Djembe
A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned, skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name "djembe" comes 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."
The djembe has a body carved of hardwood and a drumhead made of untreated rawhide, most commonly made from goatskin. Excluding rings, djembes have an exterior diameter of 30–38 cm and a height of 58–63 cm. The majority have a diameter in the 13 to 14 inch range. The weight of a djembe ranges from 5 kg to 13 kg and depends on size and shell material. A medium-size djembe carved from one of the traditional woods weighs around 9 kg.
The djembe can produce a wide variety of sounds, making it an extremely versatile drum. The drum is very loud, allowing it to be heard clearly as a solo instrument over a large percussion ensemble. The Malinké people say that a skilled drummer is one who "can make the djembe talk", meaning that the player can tell an emotional story.
Traditionally, the djembe is played only by men, as are the dunun that always accompany the djembe. Conversely, other percussion instruments that are commonly played as part of an ensemble, such as the shekere, karignan, and kese kese, are usually played by women. Even today, it is rare to see women play djembe or dunun in West Africa, and African women express astonishment when they do see a female djembe player.
Origin
There is general agreement that the origin of the djembe is associated with the Mandinka caste of blacksmiths, known as Numu. The wide dispersion of the djembe drum throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations during the first millennium CE. Despite the association of the djembe with the Numu, there are no hereditary restrictions on who may become a djembefola. This is in contrast to instruments whose use is reserved for members of the griot caste, such as the balafon, kora, and ngoni. Anyone who plays djembe is a djembefola—the term does not imply a particular level of skill.Geographically, the traditional distribution of the djembe is associated with the Mali Empire, which dates back to 1230 CE and included parts of the modern-day countries of Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, and Senegal. However, due to the lack of written records in West African countries, it is unclear whether the djembe predates or postdates the Mali Empire. It seems likely that the history of the djembe reaches back for at least several centuries and possibly more than a millennium.
The goblet shape of the djembe suggests that it originally may have been created from a mortar.
Recent history
Prior to the 1950s and the decolonization of West Africa, due to the very limited travel of native Africans outside their own ethnic group, the djembe was known only in its original area.National ballets
The djembe first came to the attention of audiences outside West Africa with the efforts of Fodéba Keïta, who, in 1952, founded Les Ballets Africains. The ballet toured extensively in Europe and was declared Guinea's first national ballet by Guinea's first president, Sékou Touré, after Guinea gained independence in 1958, to be followed by two more national ballets, the Ballet d'Armee in 1961 and Ballet Djoliba in 1964.Touré's policies alienated Guinea from the West and he followed the Eastern Bloc model of using the country's culture and music for promotional means. He and Fodéba Keïta, who had become a close friend of Touré, saw the ballets as a way to secularize traditional customs and rites of different ethnic groups in Guinea. The ballets combined rhythms and dances from widely different spiritual backgrounds in a single performance, which suited the aim of Touré's demystification program of "doing away with 'fetishist' ritual practices."
Touré generously supported the ballets and, until his death in 1984, financed extensive world-wide performance tours, which brought the djembe to the attention of Western audiences. Other countries followed Touré's example and founded national ballets in the 1960s, including Ivory Coast, Mali, and Senegal, each with its own attached political agenda.
Emigration
In the United States, Ladji Camara, a member of Ballets Africains in the 1950s, started teaching djembe in the 1960s and continued to teach into the 1990s. Camara performed extensively with Babatunde Olatunji during the 1970s, greatly raising awareness of the instrument in the US.After the death of Sekou Touré in 1984, funding for the ballets dried up and a number of djembefolas emigrated and made regular teaching and performance appearances in the west, including Mamady Keïta, Famoudou Konaté, and Epizo Bangoura. A number of other djembefolas—M'bemba Bangoura, Abdoulaye Diakité, Bolokada Conde, Mohamed "Bangouraké" Bangoura, and Babara Bangoura, among others—followed their example, establishing a sizeable population of expatriate performers and teachers in many Western countries.
Film
The 1991 documentary Djembefola by Laurent Chevallier depicts Mamady Keïta's return to the village of his birth after a 26-year absence. Upon release, the movie won the Wisselzak Trophy and Special Jury Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and the Audience Award at the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film, and brought the djembe to the attention of a wide audience.A 1998 follow-up documentary, Mögöbalu, contains concert footage uniting four master drummers on stage.
The Oscar-nominated 2007 drama The Visitor ensured that the djembe was noticed internationally by mainstream viewers.
