Back to Basics: Đông Sơn Bronze Drums as Musical Instruments, Preliminary Results of an Interdisciplinary Study Carried on the ‘Moulié’ Drum

Clémence Le Meur1,2*, Benoît Mille3, René Caussé4, Henri Boutin4,5, and Marie-Laure Chavazas3,4

1Fyssen Foundation at the Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut (Austrian Archaeological Institute), Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Vienna; 2Centre de l’Asie du Sud-Est (CASE/UMR 8170), France; 3Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), France; 4Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), France; 5Sorbonne Université Faculty of Science and Engineering, France; *clemence-lemeur@hotmail.fr

Copper-based drums are renowned throughout southern China and Southeast Asia. First appearing during the protohistoric period, their production and use have persisted across time and space among ‘bronze drum societies’. The profusion of studies on protohistoric drums testifies to the value attributed to them but, above all, reveals the challenges linked to what appears to be a sudden mastery of casting to produce a new object. Scholars have never ceased to classify these ancient drums, developing typo-chronologies to determine which was the oldest. More recently, the composition of the metal from which they are made has been analysed in order to identify regional networks for the exchange of goods or materials. The functions of these drums have been discussed, and scholars have primarily retained that of prestige goods associated with chiefs. Crucially, these objects are sounding objects and maybe more: musical instruments. Yet, very few studies focusing on their acoustic properties have been conducted. As drums are idiophones, the casting techniques and alloy composition directly influence their sound. This presentation introduces ongoing research aimed at understanding the emergence of the technical and musical savoir-faire of the earliest drum makers, the artisans of the Đông Sơn culture (500 BCE–200 CE) in present-day northern Vietnam. The specific study of one of the largest and oldest Đông Sơn drums, from the Musée Guimet (Paris, France), seeks to characterise its acoustic signature, casting techniques, and alloy composition to reveal the technical and cultural choices of the group that produced it.