Custom snare drum owned by Will Calhoun: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A custom made Mapex Black Panther 14-inch snare drum played by Will Calhoun in performances with the band Living Colour. The shell is highly polished silver colored metal with an overlay of etched steel featuring bands of Egyptian art designs of human figures in profile and hieroglyphs. The drum has a silver metal rim and ten silver metal lugs for the drum heads on the top and bottom. Between two sets of lugs is a metal mount to attach the drum to a drum stand. On the opposite side of the drum is another silver metal piece of hardware that holds the snare tight across the bottom of the drum. There is a black and gold oval plaque to the proper left of the drum mount which reads [PRECIOUS METAL series / S00417 CHINA]. On the opposite side of the drum is another black and gold plaque with the Black Panther logo. The drumhead is a Remo Weatherking Coated Ambassador made of coated mylar film. The underside of the drum is a Remo Weatherking Ambassador drumhead made of clear mylar film, it also features the Black Panther logo at the top edge of the drumhead. The metallic snare is stretched across the bottom of the drum and attached via plastic tabs to the adjustable metal hardware on the sides of the drum.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2005
• Manufactured by: Mapex, Taiwanese, founded 1989
• Used by: Will Calhoun, American, born 1964
• Manufactured by: Remo, Inc., American, founded 1957
• Subject of: Living Colour, American, founded 1984
• Type: snare drums
• Medium: metal, mylar, plastic
• Dimensions: 6 1/2 × 18 × 16 in. (16.5 × 45.7 × 40.6 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Funk (Music)
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Metal (Music)
• Topic: Popular music
• Topic: Rock and roll (Music)
• Object number: 2015.14.7
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Will Calhoun
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.