Djembe
Encyclopedia
A djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu
; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands.
According to the Bamana people in Mali
, the name of the djembe comes directly from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language
, "djé" is the verb for "gather" and "bé" translates as "peace".
It is a member of the membranophone
family of musical instruments: a frame or shell (in the djembe's case it is a wood shell) covered by a membrane
or drumhead
made of rawhide or some other material.
Djembes are commonly about 12" (30 cm) in diameter and 24" (60 cm) in height, varying a few inches. They can also be found in many smaller sizes, from 5" (13 cm) to 18" (46 cm) in diameter.
As a result of the goblet shape, the density of the wood, the internal carvings, and the skin, there is a wide range of tones
that can be produced by the djembe. The rounded shape with the extended tube of the djembe body forms a device known in physics as a Helmholtz resonator, giving it its deep bass note. The primary notes are generally referred to as "bass", "tone", and "slap", though a variety of other tones can also be produced by advanced players. The slap has a high and sharp sound, the tone is more round and full, and the bass is low and deep.
Striking the skin with the palm and fingers toward the drum's centre produces a bass note; striking the skin near the rim (with the fleshy part of the palm just above the rim) produces the tone and slap. The tone must ring by striking like it's a hot pan. Beginners may think of the tone and slap as fingers "together" and "apart." Advanced players will not take the time to make that obvious physical change but will rather make a less visibly obvious change from "focused" to "dispersed."
blacksmiths known as Numu. The wide dispersion of the djembe drums throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations. Despite the association of the djembe with the Numu, there are no hereditary restrictions on who may play it.
Spelling "jembe" with the "dj" comes from the fact that French has no hard "j" sound like that found in English. The "dj" is used to indicate the hard "j" pronunciation. The French were instrumental in studying and describing African drumming to the world. However, colonization by the French is a sore spot for many West African people, and spelling jembe with the "d" can be a painful reminder of that. Since independence (1958–1960) African governments have been working toward indigenous ways of spelling their local languages in accordance with international standards of phonetic transcription. (Charry) In the Malinke language, the word is spelled "dyìnbe" because the Malinke orthography does not include the letter "j" (cf. Marianne Friedländer, Lehrbuch des Malinke, Langenscheidt Verlag, 1992, p. 279, 159-160).
The construction of the djembe has changed significantly over the past half-century. The use of industrialized materials, such as steel hoops, nylon-core rope, and rubber tires, began with the advent of the West African Ballets, and has become the norm. As djembes are increasingly exported to foreign shores, some take advantage of overseas markets by cutting corners, while others push further development and refinement of djembe construction. In the mid 1990s furniture makers in Ghana took note of the commercial success being experienced by traditional djembe drum carvers. The craftspeople in Ghana, where the kpanlogo
and oblenten drums are the most well known traditional drums, began to carve and sell djembes from Tweneboa, a soft wood. Using soft wood required a much thicker shell that fails to produce the resonant and explosive sound of a hardwood djembe.
The drumheads are typically made from goat skin and more rarely can be antelope
, zebra
, deer
, or calfskin
. West African goat skins are known to djembe musicians as having a different sound than goats domesticated in more temperate climates. Goats raised in West Africa experience a rougher existence, different climate, and different diet, which apparently toughen and harden the skins in a way that impacts their sound quality. Goat skins from animals bred and raised in the Americas and Europe have been known to be softer and tear more easily under the extreme tension required for a playable drum.
The djembe has also spawned a plethora of look-alikes made from synthetic materials. The explosion of drum circles, as well as the use of djembes in pop and rock ensembles, have led to an increase in synthetic drums. These drums have shells formed of plastic or resin-composite materials, such as Acousticon, metal mechanical tuning rather than traditional ropes, and often plastic such as FiberSkyn
rather than goatskin heads. They are often manufactured and sold by drumset and percussion manufacturers such as Pearl, Meinl, Toca, and Remo.
