Djembe: Guinea-bissau musical instrument

A djembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum that can be played with the bare hands. It is originally from the Western part of Africa. According to the bamana people in Mali, the name of the instrument comes from the saying that opined “Anke dje, Anke be” which means to “everyone gather together in peace” and states the purpose of the drum.  The djembe has a body that is built of a hard wood and a drumhead that is made of untreated rawhide which is commonly made from goatskin. Removing the rings, the instrument has an exterior diameter of about 30 to 38 cm and 58 to 63 cm high. The majority have a diameter in the 13 to 14 inch range. The weight of the instrument ranges from about 5 to 13 kg and depend largely on the material and the shell that was used in the construction of the instrument as a medium sized djembe that is carved from one of the traditional woods has its weight to be 9 kg. 

source of picture: musiciansfriend.com

The djembe can give out wide types of sounds, and this makes it one of the drums with many uses. The drum is so loud, permitting it to be heard clearly as a solo over a large percussion group. The Malinke people opined that a skilled drummer is the one who can make the djembe talk; this means that the player can tell an emotional story with this musical instrument  traditionally, the instrument is played only by men and also the ‘dunun’ that accompanies the djembe. Meanwhile, other percussion instruments that are commonly used as part of a group such as the ‘shekere’ and ‘kese kese’ are often played by the women. Till today, it is very hard and rare to see a woman that is playing the djembe or dunun in the western part of Africa and the African women express great amazement whenever they see a female player of the musical instrument. There are many beliefs that the djembe’s origination is associated with the Mandinka caste of blacksmiths that are known as the ‘Numu’. The wide scattering of the djembe drum throughout the West Africa could be because of the Numu migration during the first millennium AD. Regardless of the association of the instrument with the Numu, there are no genetically restrictions on who may become the player of the instrument. This is in marked difference to instruments whose use is booked for members of the griot caste like the kora, balafon and ngoni. The player of this musical instrument is called the Djembefola.

The traditional distribution of the djembe is linked with the Mali Empire that dates back to 1230 AD and included part of today’s countries of Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Senegal. Meanwhile, because of the lack of written record in the West African countries, it is not clear whether the instrument predates or postdates the Mali Empire. The goblet shape of the djembe suggests that it originally could have been carved from a mortar. There are a number of different make myths for the djembe.

Before the 1950s and the decolonization of west Africa, because of the very limited travel of native Africans outside their own ethnic region, the instrument was only known in its original area of production. The djembe first was brought to the attention of audiences outside West Africa with the attempts of Fodeba Keita who founded ‘Les Ballets Africains’ in 1952. The ballet visited extensively in Europe and was declared Guinea’s first national ballet by the first president of Guinea, Sekou Toure, after the country have gained their independence in 1958, and this was followed by the two more national ballets which are the ballet d’Armee in 1961 and the ballet Djoliba in 1964.

Many modern artists has been using this musical instrument such as Paul Simon, Cirque du Soleil and some others and this raised awareness of the instrument with the Western audience. Recording of the djembe over passed the number of recordings of any other African drum. Starting from the late 1980s, a large number of djembe recordings were released, and it trend that, as of 2013 has not shown any sign of reducing. This is important because the recordings are driven by the request of the Western audience: there are almost no recordings of the djembe within African market. Starting from the 1980s a number of Guinean djembe players began the hosting of the study tours to Guinea, permitting the students of the musical instrument to experience Guinea culture first-hand. Most djembe from Mali, Guinea Burkina Faso and Senegal are still carved with hand traditionally from species of wood with the use of traditional tool and styles. In the 1990s, the production of the musical instrument started in some other countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Bali and South Africa often with the use of modern machinery and substitute species of wood like the mahogany or tweneboa. Meanwhile, these woods that are softer and less dense are not as good as the traditional woods that are used in the production of the musical instrument. A good number of the percussion instruments that are produced by musical instruments producers are similar to the djembe, usually with fiberglass bodies and synthetic skins as well as a tuning key system.

