INSTRUMENTS DE MUSIQUE SANTAL ET NEPALAIS PANNEAUX DE PALANQUINS SANTAL

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

September 17, 2022

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CURRENT EVENTS

Galerie Le Toit du Monde

INSTRUMENTS DE MUSIQUE SANTAL ET NEPALAIS

Photo credit of Tribal Art Magazine & Galerie Le Toit du Monde Paris

PANNEAUX DE PALANQUINS SANTAL

The exhibition is a tribute to Francois Boulanger et Francoise Bouhiere

Photo credit of Galerie le Toit du Monde Paris

In 2007 Gustavo Gili talked to me about the presence on the web of a new website where it was possible to view reproduced images of objects relating to Nepalese arts showed in recent or ongoing exhibitions. The website suggested to me by Gustavo Gili turned out to be the blog of Francois Boulanger. In those years the Internet began to spread information to an ever wider audience, but books and magazines still dominated the “market” of images (for a little longer).

That moment represented a sort of watershed between the old and new world of information.

So, if on the one hand I was always looking for new information, on the other I also wanted to start something on the web, dedicated to the popular arts of the Himalayas; without knowing exactly how and where.

Francois’ blogs, he had several, were at the time characterized by an orange background, and were dedicated to exhibitions of all the primary arts, as well as musical instruments. The fact that he particularly collected African “Sanza” made him known by that nickname.

I remember that after contacting him we started exchanging information, it was thanks to his encouragement, inspiration and suggestions that in May 2008 I started curating my Ethnoflorence blog on the same Belgian platform-Skynet.be, which hosted his blogs.

With Francois, and in a very “artisanal” way we published on our blogs (at the same time) in 2008 an online exhibition on Santal’s Banam. It was an ‘editorial’ experiment repeated on other occasions later, also with the support of the French site Detours des Mondes (for greater content sharing).

From 2009 with the spread of social networks, in particular Facebook, the ‘cultural’ role of the ‘blog-sphera’ gradually began to decrease, in addition to the taste of the public, increasingly oriented towards ‘fast’ ‘viasual’ news rather than ‘in-depth’ content ‘.

This led to the closure of Skynet first in Belgium, then in France and to the definitive migration of the surviving blogs to the wordpress platform.

When I saw the banner of the current exhibition, all these memories suddenly came back to my mind and I needed to write him a public thank you – so thank you Sanza for inspiring me, today as it was 15 years ago.

Photo credit of Marta Meozzi & Andrea Mordacci – Galerie Le Toit du Monde – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Tischenko Gallery – Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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En 2007, Gustavo Gili m’a parlé de la présence sur le web d’un nouveau site où l’on pouvait voir des images d’objets relatifs aux arts népalais exposés dans des expositions récentes ou en cours. Après une recherche sur le web, j’ai découvert qu’il s’agissait des blogs de François Boulanger. Au cours de ces années, Internet a commencé à diffuser des informations à un public de plus en plus large, mais les livres et les magazines ont encore dominé le “marché” des images . Ce moment a représenté une sorte de ligne de separation entre l’ancien et le nouveau monde de l’information. Alors, si d’un côté j’étais toujours à la recherche de nouvelles informations, de l’autre j’avais aussi envie de lancer quelque chose sur le web, dédié aux arts populaires de l’Himalaya ; sans savoir exactement comment et où. Les blogs de François, il en avait plusieurs, étaient à l’époque caractérisés par un fond orange, et étaient consacrés aux expositions de tous les arts primaires, ainsi qu’aux instruments de musique. Le fait qu’il ait particulièrement collectionné les “Sanza” africaines l’a fait connaître sous ce surnom. Je me souviens qu’après l’avoir contacté, nous avons commencé à échanger des informations, c’est grâce à ses encouragements, inspirations et suggestions qu’en mai 2008 j’ai commencé à organiser mon blog Ethnoflorence sur la même plate-forme belge-Skynet.be, dans lequel il a publié ses blogs. Avec François, et de façon très “artisanale” nous avons publié sur nos blogs (en même temps) en 2008 une exposition en ligne sur le Banam de Santal. Il s’agit d’une expérience « éditoriale » répétée à d’autres occasions par la suite, également avec le soutien du site français Detours des Mondes (pour un plus grand partage de contenus). A partir de 2009 avec la généralisation des réseaux sociaux, notamment Facebook, le rôle « culturel » de la « blog-sphère » a progressivement commencé à diminuer, outre le goût du public, de plus en plus orienté vers l’information « rapide » plutôt que in -profondeur ‘ Cela a conduit à la fermeture de Skynet d’abord en Belgique, puis en France puis à la migration définitive des blogs survivants vers la plateforme wordpress. Quand j’ai vu la bannière de l’exposition en cours, tous ces souvenirs me sont soudain revenus à l’esprit et j’ai eu besoin de lui écrire un merci public – alors merci Sanza de m’avoir inspiré, aujourd’hui comme il y a 15 ans.

Photo Credit of Tischenko Gallery – Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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Nel 2007 Gustavo Gili mi parlo’ della presenza sul web di un nuovo sito in cui si potevano visualizzare le immagini di oggetti relativi alle arti nepalesi (ma non solo) esibiti in mostre recenti o in corso , Dopo una ricerca sul web scoprii essere i blog di Francois Boulanger. In quegli anni Internet iniziava a a diffondere informazioni ad un pubblico sempre piu amplio, ma libri e riviste dominavano ancora il “mercato” delle immagini (anche se per poco). Quel momento rappresentava una sorta di spartiacque tra il vecchio e nuovo mondo della informazione. Allora, se da una parte ero sempre alla ricerca di nuove informazioni, dall’altra volevo avviare qualcosa anche sul web, dedicato alle arti popolari dell’Himalaya; senza sapere esattamente come e dove. I blog di Francois, ne aveva diversi, erano all’epoca caratterizzati da uno sfondo arancione, ed erano dedicati alle mostre di tutte le arti primarie, oltre che agli strumenti musicali. Il fatto che collezionasse particolarmente “Sanza” africane lo rese noto con quel soprannome. Ricordo che dopo averlo contattato iniziammo a scambiarci informazioni, è stato grazie al suo incoraggiamento ispirazione e suggermmento che nel maggio 2008 ho iniziato a curare il mio blog Ethnoflorence sulla sua stessa piattaforma belga-Skynet.be. Con Francois, e in modo molto “artigianale” abbiamo pubblicato sui nostri blog (contestualmente) nel 2008 una mostra online sui Banam dei Santal. Fu un esperimento ‘editoriale’ ripetuto in altre occasioni in seguito, anche con il supporto del sito francese Detours des Mondes (per una maggiore condivisione dei contenuti). Dal 2009 con la diffusione dei social network, in particolare Facebook, il ruolo ‘culturale’ della ‘blog-sphera’ iniziava progressivamente a diminuire, oltre a modificarsi il gusto del pubblico, sempre piu’ orientato per notizie ‘fast’ piuttosto che per contenuti ‘approfonditi’ . Questo determino’ la chiusura di Skynet prima in Belgio, poi in Francia e poi la definitiva migrazione dei blog sopravvisuti sulla piattaforma wordpress. Quando ho visto il banner della mostra in corso, tutti questi ricordi mi sono tornati in mente all’improvviso e avevo bisogno di scrivergli un ringraziamento pubblico – Quindi grazie Sanza per avermi ispirato, oggi come 15 anni fa.