When a new skin is being put on a drum, this whole pulling process is preceded by soaking a skin in water until it is very pliable. That wet skin is placed on the drum with the ring system while the rope verticals gently pull the rings down a bit. Then it's left to dry completely before the vigorous pulling and twisting described above happens. Some drum makers successfully tighten their drums all the way while the skins are wet.
The djembe plays a key role in modern music that needs a highly percussive rhythm section. It has been used by such artists as The Beatles
, Ben Harper
, Queens of the Stone Age
, Keller Williams
, Paul Simon
, Peter Gabriel
, Larry Mullen, Jr of U2
, Grateful Dead
, Bedouin Soundclash
, Incubus
' Brandon Boyd
, Gruvis Malt
, Brian Rosenworcel
of Guster
, Dispatch
, of bands such as The Spirit Merchants, FreeFall, Railway Paddys, Valentino Black, Mick Dunne, Some Lemon, Louisiana Francis, Derek McCreanor, I Swing Both Ways, Double Adaptor, The Mooney Tunes, Toss the Feathers, Toss the Michael Jnr, The Concordes, S Club Juniors, John Butler Trio Afterparty, Lemon, The Blizzards and too many jazz bands to mention. An American manufactured version of an African djembe was played on main stage with a New Zealand Māori fire twirler in a show produced by the Canadian circus company, Cirque du Soleil
, called Allegria, which was filmed in Australia in 2000. In 2008 June, the djembe was featured in the American film "The Visitor", directed by Tim McCarthy, depicting a university professor's unlikely introduction to drum circles through the instruction of a young Syrian drummer. The djembe is very popular in drum circles, and in many circles is the primary instrument, most likely for its easily portable size, wide range of sounds, and its distinct tones. In certain songs using the djembe it replaces a drumset to give it a different feel, such as "Burn One Down" by Ben Harper. The British power electronics
band Whitehouse
experimented a lot with djembes and other African percussion instruments on their last three albums, and the former member William Bennett later started what he calls the "Afro Noise" Project, in which he attempts to give African percussion instruments an important role in noise music.
Iannis Xenakis
composed Okho for three djembes.
Rasaan-Elijah "Talu" Green plays djembe on Broadway in Fela!
Players generally need to learn the basic sounds and traditional rhythm samples (4/4 and 12/8) to be able to follow classes. Many years of playing and learning are needed to be able to produce a sound that is comparable in its quality to that of a master drummer.
Written transcriptions of rhythms tend to be imprecise. Usually only the basic idea of the rhythm is transcribed but the real feeling that it carries can't be easily put down on paper. This is due to the nature of the West African music - the different types of swing (at least four of them) that are not easily expressible with western notation. For this reason the written material for advanced players is still scarce if not unavailable, while the general and informational literature are readily obtained.
With the advent of musical software such as Percussion Studio, transcribing and reproducing rhythms has become easier. Tools such as this are useful for people who don't have a group to practice with, as individual tracks are able to be isolated or tempo changed to assist with playing along and learning/practising. A competent user is able to reproduce material learnt in a workshop for later use. Notwithstanding its utility as a basic transcription tool percussion studio cannot reproduce the intonation of a skilled player and has limited value, therefore, for transcribing solo.
Retired/deceased:
Susu language
Sosoxui is the language of the Soso people of Guinea, West Africa. It is in the Mande language family.It is one of the national languages of Guinea and spoken mainly in the coastal region of the country. The language was also used by people in present-day Guinea as a trade language.e.g...
; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands.
According to the Bamana people in Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, the name of the djembe comes directly from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language
Bambara language
Bambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan , its designation in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people...
, "djé" is the verb for "gather" and "bé" translates as "peace".
It is a member of the membranophone
Membranophone
A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification....
family of musical instruments: a frame or shell (in the djembe's case it is a wood shell) covered by a membrane
Acoustic membrane
An acoustic membrane is a thin layer that vibrates and are used in acoustics to produce or transfer sound, such as a drum, microphone, or loudspeaker....
or drumhead
Drumhead
A drumhead is a membrane stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands so that it vibrates and the sound resonates through the drum.-History:...
made of rawhide or some other material.
