Pure Cowboy

Member: National Bit, Spur & Saddle Collector's Association and Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America

Item #A600 / $460.

Antique Pacific Northwest Painted Hide Drum

This antique drum, attributed to the Haida or the Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest, is asymmetrically round, measuring between 9 1/2 inches and 10 inches in diameter.  The sides of the drum are 1 1/2inches high. It is made of thin rawhide stretched across a wooden frame.  Painted in red and black (the traditional colors), the drum is decorated with an image of the Thunderbird.  This very early drum has some damage - there is a 1 inch split in the rawhide and the rawhide hand-hold at the back is only attached at one side.  The music which even the slightest touch of this instrument evokes is beyond beautiful and inspiring.  Tacks have been placed along the back edge of the drum as a vintage preservation method, which is providential because so many of these pieces have disintegrated over the years.

Many Native peoples utilized the Thunderbird as a powerful symbol.  The flapping of its wings produced the thunder and the flashing of its eyes, the lightning.  The potential destructive power was awesome.  Impressive depictions of the Thunderbird were, as shown here, often produced by the tribes of the Pacific Northwest, being indicative of rapport with this sky power.  Examples of drums such as this can be found in the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution Collections, among others.

A customary element to the music of the Northwest Coast is the beat of the drum; however, unlike the use of drums on the Great Plains, the concept of communal drumming on a single large instrument was not typical in the Pacific Northwest. Rather, drummers congregated and played individual hand drums together. The music of the indigenous people of the Northwest Coast was mostly associated with ceremony and feast-giveaways, known as potlatches. The transmission of honor associated with these events is traditionally marked by ceremonial dances accompanied by songs. The songs and dances were punctuated by drums such as the one here, usually accompanied by whistles, rattles, or vocals.

Pacific Northwest Painted Thunderbird Drum / Item #A600 / $460.

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Members: National Bit, Spur & Saddle Collector's Association

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