A bronze idiophone (sometimes called bronze kettledrum) but with a bronze tympanum instead of a skin head.
It dates from about 400 bce or earlier and has had wide distribution in South-east Asia and Southern China beginning with the spread of Dongson Culture in 300 bce. The first known bronze drum to reach Europe was sent to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1682 by G.E. Rumphius, who also first described the famous ‘Moon of Pedjeng’ drum on the island of Bali (1705). This, the largest bronze drum ever found (1·86 metres high with a tympanum 1·6 metres in diameter), is kept in a small pavilion of a temple in the village of Pejeng and is still revered as the former wheel of the ‘moon carriage’. Bronze drums were exhibited in Vienna and Amsterdam in 1883. In 1884 a study of 52 bronze drums (mostly in museums or private collections) was published by the ethnologist A.B. Meyer, and in 1902 Franz Heger established a classification of four types of bronze drum (Heger I–IV) based on the study of 165 instruments.
Six large stone moulds are required to cast the upper, middle and lower zones of the shell of the bronze drum (each zone being made in two halves and then brazed to form a longitudinal seam); another is needed to form the tympanum, which is later joined to the shell. Such moulds (needed to cast a Heger I bronze drum) have never been found in Java. Fragments of small stone moulds unearthed in Bali were apparently used locally to make bronze drums of the mokko type (the same form as the ‘Moon of Pedjeng’); these are distinct from the Heger types because of their hourglass shape and because the diameter of the tympanum is less than the height of the drum (whereas in all Heger drums this relationship is reversed). Small mokko drums were probably cast in Bali, but large stone moulds of this type have not been recovered, so there is some doubt whether the great ‘Moon of Pedjeng’ drum was made locally.
Bronze drums have been widely studied by Western historians and archaeologists since they provide probably the richest single source of information about the period of Dongson Culture. The tympanum usually has a raised star in its centre, and the drums are decorated with a variety of abstract designs and representations of the soul-ship or ship-of-the-dead, houses, animals, birds, fish, men, women, children, warriors etc. The Karen of Myanmar still use bronze drums called hpà-si (‘frog drums’; see Myanmar, §1) decorated around the circumference of the drumhead with figures of small frogs, which are thought to symbolize the drum’s rain-making powers, and some places in south-east Asia also distinguish the ‘male’ drum from the ‘female’ drum without frogs.
The bronze drum has been little studied as a musical instrument; that they were carried in battle suggests they were used as signalling instruments.
The Chinese bronze drum (tong gu) can be found among many tribal peoples living in southern-central China (especially in Guizhou and Guangxi provinces), such as Miao, Zhuang, Yao and the eastern Yi. Tong gu is a Chinese name (literally, ‘bronze drum’, not to be confused with the Shang dynasty barrel-shaped drum of the same name, China, §III); local names differ from one culture to another (Yuan, 1986, p.324).
In terms of structure the instrument is essentially a gong. Constructed of a tubular shell with concave sides, it is covered at one end with a flat disc-shaped plate or ‘drumhead’ of bronze (its rim extending out beyond the shell), its other end open. Diameters of ‘drumheads’ usually vary between about 50 and 100 cm, though some instruments are considerably larger. Attached to opposite sides of the shell are two pairs of loops (called ‘ears’) through which stout ropes are inserted for suspension. The striking plate is often (but not always) decorated with a central star-shaped design (12 points are most common), concentric circles, various geometric patterns and four or six bronze figures in the shape of small frogs (though sometimes of bats or birds) attached to the surface around the outer rim. Two size groups are generally differentiated, small male gongs which sound a high pitch, and large female gongs which sound a low pitch.
While performance practice differs from area to area, the tong gu is usually suspended by its loops, striking plate sideways, and hit with either a padded beater or hand of the performer; the rim or side of the shell are often struck as well. Sometimes a large wooden tub is positioned opposite the tong gu to increase the resonance, or a barrel partially filled with water is placed underneath and shaken for special acoustical effects.
Many ‘bronze drums’ have been found in south-central China. The oldest instrument, uncovered at a site in central Yunnan province, has been dated to about the 6th century bce. This gong is relatively plain, with an eight-point star in the centre but without the raised figures found on later instruments. Gongs dating to about the 4th century bce and later have been found in extraordinary numbers (many presently in the collection of the Yunnan Provincial Museum in Kunming). Some are decorated with stars and geometric patterns only; others are more highly decorated with raised figures surrounding the striking plate. The tong gu is cited in Chinese literature and poetry from the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) onward for its usage in various tribal contexts. Sources suggest it was also considered a status symbol. While sometimes thought to be a relic of the past, the instrument is still in use among many Chinese tribal cultures, especially in accompaniment of dances associated with wedding ceremonies, agricultural festivals, lunar New Year celebrations and other contexts.
F. Heger: Alte Metalltrommeln aus Südost-Asien (Leipzig, 1902)
K. Hayashi: Dongya yueqi kao [Study of East Asian musical instruments] (Beijing, 1962/R), 68ff
Jiang Tingyu: Tonggu shihua [Historical stories on the tong gu] (Beijing, 1982)
Yuan Bingchang and Mao Jizeng, eds.: Zhongguo shaoshu minzu yueqi zhi [Dictionary of musical instruments of the Chinese minorities] (Beijing, 1986)
Chen Weiye and others, eds.: Flying Dragon and Dancing Phoenix: an Introduction to Selected Minority Folk Dances (Beijing, 1987), 191–2, 220–22
Liu Dongsheng and others, eds.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987), 96–8, 188–9
A.J. Bernet Kempers: Monumental Bali (Singapore, 1991)
Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji’nan, 1992), 90–91
MANTLE HOOD (1), ALAN R. THRASHER (2)