Djembes are commonly about 12" (30 cm) in diameter and 24" (60 cm) in height, varying a few inches. They can also be found in many smaller sizes, from 5" (13 cm) to 18" (46 cm) in diameter.
As a result of the goblet shape, the density of the wood, the internal carvings, and the skin, there is a wide range of tones
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
that can be produced by the djembe. The rounded shape with the extended tube of the djembe body forms a device known in physics as a Helmholtz resonator, giving it its deep bass note. The primary notes are generally referred to as "bass", "tone", and "slap", though a variety of other tones can also be produced by advanced players. The slap has a high and sharp sound, the tone is more round and full, and the bass is low and deep.
Technique
The proper sound is achieved with minimum effort for maximum effect. The key is to either focus or disperse the hand's energy and to position the hand in the correct place. The bass and tone notes require focused energy (beginners will have the most success by holding their fingers firmly together), while the slap requires dispersed energy (fingers are relaxed).Striking the skin with the palm and fingers toward the drum's centre produces a bass note; striking the skin near the rim (with the fleshy part of the palm just above the rim) produces the tone and slap. The tone must ring by striking like it's a hot pan. Beginners may think of the tone and slap as fingers "together" and "apart." Advanced players will not take the time to make that obvious physical change but will rather make a less visibly obvious change from "focused" to "dispersed."
Origin
There is general agreement that the origin of the djembe is associated with a class of MandinkaMandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
blacksmiths known as Numu. The wide dispersion of the djembe drums throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations. Despite the association of the djembe with the Numu, there are no hereditary restrictions on who may play it.
Spelling "jembe" with the "dj" comes from the fact that French has no hard "j" sound like that found in English. The "dj" is used to indicate the hard "j" pronunciation. The French were instrumental in studying and describing African drumming to the world. However, colonization by the French is a sore spot for many West African people, and spelling jembe with the "d" can be a painful reminder of that. Since independence (1958–1960) African governments have been working toward indigenous ways of spelling their local languages in accordance with international standards of phonetic transcription. (Charry) In the Malinke language, the word is spelled "dyìnbe" because the Malinke orthography does not include the letter "j" (cf. Marianne Friedländer, Lehrbuch des Malinke, Langenscheidt Verlag, 1992, p. 279, 159-160).
Construction
Traditionally crafted djembe drums were carved from a single section of a Lenge tree. Lenge was used for centuries due to its acoustic and spiritual qualities among the Malinke, whose traditional wisdom states that a spiritual energy, or nyama, runs through all things, living or dead. Other types of wood may also be substituted, depending upon the forests accessible to the drum makers. Some West African hardwoods used for musician-quality instruments carved in Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire include djalla, dougi/dimba, khari/hare/gueni, and acajou. Properly made drums are not smooth on the interior but have a spiral channel inside that enhances the tonal qualities. Splinters and rough carving inside are signs of a hastily made drum. The djembe is headed on one side with the shaved skin of a goat, antelope or cow. Prior to the twentieth century, the skin was attached with the sinew or intestine of the animal, or by cutting and stretching a strip of rawhide.The construction of the djembe has changed significantly over the past half-century. The use of industrialized materials, such as steel hoops, nylon-core rope, and rubber tires, began with the advent of the West African Ballets, and has become the norm. As djembes are increasingly exported to foreign shores, some take advantage of overseas markets by cutting corners, while others push further development and refinement of djembe construction. In the mid 1990s furniture makers in Ghana took note of the commercial success being experienced by traditional djembe drum carvers. The craftspeople in Ghana, where the kpanlogo
Kpanlogo (drum)
Kpanlogo is a type of drum that is associated with kpanlogo music. The drum originates from the Ga people of the Greater Accra Region in Ghana, West Africa....
and oblenten drums are the most well known traditional drums, began to carve and sell djembes from Tweneboa, a soft wood. Using soft wood required a much thicker shell that fails to produce the resonant and explosive sound of a hardwood djembe.
