Object Name: Trumpet (tawong)
Place of Origin: Nigeria
Cultural Group: Mambila peoples
Materials Used: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: H: 46.5 cm, W: 10.0 cm, D: 9.5 cm (H: 18.3 in, W: 3.9 in, D: 3.7 in)
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Helen and Dr. Robert Kuhn. X91.351

“Tawong” trumpets appear in pairs (male and female). They are played at the biannual dances of harvest and planting, periods of diversion when men travel to other villages to participate in sporting events and to renew friendships. According to Gilbert Schneider, “the ‘tawong’ also” begins a period of some license among the Mambila. The young unmarried people are allowed freedom of sexual experimentation, and the time of pairing off is at hand. After the dances there is usually a period during which marriages take place, before all efforts are again devoted to farming.

Source: DjeDje, J. C. (1999). “Turn Up the Volume! A Celebration of African Music”, Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. page 316