Percussion Gallery

Sri Lanka - Geta Beraya and Udekkiya players

Traditional Sri Lankna drums and drummers. The standing player is holding a hill country drum called the Geta Beraya (a drum with a knot). This is the main drum used to accompany dance sequences in all Kandyan rituals. The right face is covered with the hide of a monkey or monitor lizard and the left side is covered with cattle hide, which is used to provide a finer sound. The seated player is holding a Udekkiya, a very handy drum predominantly used during Kandyan rituals and folk dances. It is played with one hand while handling and controlling the sound by pressure applied on the string and Sawarama with the other. Date: circa 1908

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Classical musical instruments

Classical musical instruments: lyres 1, 2, plectrum 3, cithara 4, lute 5, percussion instruments 6, 7, 8, 15, pan pipes 9, crotales 11, tuba 12, flutes 10, 14, 18, 19, triangle 16, cymbals 17, trochus or metal hoop 20, caestus or boxing gloves 21, 22, writing paper 23, wallet 24, scrolls 25, 26, 27, stylus or pen 28, calamus or quill 29, and inkwell 30. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Robert von Spalart's Historical Picture of the Costumes of the Principal People of Antiquity and of the Middle Ages, Chez Collignon, Metz, 1810. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Tools, weapons and instruments of the Camacan people, Brazil

Tools and weapons of the Camacan people of Bahia, Brazil. Bow 1, arrow 2, 3, woven apron 4, bag 5, headdress with foliage 6, a gourd percussion instrument or kechieeh 7, and a bundle of dried leaves or herenehedioca 8. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Giulio Ferrrario's Costumes Antique and Modern of All Peoples (Il Costume Antico e Moderno di Tutti i Popoli), Florence, 1842. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans