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Catalog Data

Medium:
hide wood metal
Dimensions:
25 7/8 × 14 3/4 × 14 15/16 in. (65.8 × 37.5 × 38 cm)
Type:
drum
Date:
20th century
Caption:
Percussionist Paul Hawkins played this conga drum for Melvin Deal’s African Dance and Drumming classes at The New Thing Art and Architecture Center. The community-based arts center thrived in Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan Neighborhood between 1966 and 1973. Conga drums are a blend of West and Central African and Cuban drums. Stretched across the head of this tall, wooden drum are two layers of hide. Metal nails secure the top layer to the drum’s side, while hide strings in taut twists anchor the bottom layer to additional metal nails near the drum’s base, spanning the length of the drum. Like Deal, Hawkins was an African American dancer, drummer, and educator from Washington, DC. The bandleader also helped to found Latin jazz, a musical style that fused bebop and Latin rhythms and united people in an era when race, class, and national origin typically segregated the city.
Cite As:
Gift of Paul Hawkins
Accession Number:
1996.0012.0002
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Data Source:
Anacostia Community Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8953e075e-f496-40e4-bd42-870da1c09ba2
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:acm_1996.0012.0002