The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech.[1][2][3] It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitch of the drum by scraping the cords between their arm and body.
Originating from the 18th century, talking drum players used tones to disseminate messages, such as news of ceremonies and commands, over 4-5 mile distances.[4]
Batá
A skilled player is able to play whole phrases. Most talking drums sound like a human humming depending on the way they are played.
Wooden frames of talking drums
Similar hourglass-shaped drums are found in Asia, but they are not used to mimic conversation, although the idakka is used to mimic vocal music.[5]
Five varieties of dùndún pressure drums of the Yoruba and the atumpan and fontomfrom of the Asante (Ashanti) are especially notable. They send messages up to 20 miles (32km), where other drummers relay them, quickly spreading news.
Hourglass-shaped talking drums are some of the oldest instruments used by West African griots[7] and their history can be traced back to the Bono people, Yoruba people, the Ghana Empire[9][10] and the Hausa people. The Yoruba people of south western Nigeria and Benin and the Dagomba of northern Ghana have both developed a highly sophisticated genre of griot music centering on the talking drum.[11] Many variants of the talking drums evolved, with most of them having the same construction mentioned above. Soon, many non-hourglass shapes showed up and were given special names, such as the Dunan and the Fontomfrom.[9] This construction is limited to within the contemporary borders of West Africa, with exceptions to this rule being northern Cameroon and western Chad; areas which have shared populations belonging to groups predominant in their bordering West African countries, such as the Kanuri, Djerma, Fulani and Hausa.
When the rooster crows, the Xaat will rest and sleep until the moment of circumcision, if he has been judged to be able to dance to the Woong, surrounded by four tam-tam. The Perngel, the Lamb, the Qiin and the Tama.
From a historical perspective, the tama (just like the Serer junjung), was beaten by the griots of Senegambian kings on special occasions, such as during wars (a call for arms), when the kings wanted to address their subjects, and on special circumstances in Serer country – a call for martyrdom, such as the mayhem at Tahompa (a 19th-century surprise attack)[13][14] and the Battle of Naoudourou,[13] where the defeated Serers (by the Muslim-marabouts of Senegambia), committed suicide rather than be conquered by the Muslim forces or forced to submit to Islam.[13][14] Suicide is permitted in Serer religion only if it satisfies the Serer principle of Jom (see Serer religion).[15] The word "Jom" means "honour" in the Serer language.[15][16]
Yoruba people
Ayangalu
Ayangalu is believed to have been the first Yoruba drummer. Upon his death he was deified, and so now he is counted among the ranks of the Orishas. It is believed by followers of the Yoruba religion that he is the patron spirit of all drummers, and that in the guise of a muse he inspires the drummers to play well. The word "Ayan" means drummer in the Yoruba language. This is why some Yoruba family names contain the prefix Ayan, such as Ayanbisi, Ayangbade, Ayantunde, Ayanwande etc. This prefix marks its bearers out as hereditary custodians of the mysteries of Ayangalu.
In the 20th century the talking drum became a part of popular music in West Africa. It is used in playing Mbalax music of Senegal and in Fuji and Jùjú music of Nigeria (where it is known as a dùndún, not to be confused with the dundun bass drum of the Mandé peoples).[17] The talking drum is also used in ceremonial functions and events like weddings, burial ceremonies, private functions and most importantly it is commonly used by African bands as part of their musical instruments.
