Drum or Jae Ko was the main part of Ja Kue dance. If soft sound was played, the dancers would dance slowly that looked gracefully. In contrast, if they beat in heavy rhythm, the motion went speedily. Lahu drum took a long time to succeed from generation to generation. In addition, it needed high creativity to make the drum to bring sweet sound.
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I had an opportunity to work with community frequently. Late in one morning, I came to Ja Lae village to collect the information about museum. I suddenly heard the sound of drum from To Bo’s house (To Bo was the religious leader). To Bo was making drum for Ja Kue dance in Hor Yea. It also used for worship god or asking for blessing from god. There also were other musical instruments for dancing.
To Bo told me that drum was made from hardwood called “Mai Zaw” or “Mai Zaw Zue”. It was proper to make the drum because it was durable and safe from termite and moth. One tree can make 10 drums but the tree that To Bo used today can make only 4 drums because it was quite short tree.
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“ My eyesight is not quite well, so I can cut like you see.”
To Bo told me while he was sharping the drum’s body almost in a whole day. He sliced the hardwood in wine-glass shape in two cubit length. “Zae” was the small equipment like spade made from iron. It was used for drilling the lump of wood before enlarging the hole by an ax about one span.
“It takes 3-4 days to make the drum because it consists of many methods such as puncturing the wood and decorating inside neatly by the sharp iron equipment. Moreover, I am old now and this kind of work demanded lots of efforts, so I had to pause a while when I get tired.”
He said to me while I was going to take a photo.
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Four days later, I visited Ja Lae village again. I saw To Bo decorating the drum by using the spacial equipment called “Ja Kow Kae Wa Too We”. It made from iron and had a sharp bended tip to scrape inside the drum. In his right hand, he held “Ja Kow Kae Wa Too We” and propped the drum tightly. It was important to scrape in circle to make it smooth until it’s thin about 2 cm. It needed something to hold the drum tight by laying the drum in the middle of 4 small sticks and tying the drum with sticks by the sting.
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To Bo smiled at me and said that it took 3 days to drill, chop and scrape inside of the drum and include made drum’s leg as well as scrape the base in circle. The moment I reached there, To Bo was scraping the inside and decorating the surface of the drum. He was preparing to polish smoothly the base of the drum.
“It will be finished soon, and it does not take long time like chopping wood process. Prepare to take a photo !”
To Bo tightened the oxhide which soaked with water through one night on the top of the drum.
“The oxhide was dried in the sun about 10 days and scraped smoothly before soaking the oxhide only the needed part.
To Bo laid the oxhide flat against the top of the drum and tied around with rattan. Then, he hammered a nail on the oxhide to fix the sting holes. He laid the oxhide on the ground and bored the holes by tying the oxhide with ratten again. So, he led a rope through the holes and tied it tight.
The last process was tightening the face of the drum to bring sweet sound. The oxhide which led a rope already was tied with the drum. Then, To Bo made a sash in final method.
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“The sound is not good enough, so it has to be tighten until good sound occurs. The weight will decrease when the time passes.” To Bo said.
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That day, I taste the sound until my palm was swelling but I saw no one coming to see how to make the drum. But I believed that to have To Bo as their role model to pass on the knowledge to their children would urge Lahu youth to have more concern in their own culture. |
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