Because of the size, the djembe is a remarkable loud drum. The volume of the drum ascends with the increasing skin tension of the musical instrument. On a djembe that is tuned to solo pitch, some skilled players can get sound pressure or more than 105 dB which is about the same volume with a jack hammer.  The players of this musical instrument use three main sounds which are; bass, tone and slap that have low, medium and high pitch respectively. These sounds are accomplished by differing the striking method and position. Other sounds are possible but they are used rarely, mostly for special effects during a solo show. A skilled player of this instrument can use the instrument to create very complicated rhythmic patterns. The bass sound of the instrument is produced by hitting the drum with the palm and flat fingers near the center of the player’s skin. Tone and slap sounds are produced by striking the drum closer to the edge. It is the contact area of the finger the will determine the sound effect that you will get when playing the djembe. Acoustically, a djembe is a Helmholtz resonator whose frequency of the bass is decided by the size and shape of the shell and does not depend on the amount of tension on the skin of the instrument. When the tension of the skin increases, the pitch of tones and slaps will automatically rise. The bass has a frequency of 65 to 80 Hz, depending much on the size of the drum and the amount of tensions on the skin of the instrument, the tone frequency differs from 300 Hz to 420 Hz and the slap frequency ranging from 700 Hz to 1000 Hz with loud overtones reaching beneath 4 kHz.

Traditionally, the djembe forms a group with a number of other djembes and about one or more dunun. Except for the solo djembe, all instruments perform a recurring rhythmic figure that is called an accompaniment pattern and the figure re-occur after a certain number of beats called a cycle. The most shared cycle length is four beats, although cycles often have other lengths like two, three or six.

Each instrument plays a separate rhythmic figure and the cycle length of different instruments must not be the same. This interplay results in polyrhythms. The various accompaniment parts are played on djembes that are tuned to different pitches. The number of instruments in the group differs with the region and occasion of which the instrument is used. In Mali, a traditional group usually is made up of one dunun and one djembe. The konkoni and the djembe are in rhythmic conversation, with each drum having turn playing accompaniment while the other instruments plays substitute solos. If a second dunun performer is around he will supplement the group with a khassanka dunun that is a bass drum and similar in build to a konkoni, although it is larger. In guinea, a typical group uses the three djembes and the three dunun that are called sangban, dundunba and kenkeni. If a group includes more than one djembe, the highest pitched djembe will have to play solo phrases and the other djembes that are present and dunun will play accompaniment. An ensemble may have only two dunun; this will depend on whether a village has enough dunun players and is wealthy enough to afford up to three dunun. The djembe and dunun group does not play music with the instrument for people to sit and listen, they create rhythm for people to dance, sing, clap or work to. The western distinguishing between the musicians and audience is abnormal in the traditional context. A rhythm is scarcely played as a performance although it is participatory, that is musicians, singers, dancers and onlookers all are part of the group and often change roles while the music is going on. The musicians and the participants often form a circle with the center of the circle being kept for the dancers. The dancers will perform depending opn the rhythm that is being played by the group.

Traditionally carved djembes are crafted from a single log of hardwood. A number of wood species are being used in the production of this instrument. Hardness and density of the wood is a very crucial factor that should be considered for the sound and projection of the musical instrument. The most used djembe wood is lenke, it is not because the sound is better than that of other woods, but because the Malinke has it that it is spiritual qualities are superior.

The shell of the instrument is carved immediately after the tree is felled while the wood still have some moisture in it and it is softer, this will make the wood to be carved easily and to avoid any form of radial splits that tend to emanate in the log that are allowed to dry naturally. The constructors often use simple hand tools such as axes, rasp and spoke shaves to shape the shell of the instrument. A well-crafted djembe does not have a smooth interior, rather a decorative edging or shallow grooves that sway the sound of the musical instrument.

The djembe is headed with untanned hide skin, most commonly the skin of a goat. Other skins that can be used are the skins of antelope, cow, kangaroo or horse. Thicker skins like that of a cow have a warmer sound with more overtones in the slaps; thinner skins possess a sharper sound with fewer overtones in the slap and are louder. The thick skins can make easier for the instrument to play full tones but much more difficult to play sharp slaps and for the thin, the opposite is included.  Modern djembe often use synthetic rope that is most commonly of Kernmantle construction 4-5mm in diameter. Most players of this instrument prefer the low-stretch rope.

After the tightening of the vertical that comes first, a djembe is tuned by creating twists in the verticals to make them short. With more than one completed twist, the vertical rope forms the shape of a diamond that can be quite decorative. Normal-applied Mali weave helps to keep the rope that runs across the verticals horizontal without climbing up in a spiral way. The number of tension that can be applied this pattern is significant.