Photo Credit of Tischenko Gallery – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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Photo Credit of Marta Meozzi & Andrea Mordacci – Sanza Arts Premiers 2008- Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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Photo Credit of Marta Meozzi & Andrea Mordacci – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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Photo Credit of Marta Meozzi & Andrea Mordacci – Sanza Arts Premiers 2008- Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

Photo Credit of Sanza Arts Premiers 2008 – Photo Composition by Ethnoflorence

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Tribal doors of central India by Renzo Freschi, 1983

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

Maria (?) – Central India, Madhya Pradesh – Single leaf door made up of nailed wooden boards and strips – Cm 150 x 82 – Detail – Photo Credit Renzo Freschi Asian Art Milan

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

September 25, 2020

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Tribal Doors of Central India

by

Renzo Freschi

https://www.renzofreschi.com/

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An interesting article recently published on the web by Renzo Freschi documents a rare collection of historiated Indian doors

english version

TRIBAL DOORS of Central Indiaby Renzo Freschi, 1983

italian version

Porte tribali dell’India centraledi Renzo Freschi, 1983

Maria (?) – Central India, Madhya Pradesh – Single leaf door made up of nailed wooden boards and strips – Cm 150 x 82 – Detail – Photo Credit Renzo Freschi Asian Art Milan

These materials come from the tribal groups of the central Indian area – relating to the Maria – Baiga and Gond tribes, cultures documented in particular by Verrier Elwin in his The Tribal Art of Middle India: A Personal Record – Oxford University Press, 1951

Verrier Elwin – The Tribal Art of Middle India: A Personal Record – Oxford University Press, 1951 – Carved Panels – Baiga Doors

A first draft dedicated to this subject was written in 1983 by Renzo Freschi for the “Archetipo”, Vittorio Carini’s magazine on primitive arts.

The collection was exhibited in Paris in the early 90’s at the Le Toit du Monde Gallery.

BAIGA Tribe (?) Central India, Madhya Pradesh – Single-leaf door with hinges, wood with dark patina – Cm 116 x 77 – Photo Credit Sanza Arts Premiers- Bruxelles

BAIGA Tribe (?) Central India, Madhya Pradesh – Single-leaf door with hinges, wood with dark patina – Cm 116 x 77 – Photo Credit Sanza Arts Premiers- Bruxelles

GOND Tribe Central India, Madhya Pradesh – Wrought iron wood, studs and hinges – Cm 157 x 81 – Photo Credit Sanza Arts Premiers- Bruxelles

The article can be read in its entirety at this web-address

TRIBAL DOORS of Central Indiaby Renzo Freschi, 1983

Porte tribali dell’India centraledi Renzo Freschi, 1983

Baiga Tribe – Central India, Madhya Pradesh Double door in solid wood, hinges and iron chain – Cm 147 x 78 Detail – Photo Credit Renzo Freschi Asian Art Milan

Western Tibet The sacred country of Hindus and Buddhist Charles A. Sherring 1906 – Nepal FUNGUS RAI MASKS

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

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N. 855

(1)

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Western Tibet

and

The British Border Land

The sacred country of Hindus and Buddhist

by

Charles A. Sherring

London

Edward Arnold

1906

Tibetan Masked Dancers

Banging Cymbals – Drum beaten by stick like a reaping hook.

Tibetan Dancers wearing Masks

Tibetan Dancers

This Party has visited India during the previous cold weather

Tibetan Dancers

Note the Drum and the Mask in foreground

Bhotia Women

The Chum or Rani, wife of the three brothers

The Tiara is of turquoise and coral ; ear – rings of silver and turquoise ;  a silver charm is suspended from the neck ; baeads are fastened to the waist; the long boots are Lhasa made. She is wearing a shirt with an apron , and a long robe with full sleeves. Behind the shoulders the hair is plaited, and the two ends are connected by coloured cord 2 ft. long.

A Tibetan Wedding : The Bride

A Tibetan Wedding : The Bridegroom

Tibetan Charm, Jug, Bell

Silver charm – casket, with turquoise centre , worn on person – Turquoise ear – ring worn by women – Silver chatelaine worn by woman on the bosom: from left ear-spoon – tooth-pick, brush for clenaing jewellery, flat instrument cleaner, thorn extractor, useful for spreading medicine, tweezers for pulling out hairs on the face. Turquoise in the luky colour and keeps off the evil eye. 

Jugs for filling water into bowls which stand on the altars in front of the idols. Bells with thunderbolt handles – DORJE – used by lamas in the temples – Sauce pan for pouring melted butter into bowls in which lights burn on the altars. Table with folding flaps. Trumphets made of himan thight – bones used by Lamas in their rites : it has been said that those of criminals are preferred, but those in the picture belonged to HOLY MEN , and similarity the himan skulls represented elsewhere.

From the left: Tibetan Apron with gold-thread corners worn by woman : silver pendant and silk tassels worn by woman: charms are kepr in the caskets: chatelaine of white and blue beads and tiny brass bells, worn by women – at the side: the tinkling of the bells as the women walk (all wear it) – Silver chram – casket – Silver chatelaine – Common knife and sheat worn by women. Tibetan woman’s tiara made of red cloth mounted with coral and turquoise, both of which are considered lucky. Turquoise ear ring – turquoise fends off the evil eye. Fur cap with ear – flaps worn by men of position. Scarlet hood with light blue silk lining – gold-thread embrodery and blue solk ribbons, worn by high officials when travelling : red and blue are lucky colours.

From the left: Tibetan bowl used for drinking tea. Tibetan pipe jade mouthpiece for smoking tabacco – Tibetan tabacco is exactly like chopped chaff. Tibetan purse. Bowl for drinking : in it are Tibetan coins. Table for domestic use. Purse. Bag. Pipe with onyx mouthpiece. Purse: in the centre hangs a needle -case. Purse with flint, steel and tinder. Bag. Churn and piston-rod for making tea and mixing in it butter, salt and flour.

Thunderbolts – DORJE – used to expel demons by all Lamas in Temple. The Dorje is gripped with finger and thumb in the centre and turned backwards and forwards, while a bell is rung with the other hand. Stone engraved with – OM MANI PADME HUNG – Spoons and ladles used in domestic life, the right one is of brass and the left of silver, with turquoise in the centre: the lower ones are of brass and copper. 

Stone engraved with ” OM MANI PADME HUNG” : such stones are thrown in thousands on the heaps. Prayer – wheels with chain and knob to assist the revolutions – Thunderbolts – DORJE – for expelling Demons by All Lamas – Ling Shaped mud image with SHIVA’S TRIDENT – TRISUL – and streamer – Table for domestic use – Bowls made of human skulls in which water or blood is offered and sometimes drunk.

A DOKPA WOMAN

She is wearing a robe lined with fur inside and covered with leather outside : her charge for being photographed was fourpence

A CAITYA OR DEATH MEMORIAL 

THESE ARE MUD IMAGES OF TIBETAN DEITIES, THE IMPRESS BEING MADE WITH STAMP

They are placed in hundreds by devotees in caves and sacred spots, each of them contains a few grains of corn, which have germinated in some of the above: this practice signifies the immortal hope after death.

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*

(2)

MASK OF THE DAY

FUNGUS RAI MASKS

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS COLLECTION

BRUXELLES

Photo credit Sanza Arts Premiers – Bruxelles

Photo credit Sanza Arts Premiers – Bruxelles

Photo credit Sanza Arts Premiers – Bruxelles

About the Fungus Mask We suggest the following selected essays on the matter:

(a)
Ethnomycologie Nepalaise Masques en Polypores – par Guy Durrieu – Mashedh Humar Adhikari & JP Girolami (in Bull. Soc. mycol. Fr., 130 (1-2) p.57-71 2014.
(b)
Lettre Du Toit du Monde Numero 25 Mars 2018 – Les Masques – Champignons du Nepal par Francois Pannier
https://www.letoitdumonde.net/images/lettres/pdf/LETTRE-TDM-25.pdf
(c)
Extraordinary Fungal Masks used by the Indigenous People of North America and Asia – by Robert A. Blanchette (in Fungi volume 10:3 Fall 2017)
https://www.fungimag.com/fall-2017-articles/V10I3%20LR%20Masks%208_12.pdf

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Last Updating 11.15.2020

ARTE TRIBALE DEI SANTAL DHODRO BANAM versione italiana di Santal Tribal Arts

ARTE TRIBALE DEI SANTAL

(english and italian version)

SANTAL TRIBAL ARTS

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Questa pagina non sarebbe stata realizzabile senza il prezioso contributo di materiale fotorafico da parte di:

This page could not be possible 

without the precious contribute

of  pictures

by

COLLECTION MUSEE DE LA CASTRE CANNES  © PHOTO CLAUDE GERMAIN

CHRISTIAN LEQUINDRE

ROBERT BRUNDAGE PETALUMA CA

http://www.artyeti.com/

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS BRUXELLES

FREDERIC ROND PARIS

http://www.indianheritage.biz/

HERVE PERDIOLLE PARIS

http://herveperdriollecv.blogspot.com/

ANDREA   MORDACCI  

SANATAN KAVADIYA NEW DELHI

http://www.tribalartsindia.com/

RICHARD LAIR

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/category/collection-richard-lair/

and text 

by

ELIO REVERA BRESCIA

ETHNOFLORENCE

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An online

vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

ON

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

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Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

“…une vièle Sarangi, venant du Santal, nom en soi, évocateur. 