The drumheads are typically made from goat skin and more rarely can be antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, or calfskin
Calfskin
Calfskin is a leather or membrane produced from the hide of a calf. Calfskin is particularly valuable because of its softness, and non fine grain. It is commonly used for high-quality shoes, wallets and similar products, as well as traditional leather bookbindings...
. West African goat skins are known to djembe musicians as having a different sound than goats domesticated in more temperate climates. Goats raised in West Africa experience a rougher existence, different climate, and different diet, which apparently toughen and harden the skins in a way that impacts their sound quality. Goat skins from animals bred and raised in the Americas and Europe have been known to be softer and tear more easily under the extreme tension required for a playable drum.
The djembe has also spawned a plethora of look-alikes made from synthetic materials. The explosion of drum circles, as well as the use of djembes in pop and rock ensembles, have led to an increase in synthetic drums. These drums have shells formed of plastic or resin-composite materials, such as Acousticon, metal mechanical tuning rather than traditional ropes, and often plastic such as FiberSkyn
FiberSkyn
FiberSkyn is the trademarked name of a synthetic plastic material in sheet form that is used in the manufacturing of drum heads by an American company called Remo....
rather than goatskin heads. They are often manufactured and sold by drumset and percussion manufacturers such as Pearl, Meinl, Toca, and Remo.
Tuning
Djembe drums are tuned by evenly pulling the vertical ropes very tightly so that a system of metal rings brings the skin down over the drum shell. These verticals are tightened all the way around, perhaps taking multiple passes, and using a lever of some sort.(Rope puller) The next step is to use more rope to put in horizontal "twists" of the vertical ropes (Mali weave), also known as "diamonds". It passes under two verticals (diamond pattern), back over one, under one (making a Z or S shape), then gets pulled hard and down. Uniform and parallel rows of twists, as low as possible, is the ideal.When a new skin is being put on a drum, this whole pulling process is preceded by soaking a skin in water until it is very pliable. That wet skin is placed on the drum with the ring system while the rope verticals gently pull the rings down a bit. Then it's left to dry completely before the vigorous pulling and twisting described above happens. Some drum makers successfully tighten their drums all the way while the skins are wet.
Western music
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
, Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
, Keller Williams
Keller Williams
Keller Williams is an American musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who began performing in the early 1990s. He is also known by the names K-Dub or just Keller, when performing. Williams' music combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, and...
, Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Larry Mullen, Jr of U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, Bedouin Soundclash
Bedouin Soundclash
Bedouin Soundclash is a Canadian band currently based in Toronto. Their sound can be described as reggae and ska.-History:The band's current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Jay Malinowski, and bassist Eon Sinclair with Sekou Lumumba on drums. Their debut album, Root Fire, released in 2001...
, Incubus
Incubus (band)
Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...
' Brandon Boyd
Brandon Boyd
Brandon Charles Boyd is an American musician, author, and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus.-Early Life and Incubus:...
, Gruvis Malt
Gruvis Malt
Grüvis Malt was a six piece band founded in Providence, Rhode Island in 1995. Grüvis Malt has released a total of seven full-length albums, one of which was released under Lakeshore Entertainment subsidiary Lakeshore Records, and three EPs...
, Brian Rosenworcel
Brian Rosenworcel
Brian Andrew Rosenworcel is the drummer for the band Guster. For many years, Rosenworcel, the youngest member of the band, played a combination of bongos, congas, djembe, hand snares and cymbals instead of using a traditional drumset. He now alternates between hand percussion and drum set, and he...
of Guster
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1991, the group is known for its live performances and humor, founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel came about to begin practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford,...
, Dispatch
Dispatch (band)
Dispatch is an American indie/roots band. The band consists of Brad Corrigan , Pete Francis Heimbold , and Chad Urmston ....
, of bands such as The Spirit Merchants, FreeFall, Railway Paddys, Valentino Black, Mick Dunne, Some Lemon, Louisiana Francis, Derek McCreanor, I Swing Both Ways, Double Adaptor, The Mooney Tunes, Toss the Feathers, Toss the Michael Jnr, The Concordes, S Club Juniors, John Butler Trio Afterparty, Lemon, The Blizzards and too many jazz bands to mention. An American manufactured version of an African djembe was played on main stage with a New Zealand Māori fire twirler in a show produced by the Canadian circus company, Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...
