. 5 wooden pegs painted yellow or red at the wider end. Not fully “headed”, i.e. missing the typical braided sisal rope used to affix and tighten the drum head. This rope is typically wound around the head of the drum and interlaced with the wooden pegs that also secures the drumhead (see “Life in a Haitian Valley”, 1934 Melville and Frances Herskovits. This film contains sequences of the “heading” of rada drums. Human Studies Film Archives, HSFA 77.1.2)
- Record Last Modified
- 21 Nov 2016
- Specimen Count
- 6
- Data Source
- NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
- Collector
- Cmdr. L. C. Frost
- Donor Name
- Andrew Hamilton
- Accession Date
- 17 Jan 2013
- Collection Date
- 1928 to 1934
- Height
- 50.5 cm
- Maximum Width
- ca. 30 cm
- Diameter - Head
- 19 cm
- Object Type
- Drum