Sa présence et sa personnalité nous interpellent. 

Ce petit chef-d’oeuvre de sculpture  attire notre regard au fond du sien.  

C’est bien ici l’exemple d’un objet  d’artisanat, échappant  à son usage pour accéder à l’intemporel”.

Pierre  Fernandez   Arman

on  

“Voyages Immobiles Trente ans d’Aquisitions d’Art Primitif

du

Musée de la Castre” 

Cannes

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

Perché ci circondiamo di bellezza? E perché questo circondarci non ci ha mai appagato, noi uomini, di ogni dove e di ogni tempo? Per una semplice ed insieme cogente motivazione: perché ne abbiamo bisogno!

Guardo questo oggetto che cari amici hanno avuto l’ardire di porre sotto i miei occhi; l’ardire, perché conoscono la mia limitata cultura ed il mio sconfinato amore per le produzioni artistiche di un altro continente.

Ma la loro è una sfida vinta in partenza: questa straordinaria creazione, l’immagine di questa fanciulla dai seni puntuti e da un’ incredibile quanto armoniosa corolla, mi ha conquistato al primo sguardo.

Non ha importanza cosa sia.

Io ne ammiro le purissime forme, ancestrali, evocative, ardite e stupefacenti: ed i miei sensi sono appagati da quella Dea misteriosa e sublime….avita e sconosciuta: la dea della Bellezza che in ogni cultura ha ricevuto nomi diversi, ma dovunque ha lascito profondissima traccia di sé, col suo passo lieve ed incorporeo.

( Elio Revera, socioanalista)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

I santal scolpirono i loro liuti antropomorfi, i Dhodro Banam, spesso nella forma di una donna, trasfigurando le risonance dell’istrumento nelle rotondità plastiche conosciute nella scultura Hindu reinterpretate al livello tribale attraverso la simplificazione  e distorsione domandata e dettata dalla particolare forma dello strumento.

The Santal

carved their one stringed lutes sometimes in the shape of  a woman,

transfigurating the resonance of the instrument into rotundities known from Hindu sculpture and brought to the tribal level by simplifications and distortions demanded by the

shape of the instrument.

(Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

L’interpretazone che segue dello strumento effettuata da Stella Kramrisch è una delle più acute espresse in queto campo, e allo stesso tempo poetica.

The prophetic head with its far-seeing inlaid eyes, traversed at the back by the turning keyes as a kind of ear ornament, carried aloft on a neck of inordinate length,

is a noble mask.

Through its thin lipped mouth a god may speak.

Il banam è considerato infatti un tramite tra l’umano ed il divino.

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Il suono dello strumento quasi emanazione del volto femminile diviene profetica voce.

Sound and mask, the prophetic voice which speaks through mask and instrument,

link auditory and visual experience in one manifestation of the numinous.

Resume from

Stella Kramrisch

(Unknown India Ritual Art in Tribe and Village)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Strumento inteso come medium punto di contatto tra il visbile e l’invisibile.

The Santals believe in the magical powers of this musical instrument, a medium between the human beings and the supernatural.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

Anatomia umana e iconografia del Banam.

The Banam

resume in its various parts the anatomy of an human being: head, ears, neck, chest and stomach. The string is the most important part of the instrument, because it unites the other parts of the liute together, it’s considered as the breadth of the Banam.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

The Head (Bonok) of the instrument represents the Space.

eck (hatok) and chest (koram) are directly connected with the Respiration and represents the equivalent natural element of the Air.

The stomach (lac) represents the fire.

The ears (lutur) the ether.

The term banam means body and represents the earth.

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Mito orale che ci racconta della mitologica origine del Dhodro Banam.

One oral Myth of the Santal told us the mithologyc origin of the Dhrodo Banam

 

Once upon a time  lived an old couple.

 

They had seven sons and a daughter who was the youngest of all.

The sons used to go  hunting and the sister cooked meals for them.

Some time later the couple died.

All their sons and daughter came to a forest to live  in the same way as they used to live earlier, the sister cooked the meals and looked after the house while the seven brothers went hunting.

 

One day while their sister was cutting sin arak (leaf-vegetable), one of her fingers got cut, and the blood of the wound got mixed with the vegetable.

She cooked it and served it to her brothers after their return.

They found the vegetable delicious.

So they asked their sister how the vegetable became so tasty, and found that her blood had got mixed with it.

The eldest brother wondered that if her blood could make the food so delicious, how tasty would her flesh be.

So he decided to kill her and share her flesh with his brothers.

Her body was then cut in seven pieces and each brother received a piece.

Except the youngest brother, the other ate the sister’s flesh, he went to a pond sadly with his share, the fish, the crab and all the other creatures of the place, seeing this asked him the reason of his sorrow.

The youngest brother narrated them the whole story, after that the creatures of the pond suggested him not to eat the flesh of his sister and instead to put it inside the mound of white ants.

Some year later, in the place grew  a huge guloic tree.

It started to grow beautifull flowers and a melodious sound was heard from the tree.

A jugi who often used to come to the tree for picking up flowers heard this melodious sound and remained astonished.

One day he decided to cut a brunch from the magic tree and with them he constructed the first  musical instrument the

DHODRO BANAM.

 

(Text resumed  from SANTHAL MUSIC Onkar Prasad 1985)

 

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Dancers, dressed with a Sari, analogous subject we can find   in  old photos of Elwin Verrier and  in the iconography of  some carved panels of the wedding palkee of the Santal Parganas tribe as well as of the Banam.

 (Photo Ethnoflorence)

Ancora Stella Kramrisch caratterizza la plastica iconografia di questi pannelli istoriati dei Santal, parte delle lettighe matrimoniali tipiche dell’etnia Parganas.

 

Il parallelo con i rilievi egiziani è molto sugestivo.

 

The narrative typical carving of the panels, in low profile,  it is characterized by human figures in combined front profile view, limbs at times overlapped in telling gestures and lively actions of spontaneously formed group, and are based roughly on one groundline in common, in a cursive notation of figures, human and animal, more valuable and surely less expert, but according to Stella Kramrisch somehow paralleling Egyptian reliefs.

 (Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

Seguono informazioni circa la lettiga matrimoniale e della loro iconografia.

 

DANCERS AND MUSICIANS

 

The Santal wedding  litter is called

 

 RAHI

 

and was made by tribal craftsmen themselves.

 

The RAHI was created with a certain amount of ceremony.

 

According to Verrier Elwin and Stella Kramrisch

 

 When work was started, two pigeons were sacrificed;

 

when it was completed the couple sat on it and were carried to the central Manjhithan where more pigeons or a goat were offered.

 

THE ACTIVITY OF CARVING WAS PART OF THE MARRIAGE    RITE,  AS    WAS THE PROCESSION     OF      THE  MARRIAGE  LITTER

 

The themes

 

The main subjects carved on the Rahi’s panels are derived from the local ceremonies, such  as marriages, the Miths of the Santal creation, the totems devoted to the twelve Santal clans, the Santal Hul or Santali rebellion of 1855, and especially the everyday life scenes.

 

A part of these themes it’s common with the carved top of the Banam.

 

 (Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo Ethoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

The Santal

traditionally accompanied many of their dances with two kind of drums the Tamak’ and the Tumdak’ the kettle-drum ‘nagara’ and  the oboe ‘shanai’ These musical traditions are reflects on the Banam lutes and Rahi panels iconography where the dancers are seldom accompanied by musicians too

(Picture from Tribal Art of Middle India 1951 by Verrier Elwin)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Sometimes musicians and dancers are accompanied also by acrobatic perfomers.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

Animalia nella iconografia dei Santal del Bihar

HORSES HORSEMEN AND ELEPHANTS

Another quite common iconography that we can find on the Rahi Panels is linked with the presence of elephants, horses and horsemen. Sometimes these representations are  linked with the marriage procession. It’s possible to find carved  a similar iconography also on the top of  the Banam

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

Above Exceptional iconography of a rider and horse on the back carved top of a banam lute

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of A.M.)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

SACRO AND PROFANO

Questo pannello eccezzionale nella resa iconografica ci presenta una sorta di fusione iconografica tra elementi sacri a destra e profani a sinistra.

