Sets of postage stamps featuring musical instruments are pretty common issues from many countries around the world. I’ve previously written about such sets from Ethiopia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, and Cuba, to list a few. This post features a set of three postage stamps from Côte d’Ivoire. Previously, I wrote about a set of 1991 stamps featuring drums from Côte d’Ivoire that you can read here.
Instrument Stamp Sets
It seems that the very first sets of musical instruments stamps were issued in the 1950s. The oldest set in my collection comes from Laos in 1957. However, such sets really became popular in the 1960s. For example, I have sets from Chad (1965), Mauritania (1965), Ethiopia (1966), Madagascar (1966), Vietnam (1966), Gabon (1969), and Indonesia (1967) during that decade.
I think significantly, the vast majority of these sets are from countries that were former French colonies. Why would such sets be more common there than elsewhere?
As I have said in other posts, instrument sets make sense for a country to produce. Firstly, they are usually recognizable to a significant portion of the populations. Secondly, they are often specific to the culture of a country or region, therefore useful in establishing a sense of identity and pride. Thirdly, instruments can elicit positive emotional responses to memories of musical experiences. Finally, from an aesthetic perspective, individual instruments can make a nice set that are both different and obviously related. Such a set makes sense for countries with stamps of various denominations, and are popular with collectors.
All of these reasons would be true for any nation, but would be especially relevant in newly independent countries trying to establish a new identity divorced from the iconography of colonialism. However, the only common thread between the former French colonies and instrument stamp sets must be the artists who made them. Most French colonies continued to use designers and engravers based in Paris.
The Designer
For instance, Georges Bétemps is responsible for the design of the 1977 Côte d’Ivoire stamp set. This eminent Parisian artist made stamps that date from the mid 1940s to the late 1980s. His designs grace stamps from France as well as for many former French colonies in Africa and Asia. Bétemps was even responsible for the design of an earlier musical instrument set for Mauritania in 1965. Could designers such as Bétemps be responsible not just for the design, but for the idea for such a set? I’ll need more information to come to a conclusion, but it is a very interesting topic.
Bell and Beater
The first stamp bears the words “Clochette Baoule.” The word clochette means bell in France, while the Baoulé are a group from the Akan people of Côte d’Ivoire. The bell appears to be a rather plain metal instrument on the left side of the stamp. On the right is an ornate wooden beater that is used to strike such metal bells. It is similar to a set at The Metropolitan Museum of Art shown below. The instrument and beater are in a sort of sepia tone drawing and the background is a funky set of blocks in various shades of green.
Metropolitan Museum
Balafon
The second stamp in the set features a balafon, which is a variety of xylophone. Specifically, the balafon has wooden bars that are held on a rack and underneath are gourd resonators. Traditionally, at the bottom of each gourd would be a hole over which would be stretched a membrane from a spider’s egg sac. This membrane would create a buzzing sound when a bar was hit. In more modern instruments, the membrane is made with cigarette paper or sheet of plastic. The background for this stamp are red blocks.
Drum
The final stamp is my favorite of the set. I think it is the most beautifully rendered drawing and I like the shades of purple used for the funky blocks. The instrument is a footed barrel drum known as the tam-tam, which stands by itself. The musician either plays the instrument standing, or wears it on a strap so that it hangs between their legs. The player uses their hands to play the instrument and a skilled musician can create an enormous variety of different sounds. The instrument is related to the more common djembe.
Enjoy this incredible performance of a musician from Côte d’Ivoire playing a tam-tam.