Western music
The djembe has been used by many western artists, including Paul Simon and Cirque du Soleil, raising awareness of the instrument with western audiences.Recordings
Recordings of the djembe far surpass the number of recordings of any other African drum. Beginning in the late 1980s, a slew of djembe-centric recordings was released, a trend that, as of 2014, shows no sign of abating. This is significant because these recordings are driven by the demand of western audiences; there are almost no djembe recordings within African markets.Educational material
Among the earliest educational resources available to a student of the djembe were an educational VHS tape by Babatunde Olatunji released in 1993, as well as books by Serge Blanc, Famoudou Konaté, and Mamady Keïta. In 1998, these were supplemented by a three-volume VHS set by Keïta and, in 2000, by a VHS tape by Epizo Bangoura. Since then, the market for educational materials has grown significantly. As of 2014, dozens of educational books, CDs, and videos are available to an aspiring player.Tourism
Starting in the 1980s, a number of Guinean djembefolas started hosting study tours to Guinea, allowing djembe students to experience Guinean culture first-hand. Many other djembefolas followed suit; as of 2014, a potential visitor can select from tens of djembe tours each year. Djembe tourism created a market for djembefolas in Guinea that previously did not exist. Young djembefolas try to emulate the success of their predecessors and cater to the needs of the tourists, leading to change and commodification of the original djembe culture.Commercially produced instruments
Most djembes from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Senegal are still hand-carved from traditional species of wood, using traditional tools and methods. In the 1990s, djembes started being produced elsewhere, such as in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Indonesia, often using modern machinery and substitute species of wood, such as tweneboa or mahogany. However, these woods, being softer and less dense, are not as suitable as the traditional woods. A number of western percussion instrument manufacturers also produce djembe-like instruments, often with fibreglass bodies, synthetic skins, and a key tuning system.Women djembefolas
The traditional barriers against women djembe and dunun players have come down over time.- In 1998, Mamoudou Conde, director of the ballets Les Percussions de Guinée, Les Ballets Africains, and Ballet Djoliba, began to explore the idea of including women djembe and dunun players in ballet performances, against considerable initial resistance from male performers. Despite this, he included two female djembe players in the 2000 American tour of Les Percussions de Guinée. Based on positive feedback from that tour, Conde decided to form an all-female ballet group called Amazones: The Women Master Drummers of Guinea. The group first toured the US in 2004 and continues to perform, with tour dates scheduled out to 2014.
- There are several notable female djembefolas, including Salimata Diabaté from Burkina Faso, Monette Marino-Keita from San Diego, Anne-Yolaine Diarra from France, and Melissa Hie from Burkina Faso.
Sound and beating technique
Djembe players use three basic sounds: bass, tone, and slap, which have low, medium, and high pitch, respectively. These sounds are achieved by varying the striking technique and position. Other sounds are possible, but these additional sounds are used rarely, mainly for special effects during a solo performance. A skilled player can use the sounds to create very complex rhythmic patterns; the combination of rhythm and the differently pitched sounds often leads an inexpert listener to believe that more than one drum is being played.
The bass sound is produced by striking the drum with the palm and flat fingers near the center of the skin. Tone and slap are produced by striking the drum closer to the edge; the contact area of the fingers determines whether the sound is a tone or a slap. For a tone, most of the area of the fingers and the edge of the palm contact the skin whereas, for a slap, the contact area is limited to the edge of the palm and the fingertips. The basic sounds are played "open," meaning that the hands rebound immediately after a strike, so the contact time with the skin is as short as possible.
Acoustically, a djembe is a Helmholtz resonator: the frequency of the bass is determined by the size and shape of the shell and independent of the amount of tension on the skin. In contrast, the pitch of tones and slaps rises as the tension of the skin is increased. The bass has a frequency of 65–80 Hz. Depending on the size of the drum and the amount of tension on the skin, tone frequency varies from 300 Hz to 420 Hz and slap frequency from 700 Hz to 1000 Hz, with audible overtones reaching beyond 4 kHz.
The difference in pitch of the sounds arises because the different striking techniques selectively emphasize specific vibrational modes of the drum head. A tone emphasizes the mode while suppressing the bass and higher-order modes as much as possible. A slap emphasizes the,,,, and modes while suppressing the Helmholtz resonance and the and modes. Skilled players can also produce a medium-pitched sound that is variously called third slap, tonpalo, or lé; this sound emphasizes the mode while suppressing all other modes as much as possible.
By slightly varying striking and finger position, skilled players can selectively emphasize different slap harmonics and create melodies of differently pitched slaps.