Caratteristica tipica della libera inventiva di queste popolazioni, comune anche alla plastica ‘reinventata’ di tutta l’arte popolare della regione himalayana.

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

A mix of subjects is the iconographic base of this very interesting panel

HUNTING SCENES

Scene di caccia

archetipi universali

(Photo Courtesy A. M.)

(Photo courtesy A. M.)

SANTAL HUL

La rivolta dei santal

(Photo  Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

ANIMALIA AND EVERYDAY LIFE

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy A.M.)

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

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(Sketches from Santalistan, Pederson, Mathew A. 1913)

http://archive.org/details/sketchesfromsant00pede

Un altro strumento musicale della tradizione dei Santal è il flauto traverso, ne presentiamo qui alcuni molto interessanti con estremità in bronzo fuse a cera persa.

The flute

held an important role in the music tradition of the Santal people.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

Two flutes of this particulary rich tipology are present also in the collection of the Musee de la Castre of Cannes.

 

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

***********

CHADOR BADONI

Puppet small wodden idol

Definition from 

A vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Khavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

*****************

PITTURA MAGICA DEI SANTAL

JADUPATUA

jadu = magician ; patua –or chitrakar- = painter

Santal Parganas

State of Bihar, India

(Text and pictures courtesy of  Herve Perdiolle)

(Creation of the world 1980)

The Jadu Patuas are painters and story tellers and go from village to village carrying their painted scrolls made of paper sheets sewn together with a bamboo stick on each extremity.

Jadu means “Magician”.

The themes they represent on the scrolls are  about a dozen . However, there is different interpretation for each theme. A Jadu Patua can, looking at one scroll, say different stories depending if his audience is Hindu, Muslim or Santal. This last ethnic group is the most important audience for the Jadu Patuas.

The Patuas live with the money that the villagers give them after listening to their stories. The fact that they are magicians give a special effect to their intervention because the villagers fear them.

One of the most revealing images of the Jadu Patuas’ role (in the Santal community) is the

“Mritu pat”

or

“image of the deaths”

. When somebody dies in a village near the Jadu Patua’s one, the “artist magician” visits the family of the dead with a small and simple image (about 3 x 2 inches) which is supposed to represent the dead in a simple way.

Only the late person’s pupil is missing.

Showing this image to the family, the Jadu Patua tells the story evoking the suffering of the dead whose soul is still trapped in hell.

The family then gives an offering to the Jadu Patua in order for him to intervene. The ritual for the Magician painter consists then to paint the dead’s pupil in order to free his soul.

The principles developed by the Jadu Patuas are :

the Baha’s feast

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

a strange mixture of Hindu and Santal myths showing a lot of festivities where tribal dances, sacrifices and drinking sessions scenes are mixed;

the creation of the world

(Anonyme, Création du monde, 1990, couleurs végétales sur papier, 20×420 cm)

where we can see the first human couple being born from the coupling of a goose and a gande; the painting of Kali

(Anonyme, Kali pat, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 30×240 cm, collection privée.)

composed with 3 or 4 paper sheets only, showing Kali in her most terrifying aspects

and a lot of scrolls about Yama the god of hell (showing all the ill treatments, sometimes sexual, given by Yama and his servants to the dead who behaved badly during their lifetime).

It seems that the scarier the Jadu Patuas’style gets, the more highly he is regarded.

***

**

*

 

 

 

SANTAL TRIBAL ARTS DHODRO BANAM LUTE OF THE SANTAL ADIVASI TRIBAL ART

SANTAL TRIBAL ARTS

*

This page could not be possible 

without the precious contribute

of  pictures

by

COLLECTION MUSEE DE LA CASTRE CANNES  © PHOTO CLAUDE GERMAIN

CHRISTIAN LEQUINDRE

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/category/collection-christian-lequindre/

ROBERT BRUNDAGE PETALUMA CA

http://www.artyeti.com/

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS BRUXELLES

FREDERIC ROND PARIS

http://www.indianheritage.biz/

HERVE PERDIOLLE PARIS

http://herveperdriollecv.blogspot.com/

MORDACCI  COLLECTION

SANATAN KAVADIYA NEW DELHI

http://www.tribalartsindia.com/

RICHARD LAIR

and text 

by

ELIO REVERA BRESCIA

http://artidellemaninere.forumattivo.it/f8-love-driven-choices-the-italian-forum-of-african-art-collectors

ETHNOFLORENCE

*******

An online

vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

ON

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

*****

 

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

*

“…une vièle Sarangi, venant du Santal, nom en soi, évocateur. 

 

Sa présence et sa personnalité nous interpellent. 

 

Ce petit chef-d’oeuvre de sculpture  attire notre regard au fond du sien.  

 

C’est bien ici l’exemple d’un objet  d’artisanat, échappant  à son usage pour accéder à l’intemporel”.

 

Pierre  Fernandez   Arman

on  

“Voyages Immobiles Trente ans d’Aquisitions d’Art Primitif

du

Musée de la Castre” 

Cannes

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

Perché ci circondiamo di bellezza?

E perché questo circondarci non ci ha mai appagato, noi uomini, di ogni dove e di ogni tempo?

Per una semplice ed insieme cogente motivazione: perché ne abbiamo bisogno!

 

Guardo questo oggetto che cari amici hanno avuto l’ardire di porre sotto i miei occhi; l’ardire, perché conoscono la mia limitata cultura ed il mio sconfinato amore per le produzioni artistiche di un altro continente.

 

Ma la loro è una sfida vinta in partenza: questa straordinaria creazione, l’immagine di questa fanciulla dai seni puntuti e da un’ incredibile quanto armoniosa corolla, mi ha conquistato al primo sguardo.

 

Non ha importanza cosa sia.

 

Io ne ammiro le purissime forme, ancestrali, evocative, ardite e stupefacenti: ed i miei sensi sono appagati da quella Dea misteriosa e sublime….avita e sconosciuta: la dea della Bellezza che in ogni cultura ha ricevuto nomi diversi, ma dovunque ha lascito profondissima traccia di sé, col suo passo lieve ed incorporeo.

 ( Elio Revera, socioanalista)

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

 

The Santal

carved

their one stringed lutes sometimes in the shape of  a woman,

transfigurating the resonance of the instrument

into

rotundities known from Hindu sculpture and brought to the tribal level by simplifications and distortions demanded by the

shape of the instrument.

(Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

The prophetic head

with its far-seeing inlaid eyes, traversed at the back by the turning keyes as a kind of ear ornament,

carried aloft on a neck of inordinate length,

is a noble mask.

Through its thin lipped mouth

a

god may speak.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Sound and mask,

the prophetic voice

which speaks through mask and instrument,

link auditory and visual experience in one manifestation

of the numinous.

Resume from

Stella Kramrisch

(Unknown India Ritual Art in Tribe and Village)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

The Santals

believe

in the magical powers of this musical instrument,

a medium between the human beings and the supernatural.

 

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

 

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

The Banam

resume

in its various parts the anatomy of an human being:

head, ears, neck, chest and stomach.

The string

is the most important part of the instrument,

because it unites the other parts of the liute together, it’s considered as the

breadth

of the Banam.

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

The Head (Bonok) of the instrument represents the Space.

Neck (hatok) and chest (koram) are directly connected with the Respiration and represents the equivalent natural element of the Air.

The stomach (lac) represents the fire.

The ears (lutur) the ether.

The term banam means body and represents the earth.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 

One oral Myth of the Santal told us the mithologyc origin of the Dhrodo Banam

 

Once upon a time  lived an old couple.

They had seven sons and a daughter who was the youngest of all.

The sons used to go  hunting and the sister cooked meals for them.

Some time later the couple died.

All their sons and daughter came to a forest to live  in the same way as they used to live earlier, the sister cooked the meals and looked after the house while the seven brothers went hunting.

