All posts tagged: drum

France Returns Looted “Talking Drum” to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire

France Returns Looted “Talking Drum” to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire

Published by Jenni Sidey

In a ceremony held on Friday at the Musée Quai Branly in Paris, France officially returned a drum known as the “talking drum” or Djidji Ayôkwé, to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The news was reported by French newspaper Le Monde. The ten-foot-long, 940-pound drum has a single-piece soundbox slit in half longitudinally. Extending out from the slit are two planks, one of which supports a carving of a jumping leopard. The box itself is decorated with carved faces and geometric patterns. Related Articles The drum was once used by Côte d’Ivoire’s Atchan/Ebrié people to transmit messages between villages many miles apart, including warnings of impending recruitment operations by French colonial troops. It was seized by French authorities in 1916 as a way of suppressing local resistance. Between 1916 and 1930, the drum was kept outside the French governor’s Ivorian home. It was transferred to France in 1929 and housed most recently at the Musée Quai Branly, where it recently underwent restoration. The drum topped a list of 148 objects that Côte d’Ivoire requested from …

France Restitutes ‘Talking Drum’ to Ivory Coast, Is Free Entry to UK Museums at Risk? Morning Links for February 23, 2026

France Restitutes ‘Talking Drum’ to Ivory Coast, Is Free Entry to UK Museums at Risk? Morning Links for February 23, 2026

Published by José Betancourt

The Headlines DRUMMED UP. France has finally repatriated a long-promised looted artifact to the Ivory Coast, known as the “talking drum,” or Djidji Ayokwe, reports Le Monde. In 1916, when French colonial officers learned that the Ivory Coast’s Ebrie tribe used the 10-foot-long wood-sculpted drum to warn of oncoming French soldiers, the latter stole it from them. Eventually, the French brought the drum to Paris, where it made its rounds through several museums, ultimately landing in the Musée du Quai Branly. A special law had to be passed in order to restitute the drum, because it was part of France’s nationally owned, public collection. However, a new bill headed for a vote in France’s lower house aims to avoid having to pass a separate law for every restituted object pertaining to the colonial period. SPANISH SIT-IN. On Friday evening, more than 100 Spanish art professionals held sit-ins in Madrid museums in protest against the country’s unusually high sales tax of 21 percent on artwork, reports El Pais. Gallery owners, artists, and other arts workers sat …

France repatriates stolen colonial-era ‘talking drum’ to Ivory Coast

France repatriates stolen colonial-era ‘talking drum’ to Ivory Coast

Published by Sam Flores

France on Friday handed over a “talking drum” looted by colonial troops from Ivory Coast in 1916 in the latest repatriation of stolen artefacts. The Djidji Ayokwe drum, more than three metres (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilos (950 pounds) was used by the Ebrie tribe to transmit messages. It is one of hundreds of objects France is preparing to send back to Africa, with the efforts set to be accelerated by the passing of a new law to authorise mass repatriations. “All of Ivory Coast is ready to welcome it,” Ivory Coast Culture Minister Françoise Remarck said at a ceremony in Paris with her French counterpart Rachida Dati. Read moreThousands of costumes from Geneva’s Grand Theatre opera house to go on sale Remarck added that she was “extremely moved” by the “return of this symbol” that is “finally coming back to its homeland”. The drum is to be exhibited permanently in a new museum being built in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan. France has been flooded with restitution demands from former colonies such …