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]

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; Abanliki Igbo
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 Spider Membrane, Material Sheep Bone Animal, Process Covered
Dimensions: Length 37 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1931.46.1 Other numbers: Balfour 443 Other PRM accession number: 1938.34.443
Research and responses: This voice disguiser was looked at by Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant, lecturer in Forensic Anthropology at Cranfield University. His opinion is that the bone is not human - cross section is not human. Very certain of this.
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, Status, Musical Instrument, Voice Disguiser

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