The pitch of the drum is varied to mimic the tone patterns of speech. This is done by varying the tension placed on the drumhead: the opposing drum heads are connected by a common tension cord. The waist of the drum is held between the player's arm and ribs, so that when squeezed the drumhead is tightened, producing a higher note than when it is in its relaxed state; the pitch can be changed during a single beat, producing a warbling note. The drum can thus capture the pitch, volume, and rhythm of human speech, though not the qualities of vowels or consonants.[18]
The use of talking drums as a form of communication was noticed by Europeans in the first half of the 18th century. Detailed messages could be sent from one village to the next faster than could be carried by a person riding a horse. In the 19th century Roger T. Clarke, a missionary, realised that "the signals represent the tones of the syllables of conventional phrases of a traditional and highly poetic character."[19]
Many African languages are tonal; that is, the pitch is important in determining the meaning of a particular word.[20][21] The Yoruba language, for instance, has three principal tones, low, medium, and high, analogous to tonic sol-fa notes do, re, and mi; different inflections of the three tones are then used to convey different messages. The same plan of three principal tones and their inflections also applies to how the drum talks in Yoruba music and culture. However, the Serer language and its relative Senegambian languages are not tonal, unlike almost all other Niger-Congo languages.[22]
The problem was how to communicate complex messages without the use of vowels or consonants but simply using tone. An English emigrant to Africa, John F. Carrington, in his 1949 book The Talking Drums of Africa, explained how African drummers were able to communicate complex messages over vast distances.[23] Using low tones referred to as male and higher female tones, the drummer communicates through the phrases and pauses, which can travel upwards of 4–5 miles. The process may take eight times longer than communicating a normal sentence but was effective for telling neighboring villages of possible attacks or ceremonies.[4] He found that to each short word that was beaten on the drums, an extra phrase was added, which would be redundant in speech but provided context to the core drum signal.
Example
The message "Come back home" might be translated by the drummers as: "Make your feet come back the way they went, make your legs come back the way they went, plant your feet and your legs below, in the village which belongs to us".[24]
Single words would be translated into phrases. For example, "Moon" would be played as "the Moon looks towards Earth", and "war" as "war which causes attention to ambushes".
The extra phrases provide a context in which to make sense of the basic message or drum beats. These phrases could not be randomized, when learning to play the drum students were taught the particular phrase that coincided with each word. This reason alone made learning to talk in drum language difficult and few were willing to take the time to do so.[25] The extra drum beats reduce the ambiguity of the meaning. Ironically, when the West understood the mechanism of the drums, they had already begun to be used less often in Africa. Also, words often lost their meaning. In an interview with Carrington, he explained that when words that are not used often, the phrases that correspond to them are forgotten. When given the beat for young girl, the drummers thought the phrase played was in fact the one for fishing nets.[26]
As emphasized by Finnegan,[27] the messages sent via drums were not confined to utilitarian messages. Drum languages could also be used for specifically literary forms, for proverbs, panegyrics, historical poems, dirges, and in some cultures practically any kind of poetry. The ritualized forms and the drum names of particular individuals constituted a type of oral literature. Among some peoples such as the Ashanti or the Yoruba, drum language and literature were very highly developed. In these cultures, drumming tended to be a specialized and often hereditary activity, and expert drummers with a mastery of the accepted vocabulary of drum language and literature were often attached to a king's court.
Details of design
The dimensions of the drums differ between ethnic groups, but all follow the same basic design.
The Tama of the Serer, Wolof and Mandinka peoples is typified by its smaller dimensions, having a total drum length typical of 13 centimetres (5.1in) with a 7-centimetre (2.8in) drum head diameter. This produces a much higher pitched tone than other talking drums of the same construction.
The Yoruba and Dagomba peoples, on the other hand, have some of the largest talking drums in their Lunna and Dùndún ensembles, with a length typical of 23–38 centimetres (9.1–15.0in) and a drum head diameter of between 10 and 18 centimetres (3.9 and 7.1in). In Yoruba talking-drum ensembles, these large drums are used alongside smaller ones similar to the Tama, called Gangan in Yoruba language.
Senegalese Tama player Yamar Thiam of the Finnish group Galaxy, performing at the Imatra Big band Festival at Imatra, July 2005
Playing styles
Drummers on parade
Playing styles are closely linked with the drum's construction and the tonal qualities of each language. There is a clear difference in playing styles between areas with predominantly Fulani and Mande-speaking populations and traditionally non-Mande areas further east.
The predominant style of playing in areas further west such as Senegal, Gambia, western Mali and Guinea is characterized by rapid rolls and short bursts of sound between the stick holding hand and accompanying free hand, and correlates with the various pitch accent and non-tonal languages heard in this area. This is a style typically heard in the popular Mbalax genre of Senegal.
