Essay about the history of the Djembé

Preface

Last year, I was getting interested in the African instrument ‘the Djembé. This was caused by a Djembé course I followed for 8 weeks on my high school. This was given by Thomas Bonekamp and I really enjoyed it and felt so much enthusiasm. You can totally let yourself go playing this instrument. And you really have to co-operate with the others you are playing with, sharing the spirit together.

It wasn’t difficult for me to figure out a subject for this essay, although I didn’t know a formulation yet. Immediately I started to look for information and I found a helpfull source in the city where my mother lives. A man who is teaching Djembé, was very enthusiastic and willing to help me. His name is Yacuba or Babayanks, given by friends in Africa where he has been. His Dutch name is Jan. He helped me to find the answer to my formulation “where lies the Djembe’s origin?” And what does the Djembé means for the music from today?

To figure out the Djembé’s origin, happened to be a difficult task. Yacuba contacted many people for me and gave me many books and articles to find the answer. He even asked me to join his Djembé lessons for free.

In this essay I will first tell about the Djembé itself, about the drum, the rhythms, and the basic strokes. Then I will tell about the roots and the way the Djembé became popular in the western countries.
I will finish with telling something about the theme’s the Djembé was originally used for.

I would like to give thanks to Yacuba for everything he did for me.

The Djembé

Around the world, people consider the drum as the most typical instrument in Africa.
Without doubt, the drum is the instrument that expresses the deepest feelings in Africa the best. The drum embodies the true earth in the African music, music that expresses it selves in swinging rhythms. Even if there is no drum present, it will be replaced by clapping hands or stamping feet.

The drum is a member of the ‘mebranofonic’ instruments. This implies that the sound is caused by a tightened skin or membrane that is brought into vibration.
Just like all the African instruments, the Djembé is handmade, which makes that every instrument has its characteristic sound and shape. It’s made out of one piece of wood, different types of wood can be used. For example: 'Lenke' (Afzelia Africana), 'Dugura' (yellow fishwood), 'Jala' (African Mahogany), 'Kasia' (Cassia).
It is tightened with a piece of goat or antelope skin. The Djembé is just one type of drum that exists in Africa.

The basic strokes

The Djembé is always played by hands. There are 3 different sounds: the deep bass, the middle sound (tenor) and the high sound (slap)

The bas: This stroke has a warm, thud sound. It is produced by the whole surface of the flat hand on the middle part of the skin.

The tenor (or 'open' stroke): This stroke has a clear sound. The four fingers from one hand are stretched and closed and relaxed when it hits the drum and the whole surface of the fingers is used. With this stroke you let your fingers drop on the skin whiteout hitting the edge of the drum. Only the fingers and not the palm of the hand are touching the skin.

The slap: The slap is played at the same position as the tenor. There is some space between the fingers. This produces a loud sharp sound. This is the most challenging stroke that asks patience and practice before it sounds right and clear.

The fingertip:
This is not a real stroke. It is used in between the strokes to create a flow in the rhythm. You need much experience to integrate the fingertips in the rhythm that you are playing.

2. The roots of the Djembé

In the past.

There is a legend that tells us about the monkey, drumming on its own chest because people took its drum away. Although this is a nice story to tell, to go back to the roots of the drum, we should go to Mali.

The Djembé dates from the time of the Mali Empire, discovered by 'the Malinke' around the 13th century. It concerns the empire we know by now as Mali, Guinée, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Senegal.
Djembés were made by the blacksmith. A profession with a high status because they took care for the production of many important attachments. Every instrument was made for an individual drummer and had its own special sound.

Musicians and singers were gathered in a group called a 'Djeli'. At an early age children were teach to play and remember long rhythms. They passed on the history and tradition, because nothing was written down. The boys were teaching to play the Balofon or the Kora. The girls sang and played smaller instruments like the Karignan and Djabara. These days, the Djeli are still the ones who know the best which pieces of music, dances and rhythms are played with certain occasions.

However, the Djembé is not an original Djeli instrument. In the past, playing the Djembé by a Djembéfola was not even a real profession, like it is right now.

At present

Thanks to the spirit of the New Music, the consciousness and interest for non European music, music from the Far East and Africa is sharpened. It made a base for a new way of making and experiencing music. The discovery once more from the natural soundcreaters has burst through the borders of the classic trained music conceptions. It leaded to a new consciousness in music, which initiated a different way of thinking in spiritual and ethical fields.
Suddenly this way of music made it possible to listen to your inner sound, to deepen yourself in meditation or to let yourself go. It appeared to be a way to liberate oneself through the sound of the rhythmic drum ecstasy, as a devise to realization. The access to the non-European music was, beside a new musical experience, also a way to pass on the cultural value from new dimensions and ways of thinking.

The discovery once more of percussion, which implies all of the African drums, took place at the same time the European music theaters took advance. It caused a break-through in the experimental Avant-garde music as well as the entertainment music.
African rhythms are especially appealing to professional musicians and uninitiated people who are interested in music. They enjoy the different movement they experience and they become enthusiastic for the creative way of dealing with sounds and rhythms.

There is another factor that had its influence on the prosperity of the percussionmusic.It concerns the musicians and bands in the pop,-rock, - and jazz scene, like Carlos Santana, Frank Zappa, Don Ellis, Miles Davis and many others. It was there profit that the percussion element in their music directions got a change to prove it selves.

At the same time, a new type of musician arise...the percussionist.
In the years '40, it was musicians from Cuba who integrated the way they played the conga in the jazzy grooves. Airto Moreira initiated a great interest in the black music culture for the large percussion set of instruments in the Afro Brazilian music world.

In fact, the percussionist nowadays is multicultural. He gains himself access to the cultures of other countries and he studies their worlds of rhythm and sound.
A percussionist doesn't play drums only; he also plays a large number of different percussion instruments like bar-chimes, woodblocks, bells and tambourines.
On many modern recordings where a percussionist has a contribution, there is a large diversity of sounds and instruments. Especially in compositions with a simple structure in harmony and melody line, the percussion unfolds its full abundance of sounds and power.

There are many interesting percussionists and drummers with different social/cultural backgrounds and a refined way of playing. With their musical talents they enriched the percussion music and made it more popular.

3. Themes in the music

In the early days, certain aspects in the daily work were accompanied by the Djembé, singing and even dance. Behind the almost superficial sounding singing-voice, there is a deeper meaning to discover. Next to the accompaniment of the daily work, there are themes with a deeper meaning. For example when young people are getting an initiation (Soli; Sorsenet). Or the music they use to ask for rain (Kakilambee). Homage to the woman is in the theme Yeke Yeke.
There are hundreds of themes each with its own meaning and moment in the year or in a human life.

Nowadays, many themes are more popularized because of the urbanization and demythologizing. Some themes are played by more occasions then they were originally created for.

4. Conclusion

The answer on the question of research 'where lies the djembe's origin'
And what does the Djembé means for present day music?

The Djembés origin takes you back in time to Soundiata, the king who was the founder of the Mali-empire in the 13th century.

The Djembé still means a lot in the music world. It brought a renewal in making and experiencing music. There are many reasons for the fact that there is a growing interest for percussion. It is a way to experience together, how to play the drum, how to play the different rhythms in combination with dancing, singing.

The revival is thanks to the experimental Avant-garde, the entertainment music and the musicians who used the Djembé in their music.

The band 'Slagerij van kampen' is an example of a Dutch group, famous because of its percussion. An example of a band which is popular for many younger people is 'Safri Duo'. They use a lot of percussion in their House music. This music is certainly worth listening to!

This essay is written by
Eef Schenkkan
Huizen, The Netherlands, April 2002