Sámi drums

The Sámi drums are oval wooden frames (South Sámi gievrie) or bowls (North Sámi goavddis) covered with reindeer skin. The drumskins are decorated with characteristic patterns painted with a red colour obtained by chewing alder bark. Of the thousands once existing, only 71 drums have survived with their skins intact; with the designs of a few more are partially known from early modern drawings of variable accuracy.

Classification and geographical distribution

The drums can be classified according to their construction and decoration styles. Though the exact place of origin is known only for a minority of the surviving drums, the distribution of each type seems to correspond so closely to the territory of a distinct Sámi language (if the now extinct Kemi Sámi language is included), that the terms used for the languages may with some caution also be applied to the drum types.

The map shows the recent historical distribution of the Sámi languages with the current number of speakers in parentheses. The icons show the main characteristics of the corresponding drum types and the number of surviving drums. Written sources confirm that drums also existed in eastern Sámi areas other than Kemi, but none survive and neither their construction types nor their design styles are known.

The Sámi languages can be organised into a language tree, but their relation is perhaps better described as a continuum where neighbouring dialects usually are mutually intelligible. Similarly, the drum types can be grouped into larger categories, though with the same inherent problem – no matter which characteristic is chosen to define a group, its boundary will also separate drums with other shared features. Further, the terms generally used for such categories are also used for branches of the language tree without necessarily matching these precisely.

decoration styles No gaps With gaps 3+ rows

North

Kemi 1–2 rows

Lule No sun cross

Pite Sun cross

South

Ume Undivided field Divided field

The diagram to the right suggests two obvious alternatives in categorisation: either pairwise in rows, giving a northern, an Arctic Circle and a southern category, or – intuitively less useful – in columns giving eastern and western categories consisting of a single type each and a central category with four. However, in spite of the clear similarities in the decoration both between the South Sámi drums and the neighbouring Ume Sámi ones and between the Kemi Sámi drums and the North Sámi ones, the latter categorisation is probably the better one for two reasons. First, most features shared by Lule and Pite Sámi drums are also common to Ume and North Sámi ones, so the suggested Arctic Circle category would be defined by negative criteria (lacking a central sun cross; having no more than two horizontally separated fields). Second, the three columns closely correspond to different construction types.

There are two major types of construction: frame drums, where the skin is stretched over a short cylinder made of bent wood stiffened by a crossbar also functioning as a handle, and bowl drums with a rounded body made from a single piece of wood, with two elongated holes in the bottom forming a grip. Both types had developed before any of the surviving drums were made, but the bowl drum is typologically a later development, via a subtype of frame drums with an inward flange on the bottom rim of the body.

In the normal frame drums, the body is made from a thin band of wood bent into an oval. This type is similar to the Siberian shaman drums, the Irish Bodhrán and several other drums from around the world. With four minor exceptions, this subtype corresponds to the South Sámi decoration style, though it must have been the original type in all areas. The exceptions are two bowl drums with South Sámi decoration and one frame drum with Ume Sámi decoration – all three with somewhat transitional features in the decoration as well – and finally a very late South Sámi drum with partially degenerate decoration style where the frame-shaped body uniquely is carved from a large piece of wood like the bowl drums.

Frame drums – mainly with South Sámi decoration style

Characterised by a central sun cross (missing on a single drum) and an unbroken path around the edge, and by the absence of horizontal lines separating the field in separate compartments as in all other styles. Individual figures are commonly placed on the arms of the sun-cross, on the outer path or floating between these. Smaller straight or moderately curved paths forming the baseline for further figures might be floating or branching off from the outer path, the sun cross or each other.

The sun-cross is normally shaped as a lozenge with arms protruding in all cardinal directions. This feature seldom strays from the center along the horixontal axis, but is often placed markedly below the exact center, and more rarely above.

The terminal of the lower arm is often embellished, in many cases with a sort of (cave?) opening. This is according to old descriptions the starting position for the brass ring or antler piece placed on the drumskin when used for divination. The only other figures commonly found on this arm are the holy day men . These three figures (sometimes just one or two) are usually the most simplified of all human figures, frequently represented by simple crosses.

The upper terminal is also often embellished, but in different ways than the lower. A common type is a short crossbar forming a baseline path for one or more figures in an upright position. Otherwise, no significant preference for the orientation of individual figures can be seen.