A striking 2.8m high slitdrum from Vanuatu, alongside several music objects never before exhibited, isset to feature in a new pop-up display at the South Australian Museumcelebrating Pacific cultural traditions.
The display was inspired bya collaboration between Adelaide-based Ni-Vanuatu performer Edgell Junior Edgelland Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara man Elisha Umuhuri. Both men arecollaborators with Adelaide based children’s performing arts company PatchTheatre, who approached the Museum about using the slit drum held in theMuseum’s Pacific Cultures collection to develop a soundtrack for the company’s upcomingproduction premiering in 2027.
The pop-up display willfeature a video of Edgell Junior and Elisha creating their musicalcollaboration in the studio and sharing their thoughts on the culturalimportance of music.
Originally from the islandof Pentecost in central Vanuatu, Edgell Junior is featured playing the slitdrum and traditional dance rattles, made from the fruit of Pangium edule,a tropical tree found throughout Vanuatu.
Elisha Umuhuri is aPitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara man and member of the award-winning APY Landship-hop trio DEM MOB.
The Pasifika pop-up displayis part of the conservation and cultural care program for the Museum’s PacificCultures collection currently underway at the Museum.
Several items, including themusical balls and bamboo flutes are being displayed publicly for the first timethanks to the Museum’s ongoing conservation and cultural care program.
Pacific Cultures in Motion: Revitalisingthe Collection will be on display in theMuseum’s North Foyer from Thursday 15 October until early 2027. Entry is freeand the Museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm.
Quotes attributable to South Australian Museum Director Dr Samantha Hamilton
We’re excited to be providing an opportunity for visitors to experience significant Pacific cultural objects while our conservation program is undertaken.
Pacific Cultures in Motion is the first in a series of community-informed activations that will showcase objects from the Museum’s internationally significant Pacific Cultures Collection, highlighting the living cultural traditions, creativity and stories of Pasifika communities.
The Pacific Cultures collection care program is being delivered in partnership with the Pacific Islands Council of South Australia (PICSA) and Pasifika community leaders.
Since commencing in July this year, the conservation program is providing culturally appropriate care of ancestral objects and strengthening community connections to the collection.
Quotes attributable to Vanuatu community representative and Adelaide-based performer, Edgell Junior Edgell
Music is such an important part of Ni-Vanuatu culture. We don’t just sing or play it, we live it. There are so many different types of instruments played across all of our islands – including percussion, wind and water instruments - and they are used for many different purposes or ceremonies.
In most people’s eyes, they would see a Ni-Vanuatu playing a tamtam, but in the eyes of someone from Ambrym (where this tamtam belongs) they would know straight away that I’m not one of their own and that I’m from Pentecost (sori ol famili).
Each island and language group has its own voice, and our instruments give us a way of celebrating and communicating with each other. For example, the tamtam (slit drum) from my island Pentecost does not have face, like the one in the South Australian Museum exhibit.
I am looking forward to seeing the Pacific Cultures in Motion exhibit where the diversity of the musical traditions from my country will be explored and displayed for everyone to see and hear.
Find out more about the display – whatson.samuseum.sa.gov.au