 

One day while their sister was cutting sin arak (leaf-vegetable), one of her fingers got cut, and the blood of the wound got mixed with the vegetable.

She cooked it and served it to her brothers after their return.

They found the vegetable delicious.

So they asked their sister how the vegetable became so tasty, and found that her blood had got mixed with it.

The eldest brother wondered that if her blood could make the food so delicious, how tasty would her flesh be.

So he decided to kill her and share her flesh with his brothers.

Her body was then cut in seven pieces and each brother received a piece.

Except the youngest brother, the other ate the sister’s flesh, he went to a pond sadly with his share, the fish, the crab and all the other creatures of the place, seeing this asked him the reason of his sorrow.

The youngest brother narrated them the whole story, after that the creatures of the pond suggested him not to eat the flesh of his sister and instead to put it inside the mound of white ants.

Some year later, in the place grew  a huge guloic tree.

It started to grow beautifull flowers and a melodious sound was heard from the tree.

A jugi who often used to come to the tree for picking up flowers heard this melodious sound and remained astonished.

One day he decided to cut a brunch from the magic tree and with them he constructed the first  musical instrument the

DHODRO BANAM.

 

(Text resumed  from SANTHAL MUSIC Onkar Prasad 1985)

 

*************

 

Dancers, dressed with a Sari, analogous subject we can find   in  old photos of Elwin Verrier and  in the iconography of  some carved panels of the wedding palkee of the Santal Parganas tribe as well as of the Banam.

 (Photo Ethnoflorence)

The narrative typical carving of the panels, in low profile,  it is characterized by human figures in combined front profile view, limbs at times overlapped in telling gestures and lively actions of spontaneously formed group, and are based roughly on one groundline in common, in a cursive notation of figures, human and animal, more valuable and surely less expert, but according to Stella Kramrisch somehow paralleling Egyptian reliefs.

(Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

DANCERS AND MUSICIANS

The Santal wedding  litter is called

 RAHI

and was made by tribal craftsmen themselves.

The RAHI was created with a certain amount of ceremony.

According to Verrier Elwin and Stella Kramrisch

When work was started, two pigeons were sacrificed;

when it was completed the couple sat on it and were carried to the central Manjhithan where more pigeons or a goat were offered.

THE ACTIVITY OF CARVING WAS PART OF THE MARRIAGE    RITE,  AS    WAS THE PROCESSION     OF      THE  MARRIAGE  LITTER

The themes

The main subjects carved on the Rahi’s panels are derived from the local ceremonies, such  as marriages, the Miths of the Santal creation, the totems devoted to the twelve Santal clans, the Santal Hul or Santali rebellion of 1855, and especially the everyday life scenes.

A part of these themes it’s common with the carved top of the Banam.

 

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo Ethoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

The Santal

traditionally accompanied many of their dances with two kind of drums the

Tamak’ and the Tumdak’

the kettle-drum ‘nagara’

and  the

oboe ‘shanai’

These musical traditions are reflects on the Banam lutes and Rahi panels

iconography

where

the dancers

are seldom accompanied by musicians too

 

(Picture from Tribal Art of Middle India 1951 by Verrier Elwin)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

 

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Sometimes musicians and dancers are accompanied also by acrobatic perfomers.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

HORSES HORSEMEN AND ELEPHANTS

Another quite common iconography that we can find on the Rahi Panels is linked with the presence of elephants, horses and horsemen.

Sometimes these representations are  linked with the marriage procession.

It’s possible to find carved  a similar iconography also on the top of  the Banam

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

Above

Exceptional iconography of a rider and horse on

the back carved top of a banam lute.

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo courtesy of A.M.)

 

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

SACRO AND PROFANO

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

A mix of subjects is the iconographic base of this very interesting panel

HUNTING SCENES

(Photo Courtesy A. M.)

 

(Photo courtesy A. M.)

SANTAL HUL

 

(Photo  Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

ANIMALIA AND EVERYDAY LIFE

 

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

 

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy A.M.)

 

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

*************

 

(Sketches from Santalistan, Pederson, Mathew A. 1913)

http://archive.org/details/sketchesfromsant00pede

 

The flute

held an important role in the music tradition of the Santal people.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

Two flutes

of this particulary rich tipology are present also in the collection of the Musee de la Castre of Cannes.

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

 

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

 

***********

CHADOR BADONI

 

Puppet small wodden idol

 

Definition from 

A vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

 

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Khavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy Sanatan Kavadiya)

 

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

*****************

JADUPATUA

jadu = magician ; patua –or chitrakar- = painter

Santal Parganas

State of Bihar, India

(Text and pictures courtesy of  Herve Perdiolle)

 

 

(Creation of the world 1980)

 

The Jadu Patuas are painters and story tellers and go from village to village carrying their painted scrolls made of paper sheets sewn together with a bamboo stick on each extremity.

Jadu means “Magician”.

The themes they represent on the scrolls are  about a dozen . However, there is different interpretation for each theme. A Jadu Patua can, looking at one scroll, say different stories depending if his audience is Hindu, Muslim or Santal. This last ethnic group is the most important audience for the Jadu Patuas.

 

The Patuas live with the money that the villagers give them after listening to their stories. The fact that they are magicians give a special effect to their intervention because the villagers fear them.

 

One of the most revealing images of the Jadu Patuas’ role (in the Santal community) is the

 

“Mritu pat”

 

or

 

“image of the deaths”

 

. When somebody dies in a village near the Jadu Patua’s one, the “artist magician” visits the family of the dead with a small and simple image (about 3 x 2 inches) which is supposed to represent the dead in a simple way.

 

Only the late person’s pupil is missing.

 

Showing this image to the family, the Jadu Patua tells the story evoking the suffering of the dead whose soul is still trapped in hell.

 

The family then gives an offering to the Jadu Patua in order for him to intervene. The ritual for the Magician painter consists then to paint the dead’s pupil in order to free his soul.

 

The principles developed by the Jadu Patuas are :

 

the Baha’s feast

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

a strange mixture of Hindu and Santal myths showing a lot of festivities where tribal dances, sacrifices and drinking sessions scenes are mixed;

 

the creation of the world

(Anonyme, Création du monde, 1990, couleurs végétales sur papier, 20×420 cm)

where we can see the first human couple being born from the coupling of a goose and a gande;

 

the painting of Kali

(Anonyme, Kali pat, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 30×240 cm, collection privée.)

composed with 3 or 4 paper sheets only, showing Kali in her most terrifying aspects

 

and a lot of scrolls about

 

Yama

 

the god of hell (showing all the ill treatments, sometimes sexual, given by Yama and his servants to the dead who behaved badly during their lifetime).

 

It seems that the scarier the Jadu Patuas’style gets, the more highly he is regarded.

 

***

 

**

 

*

 

 

 

TRIBAL ARTS OF THE SANTAL PEOPLE

Ethnoflorence

Indian and Himalayan

Folk and Tribal Arts

***

SANTAL TRIBAL ARTS

*

This web publication could not be possible 

without the precious contribute

of  pictures

by

COLLECTION MUSEE DE LA CASTRE CANNES  © PHOTO CLAUDE GERMAIN

CHRISTIAN LEQUINDRE

http://www.nepaltribalart.com/index.asp?p=65

ROBERT BRUNDAGE PETALUMA CA

http://www.artyeti.com/

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS BRUXELLES

FREDERIC ROND PARIS

http://www.indianheritage.biz/

HERVE PERDIOLLE PARIS

http://herveperdriollecv.blogspot.com/

ANDREA MORDACCI  COLLECTION LA SPEZIA

(A.M. COLLECTION)

SANATAN KAVADIYA NEW DELHI

http://www.tribalartsindia.com/

RICHARD LAIR

and text 

by

ELIO REVERA BRESCIA

http://artidellemaninere.forumattivo.it/f8-love-driven-choices-the-italian-forum-of-african-art-collectors

ETHNOFLORENCE

*******

An online

vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

ON

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

*****

 

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

*

“…une vièle Sarangi, venant du Santal, nom en soi, évocateur. 

 

Sa présence et sa personnalité nous interpellent. 

 

Ce petit chef-d’oeuvre de sculpture  attire notre regard au fond du sien.  

