Population Gallery

Playing the Rabana drum - Sinhalese - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Playing the Rabana drum - Sinhalese people - Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Maha (big) Rabana or Banku (bench) Rabana, played by two or more people at a time is used at wedding festivals and Sinhala New Year Celebrations in Sri Lanka. It also symbolizes the spring festivals of the country. Generally women are the best players of the Banku Rabana and a special system of Raban Pada is in practice among them. One reads out the beat loudly and plays it in collaboration with others. Some of the onlookers would enjoy the music with dance in order to tune it for better sounds. The Rabana (as can be seen on this card) is kept on three wooden trunks about 18 inches high and the leader kindles fire under the instrument so that it can be tuned for finer sounds. Date: circa 1910s

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

The new coffee tavern at Bradford

Interior and exterior views of the new coffee tavern in Bradford, inaugurated by W. E Forster, M.P in 1879. The Coffee Tavern movement was a Victorian effort to get people out of pubs. Proposed by the Bradford councillor, alderman and magistrate, Frederick Priestman, the tavern was opened at the junction of Westgate, Ivegate and Kirkgate and was an immediate commercial success serving food as well as coffee. Within a few years there were 28 branches in the Bradford district but with over 400 licensed beer sellers in the area, how much of a sobering effect they had on the local population is debatable.

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Erzurum, eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Ottoman Empire

Erzurum (Armenian - Karin), is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-u Rum" (literally The Land of the Romans in Persian). Largest province in Turkey's Eastern Region. Has belonged to Ancient Armenia, Persia, the Romans, the Seljuc Turks and the Ottomans. In Byzantine times it was known as Theodosiopolis. Date: circa 1830