, called Allegria, which was filmed in Australia in 2000. In 2008 June, the djembe was featured in the American film "The Visitor", directed by Tim McCarthy, depicting a university professor's unlikely introduction to drum circles through the instruction of a young Syrian drummer. The djembe is very popular in drum circles, and in many circles is the primary instrument, most likely for its easily portable size, wide range of sounds, and its distinct tones. In certain songs using the djembe it replaces a drumset to give it a different feel, such as "Burn One Down" by Ben Harper. The British power electronics
Power electronics
Power electronics is the application of solid-state electronics for the control and conversion of electric power.-Introduction:Power electronic converters can be found wherever there is a need to modify a form of electrical energy...
band Whitehouse
Whitehouse (band)
Whitehouse are a pioneering English power electronics band formed in 1980, largely credited for the founding of the power electronics subgenre.-History and personnel:...
experimented a lot with djembes and other African percussion instruments on their last three albums, and the former member William Bennett later started what he calls the "Afro Noise" Project, in which he attempts to give African percussion instruments an important role in noise music.
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
composed Okho for three djembes.
Rasaan-Elijah "Talu" Green plays djembe on Broadway in Fela!
Study
Traditionally, as today, in Africa an individual needs to spend many years accompanying his master in ceremonies and other festivities before becoming a real djembefola (djembe player). Today in the communities of the "western civilization" learning to play the djembe generally involves finding a master drummer and having private lessons or lessons for small groups of people.Players generally need to learn the basic sounds and traditional rhythm samples (4/4 and 12/8) to be able to follow classes. Many years of playing and learning are needed to be able to produce a sound that is comparable in its quality to that of a master drummer.
Written transcriptions of rhythms tend to be imprecise. Usually only the basic idea of the rhythm is transcribed but the real feeling that it carries can't be easily put down on paper. This is due to the nature of the West African music - the different types of swing (at least four of them) that are not easily expressible with western notation. For this reason the written material for advanced players is still scarce if not unavailable, while the general and informational literature are readily obtained.
With the advent of musical software such as Percussion Studio, transcribing and reproducing rhythms has become easier. Tools such as this are useful for people who don't have a group to practice with, as individual tracks are able to be isolated or tempo changed to assist with playing along and learning/practising. A competent user is able to reproduce material learnt in a workshop for later use. Notwithstanding its utility as a basic transcription tool percussion studio cannot reproduce the intonation of a skilled player and has limited value, therefore, for transcribing solo.
Notable djembe drummers
Active:- Mamady KeïtaMamady KeïtaMamady Keïta is a master drummer from the West African nation of Guinea. He specializes in the goblet-shaped hand drum called djembe. He is also the founder of the Tam Tam Mandingue school of drumming...
(Guinea) - Famoudou KonatéFamoudou KonatéFamoudou Konaté is a Malinké master drummer from Guinea. Famoudou Konaté is a world-renowned virtuoso of the djembe drum and its orchestra. One of only a handful of initiated Masters of the Malinké drumming tradition, Famoudou is universally respected as one of the world’s premiere djembe Drum...
(Guinea) - Bolokada CondeBolokada CondeBolokada Conde is a djembe master drummer from Kissidougou, Guinea.Moussa Bolokada Conde is a master drummer, expert of Malinke rhythms, and one of the world's best djembe players. He joined the Les Percussion du Guinee to replace the legendary Momoudy Keita as their lead drummer...
(Guinea) - Mamady "Wadaba" Kourouma (Guinea)
- Moussa TraoréMoussa TraoréGeneral Moussa Traoré is a Malian soldier and politician. As a Lieutenant, he led the military ouster of President Modibo Keïta in 1968. Thereafter he served as Head of State from 1968-1979, and President of Mali from 1979 to 1991, when he was overthrown by popular protests and military coup...
