Ethiopian Leather Drum

Someone tied beads and bright red seeds to this drum. Nobody ties those to a tool.

This drum is from Ethiopia, 20th century, in wood and leather. In Ethiopia, drums serve in Orthodox Christian worship as well as in community celebrations, their beat setting the pace for song and dance. Mottled golden hide stretches over the broad top, with a pale crackled patch at the center. Dark leather lacing runs around the lower body, strung with colored beads, small shells and a cluster of red. It rests on a black metal stand. Twelve inches high and sixteen in diameter.

That pale patch at the center is where the eye goes first.