Pottery figure of a drummer, Nayarit (West Mexico), 300 BCE -300 CE, approx. 9” high, British Museum.
Trumpets, flutes and rattles combined with the rhythms of drums to enliven festivals and other communal celebrations. This musician boasts a flamboyant headdress, adornments and costume. Drumming was also instrumental in invoking the presence of ancestral spirits (from gallery notes).
Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.