Artisan Unknown (2 results)

This is a strikingly interesting 9 1/4" x 8 1/4" drum from Cochiti Pueblo, the pueblo most known for its drums. The drum was made from a strip of metal that was rolled and soldered, very atypical for a pueblo drum. It has rawhide drum heads on which are faint drawings of deer. Painted and unpainted drums of all sizes are used in pueblo ceremonies. Pueblos that do not have a drum maker will procure through purchase or trade, drums from another pueblo known for making drums. Pueblo songs are written to start slowly and then go to a climax. At a certain point of the song, the drum is flipped over to achieve a higher beat. This lifts the dancers and gives them the impetus to continue dancing. Almost all drums would have been made from wood, but we have never seen another one made from metal and as such it is quite rare. Fine condition.

This small hand-held Cochiti Pueblo drum was carved from a local cottonwood tree, painted with colors red, green, and yellow and covered on both ends with rawhide. The edges of the rawhide that overlap on the wood were painted blue. On one of the drum heads is written in pencil the name Denny Evans. Spaniards introduced two-headed drums used by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico over 400 years ago. They are used for ceremonies and rarely for other purposes. Native drums are generally used during traditional dances at many of the Pueblos located along the Rio Grande and its streams. The drum has played an intrinsic role in the lives of Native Peoples for centuries. Celebrations and ceremonial dances accompanied by the reverberating pulse of the drum. Crafted from natural materials over a months-long process, American Indian drums are constructed of a wooden frame, or a carved and hollowed-out log. They can be natural or colorfully painted with solid colors or designs. Drum bodies are created from native woods of New Mexico such as cottonwood, aspen or pine. Drumheads are usually made from cow, deer, elk, goat, horse or buffalo hide stretched taut across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally, Native American drums are two to three feet in diameter. This drum is in very good condition.