 

C’est bien ici l’exemple d’un objet  d’artisanat, échappant  à son usage pour accéder à l’intemporel”.

 

Pierre  Fernandez   Arman

on  

“Voyages Immobiles Trente ans d’Aquisitions d’Art Primitif

du

Musée de la Castre” 

Cannes

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

Perché ci circondiamo di bellezza?

E perché questo circondarci non ci ha mai appagato, noi uomini, di ogni dove e di ogni tempo?

Per una semplice ed insieme cogente motivazione: perché ne abbiamo bisogno!

 

Guardo questo oggetto che cari amici hanno avuto l’ardire di porre sotto i miei occhi; l’ardire, perché conoscono la mia limitata cultura ed il mio sconfinato amore per le produzioni artistiche di un altro continente.

 

Ma la loro è una sfida vinta in partenza: questa straordinaria creazione, l’immagine di questa fanciulla dai seni puntuti e da un’ incredibile quanto armoniosa corolla, mi ha conquistato al primo sguardo.

 

Non ha importanza cosa sia.

 

Io ne ammiro le purissime forme, ancestrali, evocative, ardite e stupefacenti: ed i miei sensi sono appagati da quella Dea misteriosa e sublime….avita e sconosciuta: la dea della Bellezza che in ogni cultura ha ricevuto nomi diversi, ma dovunque ha lascito profondissima traccia di sé, col suo passo lieve ed incorporeo.

 ( Elio Revera, socioanalista)

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

 

The Santal

carved

their one stringed lutes sometimes in the shape of  a woman,

transfigurating the resonance of the instrument

into

rotundities known from Hindu sculpture and brought to the tribal level by simplifications and distortions demanded by the

shape of the instrument.

(Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

The prophetic head

with its far-seeing inlaid eyes, traversed at the back by the turning keyes as a kind of ear ornament,

carried aloft on a neck of inordinate length,

is a noble mask.

Through its thin lipped mouth

a

god may speak.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Sound and mask,

the prophetic voice

which speaks through mask and instrument,

link auditory and visual experience in one manifestation

of the numinous.

Resume from

Stella Kramrisch

(Unknown India Ritual Art in Tribe and Village)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

The Santals

believe

in the magical powers of this musical instrument,

a medium between the human beings and the supernatural.

 

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

(Photo courtesy of Christian Lequindre)

The Banam

resume

in its various parts the anatomy of an human being:

head, ears, neck, chest and stomach.

The string

is the most important part of the instrument,

because it unites the other parts of the liute together, it’s considered as the

breadth

of the Banam.

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

The Head (Bonok) of the instrument represents the Space.

Neck (hatok) and chest (koram) are directly connected with the Respiration and represents the equivalent natural element of the Air.

The stomach (lac) represents the fire.

The ears (lutur) the ether.

The term banam means body and represents the earth.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 

One oral Myth of the Santal told us the mithologyc origin of the Dhrodo Banam

 

Once upon a time  lived an old couple.

They had seven sons and a daughter who was the youngest of all.

The sons used to go  hunting and the sister cooked meals for them.

Some time later the couple died.

All their sons and daughter came to a forest to live  in the same way as they used to live earlier, the sister cooked the meals and looked after the house while the seven brothers went hunting.

 

One day while their sister was cutting sin arak (leaf-vegetable), one of her fingers got cut, and the blood of the wound got mixed with the vegetable.

She cooked it and served it to her brothers after their return.

They found the vegetable delicious.

So they asked their sister how the vegetable became so tasty, and found that her blood had got mixed with it.

The eldest brother wondered that if her blood could make the food so delicious, how tasty would her flesh be.

So he decided to kill her and share her flesh with his brothers.

Her body was then cut in seven pieces and each brother received a piece.

Except the youngest brother, the other ate the sister’s flesh, he went to a pond sadly with his share, the fish, the crab and all the other creatures of the place, seeing this asked him the reason of his sorrow.

The youngest brother narrated them the whole story, after that the creatures of the pond suggested him not to eat the flesh of his sister and instead to put it inside the mound of white ants.

Some year later, in the place grew  a huge guloic tree.

It started to grow beautifull flowers and a melodious sound was heard from the tree.

A jugi who often used to come to the tree for picking up flowers heard this melodious sound and remained astonished.

One day he decided to cut a brunch from the magic tree and with them he constructed the first  musical instrument the

DHODRO BANAM.

 

(Text resumed  from SANTHAL MUSIC Onkar Prasad 1985)

 

*************

 

Dancers, dressed with a Sari, analogous subject we can find   in  old photos of Elwin Verrier and  in the iconography of  some carved panels of the wedding palkee of the Santal Parganas tribe as well as of the Banam.

 (Photo Ethnoflorence)

The narrative typical carving of the panels, in low profile,  it is characterized by human figures in combined front profile view, limbs at times overlapped in telling gestures and lively actions of spontaneously formed group, and are based roughly on one groundline in common, in a cursive notation of figures, human and animal, more valuable and surely less expert, but according to Stella Kramrisch somehow paralleling Egyptian reliefs.

 (Photo courtesy of Frederic Rond)

DANCERS AND MUSICIANS

The Santal wedding  litter is called

 RAHI

and was made by tribal craftsmen themselves.

The RAHI was created with a certain amount of ceremony.

According to Verrier Elwin and Stella Kramrisch

 When work was started, two pigeons were sacrificed;

when it was completed the couple sat on it and were carried to the central Manjhithan where more pigeons or a goat were offered.

THE ACTIVITY OF CARVING WAS PART OF THE MARRIAGE    RITE,  AS    WAS THE PROCESSION     OF      THE  MARRIAGE  LITTER

The themes

The main subjects carved on the Rahi’s panels are derived from the local ceremonies, such  as marriages, the Miths of the Santal creation, the totems devoted to the twelve Santal clans, the Santal Hul or Santali rebellion of 1855, and especially the everyday life scenes.

A part of these themes it’s common with the carved top of the Banam.

 

 (Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

 (Photo Ethoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

The Santal

traditionally accompanied many of their dances with two kind of drums the

Tamak’ and the Tumdak’

the kettle-drum ‘nagara’

and  the

oboe ‘shanai’

These musical traditions are reflects on the Banam lutes and Rahi panels

iconography

where

the dancers

are seldom accompanied by musicians too

(Picture from Tribal Art of Middle India 1951 by Verrier Elwin)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

(Photo courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

(Photo Courtesy of Sanza Arts Premiers)

Sometimes musicians and dancers are accompanied also by acrobatic perfomers.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

HORSES HORSEMEN AND ELEPHANTS

Another quite common iconography that we can find on the Rahi Panels is linked with the presence of elephants, horses and horsemen.

Sometimes these representations are  linked with the marriage procession.

It’s possible to find carved  a similar iconography also on the top of  the Banam

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

Above

Exceptional iconography of a rider and horse on

the back carved top of a banam lute.

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of A.M.)

 

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

 

SACRO AND PROFANO

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

A mix of subjects is the iconographic base of this very interesting panel

HUNTING SCENES

(Photo Courtesy A. M.)

(Photo courtesy A. M.)

SANTAL HUL

(Photo  Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

ANIMALIA AND EVERYDAY LIFE

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy A.M.)

(Photo courtesy of A. M.)

*************

(Sketches from Santalistan, Pederson, Mathew A. 1913)

http://archive.org/details/sketchesfromsant00pede

The flute

held an important role in the music tradition of the Santal people.

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

(Photo Ethnoflorence)

Two flutes

of this particulary rich tipology are present also in the collection of the Musee de la Castre of Cannes.

 

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

EX RICHARD LAIR COLLECTION

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

Courtesy of

 Collection Musée de la Castre, Cannes © Photo Claude Germain

 

***********

CHADOR BADONI

 

Puppet small wodden idol

 

Definition from 

A vocabulary of the Santali languge

by

EDWARD LAVALLIN PUXLEY

http://books.google.com/books?ei=vZh8T8L1I4iD0QGK483TCw&hl=it&id=kKcIAAAAQAAJ&dq=chador+badoni&ots=yoby25V1pq&q=BANAM#v=onepage&q=BANAM&f=false

 

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Khavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy of Sanatan Kavadiya)

(Photo courtesy Sanatan Kavadiya)

 

(Photo courtesy of Robert Brundage)

*****************

JADUPATUA

jadu = magician ; patua –or chitrakar- = painter

Santal Parganas

State of Bihar, India

(Text and pictures courtesy of  Herve Perdiolle)

 

(Creation of the world 1980)

 

The Jadu Patuas are painters and story tellers and go from village to village carrying their painted scrolls made of paper sheets sewn together with a bamboo stick on each extremity.

