Hand drum (kundu)

Hand drums accompany clan songs performed at important community events. The drum sound represents spirit and ancestor voices. In the Iatmul belief system, humans are descended from a giant crocodile, an animal depicted multiple times on this instrument. The open-ended design carved around both halves of the drum represents the gaping jaws of two crocodiles, symbolic of sky and earth. These opposing realms are linked by the drum’s handle, another crocodile.