Conga Drum Played by Paul Hawkins

Object Details

Date
20th century
Medium
wood, hide, and rope
Dimensions
27 3/4 × 16 13/16 × 16 5/8 in. (70.5 × 42.7 × 42.3 cm)
Caption
Many Washingtonians danced to rhythms played on this Haitian conga drum. Hide stretched taut across the drum forms its head, held by ropes wound around pegs that pierce the hide and jut out of the drum’s sides at a 45-degree angle. The cylindrical drum tapers into three increasingly narrow tiers carved at the base. In Haiti, it is known as a boula drum, one of three used in Vodou’s Rada rite, in which practitioners communicate with African ancestors. Used as a conga drum in Washington, DC, it belonged to percussionist, bandleader, and dancer Paul Hawkins, one of the founders of Latin jazz. The lifelong Washingtonian, who was African American, fused bebop and Latin rhythms into a musical style that united people in an era when race, class, and national origin typically segregated the city.
Accession Number
1996.0012.0001
Type
drum
See more items in
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Data Source
Anacostia Community Museum
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8000f0bff-e831-4c59-9248-43e34006deec
Record ID
acm_1996.0012.0001
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