Jadu means “Magician”.

The themes they represent on the scrolls are  about a dozen . However, there is different interpretation for each theme. A Jadu Patua can, looking at one scroll, say different stories depending if his audience is Hindu, Muslim or Santal. This last ethnic group is the most important audience for the Jadu Patuas.

 

The Patuas live with the money that the villagers give them after listening to their stories. The fact that they are magicians give a special effect to their intervention because the villagers fear them.

 

One of the most revealing images of the Jadu Patuas’ role (in the Santal community) is the

 

“Mritu pat”

 

or

 

“image of the deaths”

 

. When somebody dies in a village near the Jadu Patua’s one, the “artist magician” visits the family of the dead with a small and simple image (about 3 x 2 inches) which is supposed to represent the dead in a simple way.

 

Only the late person’s pupil is missing.

 

Showing this image to the family, the Jadu Patua tells the story evoking the suffering of the dead whose soul is still trapped in hell.

 

The family then gives an offering to the Jadu Patua in order for him to intervene. The ritual for the Magician painter consists then to paint the dead’s pupil in order to free his soul.

 

The principles developed by the Jadu Patuas are :

 

the Baha’s feast

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

(Anonyme, fête de Baha, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 25×460 cm)

a strange mixture of Hindu and Santal myths showing a lot of festivities where tribal dances, sacrifices and drinking sessions scenes are mixed;

 

the creation of the world

(Anonyme, Création du monde, 1990, couleurs végétales sur papier, 20×420 cm)

where we can see the first human couple being born from the coupling of a goose and a gande;

 

the painting of Kali

(Anonyme, Kali pat, 1980, couleurs végétales sur papier, 30×240 cm, collection privée.)

composed with 3 or 4 paper sheets only, showing Kali in her most terrifying aspects

 

and a lot of scrolls about

 

Yama

 

the god of hell (showing all the ill treatments, sometimes sexual, given by Yama and his servants to the dead who behaved badly during their lifetime).

 

It seems that the scarier the Jadu Patuas’style gets, the more highly he is regarded.

 

***

 

***

Last Updating 11.21.2020

MASK NEPAL VOYAGE IN MONGOLIA MUSEE INTERNATIONAL DU CARNAVAL ET DU MASQUE of BINCHE 2003

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

2008 – 2016

*******************

SAN FRANCISCO

TRIBAL ART

SHOW

THE EIGHT ANNUAL ART SHOW

ART OF AFRICA – OCEANIA – THE AMERICAS AND TRIBAL ASIA

2012

Photo Sam Singer

San Francisco Tribal Art Show 2012

**************************************

*******************************************

EXHIBITION OF THE PAST

***********************************************

VOYAGE IN MONGOLIA

VOYAGE IN MONGOLIA

WAS THE TITLE OF THE

2003’s

EXHIBITION

AT

MUSEE  INTERNATIONAL DU CARNAVAL ET DU MASQUE

 of BINCHE

devoted

to the Art of  Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Népal, Bouthan, Tibet,  Mongolie, with items from  the  

Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque (M.I.C.M.), and  the Etnografisch Museum of Antwerpen. Nepalese pieces 

from the Collection of Eric Chazot (Paris) 

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/category/collection-eric-chazot/

SEE MORE ON

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/katmandu-shrines-indian-and-himalayan-musical-instruments-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-new-york-masks-of-the-himalayas-pace-primitive-gallery-new-york-himalayan-folk-and-tribal-art/

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Panneaux de palanquins de mariage SANTAL ARTS PREMIERS SANTHAL PARGANAS PEOPLE CARVED WOODEN PANELS OF THE WEDDING (LITTERS) PALKEE

Santal Parganas People Carved Wooden Panels of the Wedding Litters Palkee

SANTAL PARGANAS PEOPLE CARVED WOODEN PANELS OF THE WEDDING (LITTERS) PALKEE 

PHOTO COURTESY

OF

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS PRIMITIVE ART

COLLECTION

BRUXELLES

ALL RIGHTS RESEVED

SANZA ARTS PREMIERS 

ALL

RIGHTS

RESERVED

About the Santal Banam see more on:

TRIBAL ARTS OF THE SANTAL PEOPLE

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/tribal-arts-of-the-santal-

SANTAL PANELS

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/santal-parganas-people-carved-wodden-panels-of-the-wedding-litters-palkee/

SANTAL BANAM

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/21-dhodro-banam-santal-banam-santal-people-lutes-anthropomorphic-lutes-indian-tribal-art-with-a-writing-of-the-french-artist-fernandez-arman-15-liuti-tribali-antropomorfi-dei-santal-del-nord-indi/

SANTAL FLUTES

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/4-tribal-santal-flutes-santal-people-tribal-art-4-rari-flauti-tribali-dei-santal-people-nord-india/

 

 §§§

§§

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SANTAL TRIBAL ART AND CULTURE: FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS HENRY BOMPAS OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE London 1909

THE

SANTAL PEOPLE

******

FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS

BY

CECIL HENRY BOMPAS

LONDON

1909

Photos from  the book :Sketches from  Santalistan

by M.A. Pederson Minneapolis 1913

The Santals are a Munda tribe  branch of that
aboriginal groups which probably entered in  India from
the North East. At the begin of the last century  they have inhabited the
Eastern outskirts of the Chutia Nagpore plateau.
Originally hunters and dwellers in the jungle they become
agriculturists. Other representatives of the race are the Mundas and Hos.

According the Author, their orginal social organization was  very complete ; each village had  its headman or MANJHI, with his assistant the PARANIK;
the JOGMANGHI was  is charged with the supervision of the
morals of the young men and women ; the NAEKE was
the village priest, the GODET was  the village constable.
Over a group of villages was  the PARGANA or tribal chief.
The Santals were divided into exogamous septs— originally
twelve in number, and their social observances were
complex.

Their religion was animistic, spirits BONGAS were considereted everywhere
around them : the spirits of their ANCESTORS, the
spirit of the HOUSE, the spirit dwelling in the patch of
primeval forest preserved in each village. Every hill
tree and rock may had its spirit. These spirits were
propitiated by elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices which
generally terminate in dances, and the drinking of rice beer.
The Santal Parganas was a district 4800 sq. miles in
I area, lying about 150 miles north of Calcutta, and was
formed into a separate administration after the Santals
had risen in rebellion in 1856.

The stories and legends of the book were translated and
collected by the Rev, O. Bodding, D.D. of
the Scandinavian Mission to the Santals.

To be sure that neither language nor ideas should in
any way be influenced by contact with a European mind
he arranged for most of them to be writtea out in Santali,
principally by a Christian convert named Sagram Murmu,
in the first years of the 1900’s living  at Mohulpahari in the Santal Parganas.

The Henry Bompas translation  is very
literal, and the stories have  an interest as showing the way in which the Santal
people look at things. The Santals were great story tellers;
the old folk of the village gathered the young people round
them in the evening and told them stories, and the men
when watching the crops on the threshing floor will often
sit up all night telling stories.

There was however, no doubt in the Author that also  at the his time
the knowledge of these stories was tending to die out.

Bompas classified the stories in this way:
stories of a general character; stories relating to
animals;  stories which were scarcely folklore
but linked with anecdotes relating to Santal life ; stories
relating to the dealings of bojigas and men.
Then he reported  some legends and traditions, and few notes relating
to tribal customs.

It will be interesting to edit a resume of some of these stories and legends

 

TRIBAL ART OF THE SANTAL PEOPLE OF BIHAR, ORISSA, WEST BENGALA. Tribal Art Fair 2009 Amsterdam Africa Oceania Asia

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

2009

***********************

TRIBAL ART OF THE SANTAL PEOPLE OF BIHAR ORISSA WEST BENGALA

Text by Ethnoflorence photo and pieces from Ethnoflorence Indian and Himalayan Folk and Tribal Art, Art Premiers Art Primitive Collection Bruxelles.

