Artists from Wancho who have come here at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya IGRMS Bhopal for construction of traditional Wancho Ham dwelling house brought their Kham a log drum of Wancho from Senua Village longding District of Arunachal Pradesh.
This was inaugurated by Director Prof. SK Chaudhuri in presence of people in open air veethi as a part of open air exhibition in the campus on thursday.
The programme started with artists came singing and dancing from the tribal habitat area of IGRMS. After reaching the inaugural spot they sang a song locally called kham pai tsai (Kham means log drum, Pai means to lift and tsai means Song), narration of tsai is like this: They are seeking permission from God through squirrels, birds and insects, they asked squirrels and birds that the tree in which you used to play and take rest, and the fruits you used to eat is being taken away from you for our important purpose, please do not mind, they also asked the insects and birds that the tree in which you used to take rest and the tree in which you sang a song is being taken away for our urgent need please excuse us. At last the artist welcomed the log drum that, you will find a safe place for you we are just about to reach the village.
After completion of singing the song, Nokkai Wangsaham a resource person brief about the said song and the importance of Kham in the Wancho Society. He said that by seeing the log drum one can say that it is nothing but a piece of roughly curved wood.
But it is not like this it is a multifunctional object, the kham is an emergency bell, kham is an announcement during dying of male member(s), for construction of road and bridges, hunting, fishing etc. kham is also played for amusement during lauden festival playing /beating of log drum without reason is restricted.