Note 6 — Personal Adornment, Dances, and Musical Instruments
Reading edition
Music for dances is furnished by an orchestra consisting of four men, three with copper gongs (gangsas), and one with a drum. The gongs are tambourine shape, with sides about an inch and a half high. They are placed against the thighs of the players who kneel on the ground, and are beaten with a stick and the palm of the hand or by the hands alone.6 They doubtless came into this region through trade, but at a time so remote that their origin is now credited to the spirits. The drum (tambor) is made of a short section of a tree hollowed out. The ends are covered with cow's hide or pig's skin. Page 441