Links from Ethnoflorence Indian and Himalayan Folk and Tribal Art, Art Premiers Art Primitive Collection Bruxelles, Hervé Pedriolle Collection, IGCNA Org, Tribal Art the World of Tribal Art magazine (for the details please scroll dawn).

In assenza di cataloghi, provenienze, studi etnografici, esibizioni temporanee o permanenti, parlare dell’arte dei Santal people del Bihar, Orissa, West Bengala,  è qualcosa di estremamente arduo.
In un ‘epoca in cui anche le arti premiers si sono asservite alle logiche del mercato globale, una piccola produzione artistica di questo tipo sembra non avere spazio;  perché pubblicare un catalogo o finanziare una mostra quando poi il Mercato non se ne può avvantaggiare? E’ una questione di numeri… che hanno il colore dei soldi. Meglio  continuare a pubblicizzare sempre  le stesse collezioni Major di Arts Premiers, il ritorno in termini di Pubblicazione/Provenienza assicurerà un certo e già calcolato appeal da esibire in Aste e Gallerie  perpetuando così un Mercato sempre più alla ricerca di chimere  e certezze…e nel frattempo infestato da cinquanta anni da migliaia di oggetti 100% fake.

Allorché furono intrapresi i primi studi sul terreno l’antica tradizione culturale dei Santal era già entrata in una fase di  rapido e repentino  declino.

Negli anni 90’s durante l’inaugurazione di una mostra a Cannes chez le Musee de la Castree il collezionista ed artista nizzardo Fernandez Arman davanti ad un vecchio liuto antropomorfo, recente acquisizione del Museo, ebbe a commentare “..venant du Santal, nom en soi, evocatour. Sa presence et sa personnalité nous interpellent. Ce petit chef-d’oeuvre de sculpture attire notre regard au fond du sien. C’est bien ici l’example d’un objet d’artisanat, ecchapant a son usage pour acceder a l’intemporal”

E come meravigliarsi di questa definizione, i liuti monocorde dei Santal , dhodro banam, sono robuste sculture antropomorfe , intagliate nel  legno gaulico , connotate da sontuose  patine color mogano, considerate dai loro stessi artefici alla stregua di esseri viventi, latori di poteri magici, strumenti mediatici che connettono il mondo visibile con il soprannaturale.

La storia dell’ origine dei Banam (che tradotto significa corpo) affonda le sue radici in un arcaico passato fatto di incorrotte tradizioni orali perpetuate di generazione in generazione. Un’origine che affonda la sua nascita nella mitologia dei Santal People. Nel sacrificio di una giovane sorella, nella compassione di un giovane fratello, nella metamorfosi mistica dei resti della prima in un albero di gaulic … da  un ramo del quale nascerà il primo mitico Banam. Uno strumento che riproduce un suono simile a quello degli esseri umani.

Sui peculiari  elementi strutturali di questo strumento ‘rituale’, imperniati nel riassumere le varie parti anatomiche del corpo umano e nell’attribuzione a ciascuna di esse di elementi naturali basilari , recepiti anche dalla mitologia dei Santal,(aria, terra, fuoco etc) hanno investigato insigni musicologi indiani; personalmente a queste accademiche e poco evocative descrizioni preferisco le poche righe che Ms Stella Kramrisch dedicò ai Banam nel suo catalogo ” Unknown India Ritual Art in Tribe and village” Philadelphia 1968 “.The … Santal … carve their one-stringed lutes … sometimes in the shape of woman … transfiguring the resonance of the instrument into rotundities known from Hindu sculpture and brought to the tribal level by the simplifications and distortions demanded by the shape of the instrument. The prophetic head with its far-seeing inlaid eyes, traversed at the back by the tuning keys as a kind of  ear-ornament, carried aloft on a neck of ordinate lenght, is a noble mask. Through its thin lipped mouth a god may speak – as he does through the  dance mask of another tribe, the Bhuiya…Arms and hands closely hug the curved plane of the sounding-box body whose firmness is enhanced visually by the broad collar of the necklace….Sound and mask, the prophetic voice which speaks through mask and instrument, link auditory and visual experience in one manifestation of the numinous.”

Quasi una funzione oracolare quella che ci suggerisce il testo, latrice di profezie e divinazioni propiziatorie, utili in un contesto rurale dominato da clans patriarcali nei quali l’elemento musicale svolge un importante ruolo non soltanto culturale ma anche rituale, connesso con la fertilità delle messi, intercalato da danze da tenersi prima e dopo la stagione delle pioggie e tra la semina ed il raccolto. Danze rituali nelle quali donne abbigliate in Sari sono accompagnate da gruppi  di musicisti.

Da un punto di vista iconografico i suddetti gruppi di danzatrici si ritrovano rappresentati sia nei carved tops dei Santal Banam che intagliate ad altorilievo nei pannelli delle loro lettighe nuziali. Anche la celebrazione del matrimonio è pervaso da precise ritualità e importanti funzioni sociali, non ultima quella di legare tra loro i vari clans patriarcali. Circa la funzione rituale della lettiga nuziale Ms Stella Kramrisch ricorda come “…when a Santal crafsman begins his work on the litter,  a pair of pigeons is sacrificed … when the litter is completed and its owener taken possession two more pigeons are part of anoher sacrifice, … the activity of carving is part of the marriage rite, as it the procession of the marriage litter…”. Lo stile iconografico di questi pannelli è connotato da un estrema, solenne e  monumentale definizione stilistica delle figure, scolpite sia frontalmente che di profilo, parafrasando Ms Stella Kramrisch “…somehow paralleling Egyptian reliefs…”.

Tra i temi ‘trattati’ in questi pannelli istoriati, oltre alle già succitate danze rituali propiziatorie, si annoverano le fasi del matrimonio stesso, cerimonie locali,  scene di vita quotidiana, i miti di creazione dei Santal e dei relativi 12 Clans, scene di guerra celebrative della ribellione del 1855 (Santal Hul).

Tra il Febbraio ed il Maggio 2007 si è tenuta al Crockerart Museum di Sacramento (CA) la prima mostra in occidente dedicata a questi rari ma splendidi pannelli istoriati dal titolo:

Palkee: Wedding Conveyances of North India.

Sul mercato di Katmandu sono apparse ormai da anni ‘povere’ imitazioni dei pannelli originali, scolpite su vecchie assi si connotano per un stile approssimativo e la totale assenza di patina.

About the Santal Banam see more on:

TRIBAL ARTS OF THE SANTAL PEOPLE

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/tribal-arts-of-the-santal-

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/tribal-arts-of-the-santal-people-the-tribal-art-of-middle-india-elwin-verrier-1951-other-masters-of-india-contemporary-creations-of-the-adivasis-musee-du-quay-branly-paris/

SANTAL PANELS

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/santal-parganas-people-carved-wodden-panels-of-the-wedding-litters-palkee/

SANTAL BANAM

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/21-dhodro-banam-santal-banam-santal-people-lutes-anthropomorphic-lutes-indian-tribal-art-with-a-writing-of-the-french-artist-fernandez-arman-15-liuti-tribali-antropomorfi-dei-santal-del-nord-indi/

SANTAL FLUTES

https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/4-tribal-santal-flutes-santal-people-tribal-art-4-rari-flauti-tribali-dei-santal-people-nord-india/

About the Santal painted scrolls from Hervé Pedriolle collection  see more on:

http://santalparganas.blogspot.com/

About the Oral Tradition and Primal Elements in the Santhal Musical Texts see the interesting writing  by Mr Onkar Prasad  on:

http://ignca.nic.in/ps_01014.htm .

 TRIBAL ART FAIR AMSTERDAM 2009 AFRICA OCEANIA ASIA

Over 2000 exclusive objects from Oceania, Africa, Indonesia, China, Japan, Tibet and Laos, will come together at what is TAF Amsterdam 2009. The exhibition comprises jewellery and sculptures, but also textiles, masks, implements and furniture. Special pieces from far-away countries. In the last weekend of October they are to be seen and purchased in Amsterdam, at the seventh edition of TAF Amsterdam.

www.http://www.tribal-art-fair.nl/