(Mali) - Drissa KoneDrissa Kone- Biography :Drissa Kone, born in the fifties in a village named Kuruba , is a widely respected djembe player who has captured the attention of many far beyond the borders of Mali....
(Mali) - Kwon Jung Yeol - 10cm (band) (South Korea)
- Khalid Abdul N'Faly Saleem (New York, USA)
Retired/deceased:
- Abdoulaye DiakiteAbdoulaye DiakiteAbdoulaye Diakite is a djembe master drummer from Tambacounda, Senegal. He studied under djembe legend Suncaru Jara, and later became the lead djembe player of the National Ballet of Senegal for 18 years....
(Senegal) - Babatunde OlatunjiBabatunde OlatunjiBabatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.- Biography :Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at...
(Nigeria) - Soungalo CoulibalySoungalo CoulibalySoungalo Coulibaly a Malian drummer.Coulibaly was brought up in the purest Bambara tradition. His father was head of the village of Béléko like most traditional drummers, he gained his first musical experience at a very early age by accompanying work in the fields and playing at village...
(Mali) - Yamadu Bani DunbiaYamadu Bani DunbiaYamadu Bani Dunbia was a notable djembe master drummer from Bamako, Mali. Although recordings of his playing are scarce, he was well known across Bamako. He recorded his first songs at the age of 78.- Biography :...
(Mali)
Further reading
- A Guide to the Jembe, Charry, Eric, Percussive Notes 34, no. 2 (April 1996).
- African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms, John Chernoff, Univ. of Chicago Press ISBN 978-0226103457, Book/Audiobook, (October 1981)
- African Percussion: The Djembe, Blanc, Serge (1997).
- Djembe: Drum With a Thousand Faces, Friedberg, Lilian, Percussive Notes 31, No. 8, (December 1993).
- Anke Djé Anke Bé, volume 1, Abdoul Doumbia & Matthew Wirzbicki, 3idesign (2005). ISBN 0-9774844-0-8
- Mandiani Drum and Dance: Djembé Performance and Black Aesthetics from Africa to the New World by Mark Sunkett, White Cliffs Media 1995. ISBN 0-941677-76-1 CD/Tape/Video. Music of Mandiani people who originated in the Northeastern region of Guinea in West Africa.
- Mamady Keïta: A Life for the Djembe, Traditional and modern Malinké rhythms Uschi Billmeier, Arun-Verlag, ISBN 3-935581-52-1, Book/CD, (2004)
- Rare German Radio Interviews with Famoudou Konate, Percussive Notes 39, No. 6 (December 2001).
- A Musical Instrument Travels Around the World: Jenbe Playing in Bamako, in West Africa, and Beyond, Polak, RainerRainer PolakRainer Polak is an ethnomusicologist and djembe drummer who has done extensive research in the field of West African celebration music performances and wrote important contributions in the field of ethnomusicology.- Biography :Dr...
. In: Post, Jennifer (ed.), Ethnomusicology: A Contemporary Reader. NY: Routledge Press, pp. 161–185 (2005). - Rhythmic Feel as Meter: Non-Isochronous Beat Subdivision in Jembe Music from Mali, Polak, RainerRainer PolakRainer Polak is an ethnomusicologist and djembe drummer who has done extensive research in the field of West African celebration music performances and wrote important contributions in the field of ethnomusicology.- Biography :Dr...
, Music Theory Online 16 no. 4 (2010).
- Teach the Children: A Report from the Other Side, Percussive Notes 34, No. 1, (February 1996).
- Diallo, Yaya, and Mitchell Hall (1989). The Healing Drum: African Wisdom and Teaching. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books.
External links
- How to tune a djembe
- How to re-skin a djembe
- Djembe building blog with info on rhythms and complete re-heading w/photos
- Everything you need to know about djembe
- Djembe and dundun site featuring videos and various articles
- List of rhythms with notations
- Djembe learning blog
- Guinea national ensemble
- Rhythmic Feel as Meter: Non-Isochronous Beat Subdivision in Jembe Music from Mali www.djembefola.fr, the french djembe community More than 250 rhythms to learn here Origins of djembe drum Djembe's sound features and settings