Traditionally, pahu drums have been used to accompany certain styles of hula with variations of rhythms. To this day, the drums are made from natural materials, such as hollowed coconut and tree logs, surfaced with rare sharkskin heads. For this workshop series, cow skin will be used in place of the sharkskin.
A teacher of Hawaiian Studies and hula, Kumu Berman is a vital community resource in Kona, Hawai‘i . Among her many accomplishments, Berman helped make pahu drums for the opening ceremony of the World Indigenous Peoples Conference in 2000. She is an acclaimed Kumu and passionately shares her knowledge and expertise of pahu drum-making with the community.
Registration for the workshop is $65 for non-members and $40 for Bishop Museum Association members. The fee includes the cost of the coconut stumps and cow skin drumheads.
This program is supported by Bishop Museum and the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program (NHCAP), which is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and by funding from the U.S. Department of Education.
The Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is a Bishop Museum facility, located in South Kona on the M Å malahoa Highway. Regular admission is a suggested donation of $4 per person and free for Bishop Museum Association members. For more information, visit www.bishopmuseum.org or call (808) 323-3318.