1931.46.2

Collection type

Object

Description

Voice disguiser, tube made from the leg bone of a ram, open at one end (the mouthpiece) and closed with spider's membrane at the other [ZM 7/10/2015]

Geographical reference

Nigeria

Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria

Southern Nigeria Cross River region [Ogoja province] Mudu

Cultural groups

Boki

Person

Field collector Percy Amaury Talbot

PRM source Percy Amaury Talbot

PRM source Henry Balfour

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1931

Date collected

By 1931

Acquisition information

Donated: 1931 Bequeathed: 1939, uncertain

Materials and processes

Material Sheep Bone Animal, Material Spider Membrane, Process Covered

Dimensions

Length: max 55 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1931.46.2 Other numbers: Balfour 444 Other PRM accession number: 1938.34.444

Research and responses

This voice disguiser was examined by Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant, lecturer in Forensic Anthropology at Cranfield University. His opinion is that the bone is definitely not human due to features on the internal surface of the bone.

Associated publications

Illustrated in a black and white sketch Fig.7 on page 48 of 'Ritual and Secular Uses of Vibrating Membranes as Voice-Disguisers', by Henry Balfour, in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 78, No. 1/2 (1948), pp. 45-69 with Plates I and II. This illustration is described on page 69 as: 'Fig. 7. - Voice-disguisers of ram's leg bone; spider's egg-case membrane. Lengths (a) 5.6 cm., (b) 3.7 cm. Northern Boki tribe, S. Nigeria. (444, 443)'. The accession numbers of the objects are not included in the publication. On page 48 Balfour refers to these in the text as follows: 'Two short, tubular "voice-disguisers" of bone were sent to me by Mr. P. Amaury Talbot, who obtained them from the Northern Boki tribe (Abanliki clan), of the Mudu district, Ogoja Province. One of these (Fig. 7(a) is a simple tube made from the leg bone of a ram, open at one end (the mouthpiece) and closed with spider's membrane at the other. The second example (Fig. 7(b) is shorter and of much stouter bone, but is otherwise similar. These were used for simulating spirit voices in the mysteries of the Ikhan secret society.' [ZM 7/10/2015]

Search terms: Music, Religion, Ritual and Ceremonial, Musical Instrument, Voice Disguiser