Côte d’Ivoire Drum Stamps

This post features Côte d’Ivoire drum stamps from 1991. West Africa is famous for its incredible drumming traditions. The current country of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is home to more than sixty ethnic or linguistic groups. Making any broad statement about the instruments is problematic due to its diversity. However, the region is known for its music and its beautifully carved drums. You can read about other instruments stamps from Côte d’ivoire here. This set of stamps from August of 1991 depicts four different types of traditional drums from the country.

Slit Drum

The first stamp in this series features a slit drum (or more appropriate slit gong). It consists of a hollowed out log, with a carved head. Players beat the drum on the edge of the slit with wooden mallets. The stamp features an instrument representing the We people of western Côte d’Ivoire.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a similar drum, only it comes from the Yaka people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has a very similar construction and would be played in the same manner.

Breasted drum

The second stamp in the series features an anthropomorphic drum with legs as a stand and the torso of a woman. In west Africa there are various versions of mother drums, or breasted drums, that similarly feature a woman’s torso and often function as the central drum in an ensemble – as a mother is the central figure in a family. This figure stops above the breasts, with the skin drum head stretched across the torso armless/headless torso. The stamp and drum are from the Krou people who largely live in and around Soubré, a town and a region in the southwest of the country.

Caryatid Drum

The third drum features a caryatid drum, with a seated figure holding the drum on their head and with their hands. Each carving on the drum carries a specific meaning. The stamp represents the Nafana people, part of the Senufo people, who live in the northeast part of Côte d’Ivoire in and around the town and region of Sinématiali.

Fokwe (Long Drum)

The final stamp in the quartet features a very tall, but narrow drum, with rich carvings on the body. The instrument comes from the Akye people, a subgroup of the Akan culture, in southeast Côte d’Ivoire. The long drum has a skin head that is held in place by substantial pegs. The drum rests on an integral stand, though it is so tall that musicians will lean the drum over in order to beat the head. As with the other drums, the carved symbols on the drum body carry important symbolic meanings for the community.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to a pair of drums that are very similar and also from southeast Côte d’Ivoire. While these drums do not have their skin heads, you can clearly see the holes in which the pegs would be secured. The Museum’s drums are said to come from the Lagoon peoples, also of southeast Côte d’Ivoire.

(L) Metropolita Museum of Art; (R) detail of drum from stamp