baobab tree

West African Drumming, Song and Dance

Instruments we use:

THE KORA
Is a traditional harp/lute that originated thousands of years ago among the Manding people who populate a swathe of land from the Ivory Coast through Senegal and Gambia to Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. Made from a calabash gourd covered in cowhide as a sound chamber, and with a central mahogany pole supporting 21 or more strings of twisted fishing line, it is played with the forefinger and thumb of each hand. Malian Kora players traditionally don’t sing while playing, whereas Senegalese and Gambian Jali’s usually do.

THE DJEMBE

Also a Mandinka instrument, and traditionally played alongside the Kora, the Djembe – a goblet-shaped, hardwood hand drum with a goatskin head - was originally designed as an background instrument to support the melodic Kora rather than as a solo drum. These days, it is often found in large drumming ensembles, headed by a Master drummer. Traditional African ‘ballet’ groups also include dancers and singers. The djembe is a percussionists’ favourite, increasingly heard in music of all kinds providing cracking solos or rich rhythmic accompaniments.

DOUNDOUN BA

The family known as Doundoun Ba is made up of cylindrical, double-headed bass drums of different pitches, played with sticks. Musicially, they serve the same function as a drum kit in popular Western music. The largest, the Doun Doun, Dunun, or Djun Djun, is the deepest, and the African equivalent of the Kick drum in a drum set. The middle- sized drum is called the Sangbang, and is equivalent to a floor tom or middle tom. The smallest, the Kenkeni, is also the highest, and is similar in tone to the high tom, or the snare. Traditionally, the Doun Doun, Sangbang, and Kenkeni would be played by three musicians, each of whom would play one part with the stick hand, and a supporting bell part with the other hand, making a dynamic and driving rhythm section that underpins the rest of the music. Where there are not enough players available, one person can play two or three Doun Douns, with one bell attached.

TAMA – ‘ TALKING DRUM’

The tama is from Senegal and Gambia, and is a small, double-ended, reptile-skinned drum worn over the shoulder like a ladies’ handbag and played with the fingers and a bent stick. It is squeezed under the arm to change the pitch, and is capable of representing the tonality of some African languages, hence the term, “ talking drum”. Nigerian and Ghanaian talking drums are larger and deeper in pitch.

GOUMBE

Another pitch-tunable instrument, the Goumbe originated in the Caribbean and was transported back to Africa with freed slaves returning to Ghana. It is a box drum skinned with goat or antelope that sometimes has a screw-type, pre-tensioning device to tighten the skin. The drums’ pitch is changed by pressure from the heels of the player, who sits on top of the box and uses his or her hands to play the rhythms. It has a similar bass sound to the CAJON, a box drum originally from Peru, and now found in Flamenco music.

CALABASH

The calabash is a gourd, turned upside down and beaten with the fist and fingers, sometimes wearing rings to exaggerate the sound. Often played by women in Africa, and commonly used to accompany the Kora. Its driving bass sound is often heard in the background of both traditional and modern interpretations of African music.

BOUGEURABOU

The Bougeurabou are from the Diola people of the region in the south of Senegal known as Casamance, and are also found in Gambia. Made up of a set of two, three or four cow-skinned goblet drums something like large, elongated djembes, Bougeurabou are often played by one person alone, wearing heavy cast-iron rattles on the wrist for added percussive effect. In some areas, the largest bass drum will be played separately, leaving the main player the freedom to focus on two or three drums. Sometimes they will be accompanied by another set of drums specific to this region, the Seourouba. SABAR This famous family of Wolof drums from Senegal and Gambia have become increasingly sought-after, despite (or perhaps, because of) their fiendishly difficult and interwoven parts, with off-beat bass rhythms that play havoc with untrained Western ears. Played with a hand and a fine, flexible stick, they form the base of the everlastingly popular Mbalax dance form heard in every Senegalese nightclub from Dakar to Hackney.

OTHER INSTRUMENTS

In performance, the instruments mentioned above are frequently augmented by additional African melodic instruments (or contemporary Western instruments, depending on the occasion), as well as dancers and singers. A GENERAL NOTE ON AFRICAN RHYTHMS African percussive music is based on a cyclical form, with repeating, interlocking patterns forming dense, polyrhthmic textures.