The pairing of the drum and gong signifies difference and complementary at a number of analytical levels. First, the materiality of the drum comes from the mountain world; its membrane is made of the skin of wild animal (today covered by plastic) and the body of the drum is made of wood, both material substances of the forest. Gong, a manufactured metallic alloy, comes from the seaworld. Second, the pairing also indicates gendered identities. Drum players are usually males who create an interlocking sound of open and stopped sounds; while gong players are female, one playing the rim of the gong to produce a thin sound, while the other plays at the boss, producing a thick booming sound (see Black and White photo above). The interlocking of these four sounds played by two genders is an icon of social co-operation where differences are made to co-exist by complementary, not by symbolic erasure or repression of one sex over the other. Third, the interlock also  symbolizes the polygynous household, which survival depends upon the social co-operation of a man and women (along with their young children).