From eastern Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, towards Niger, western-Chad and Nigeria, (with the exceptions of areas with Fulani and Mande-speaking majorities) the playing style of the talking drum is centered on producing long and sustained notes by hitting the drum head with the stick-holding hand and the accompanying free hand used to dampen and change tones immediately after being hit. This produces a rubbery sounding texture to its playing, which mimics the heavy and complex tones used in languages from this area (see Niger–Congo tonal language chart). This characteristic style can be clearly heard in the popular music of this area, particularly in those where the talking drum is the lead instrument, such as Fuji music of the Yoruba of Nigeria.
In some ethnic groups, each individual was given a "drum name" which could be used direct messages to specific individuals. Examples from among the Bulu of Cameroon are "Even if you dress up finely, love is the only thing" or "The giant wood rat has no child, the house rat has no child". Talking drum players sent messages by drumming the recipient's name, followed by the sender's name and the message.[28]
Naná Vasconcelos, master of percussion, started playing the talking drum in the early 1980s and has used it ever since.
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac has used the talking drum on the track "World Turning" on the band's 1975 eponymous album and in concert performances of the song.
David Byrne'sAmerican Utopia Broadway musical and HBO concert film features a tama player on multiple songs during the show.[30]
Cleo Sol used the talking drum on her song "When I'm In Your Arms", from the album Rose in the Dark.
Mannywellz played the talking drum on his song "Danfo", from his album Mirage.
In the game series Patapon, the player is a god who communicates with his or her followers using four Talking Drums. Each has its own unique sound: 'Pata,' 'Pon,' 'Don' and 'Chaka.'
In the television series Dead Like Me, the talking drum is discussed as a means of celebrating the lives of the dead.[3]
They can also be heard in the 1959 movie The Nun's Story, starring Audrey Hepburn, when she arrives in what was at that time the Belgian Congo.
Bill Kreutzmann, a drummer for the Grateful Dead, occasionally played a talking drum at the band's live shows during the "drums" segment of their shows in the second set.
The talking drum features prominently in the score of the 2018 film Black Panther. The score, composed by Ludwig Göransson, uses talking drums at the core of a leitmotif associated with the film's protagonist, T'Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman).[31]
1 2 3 (in French)Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation seereer – Pangool, vol. 2, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal (1990), pp. 48–49, ISBN2723610551
↑ (in French) Gravrand, Henry, "L'Heritage spirituel Sereer: Valeur traditionelle d'hier, d'aujourd'hui et de demain", in Ethiopiques, numéro 31, révue socialiste de culture négro-Africaine, 3e trimestre 1982
↑ Chen, Matthew Y. 2000. Tone Sandhi: patterns across Chinese dialects.
↑ Odden, David (1995), "Tone: African languages". In J. Goldsmith (ed.), Handbook of Phonological Theory, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
↑ Pozdniakov, Konstant in and Segerer, Guillaume (2017), "A Genealogic Classification of Atlantic Languages". (Draft) To appear in: Lüpke, Friederike (ed.) The Oxford Guide to the Atlantic Languages of West Africa, Oxford University Press.
↑ Carrington, J. F. (1949), The Talking Drums of Africa, Carey Kingsgate Press.
The Serer-Ndut or Ndut also spelt are an ethnic group in Senegal numbering 38600. They are part of the Serer people who collectively make up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal. The Serer-Ndut live mostly in western Senegal in the district of Mont-Roland, northwest of the city of Thiès.
The music of the Gambia is closely linked musically with that of its neighbor, Senegal, which surrounds its inland frontiers completely. Among its prominent musicians is Foday Musa Suso. Mbalax is a widely known popular dance music of the Gambia and neighbouring Senegal. It fuses popular Western music and dance, with sabar, the traditional drumming and dance music of the Wolof and Serer people.
Developed and used by cultures living in forested areas, drums served as an early form of long-distance communication, and were used during ceremonial and religious functions.
Dunun is the generic name for a family of West African drums that have developed alongside the djembe in the Mande drum ensemble.
Khasso or Xaaso is a region and former West African kingdom of the 17th to 19th centuries, occupying territory in what is today the Kayes Region of Mali. From the 17th to 19th centuries, its capital was at Medina until its fall.
Yoruba music is the pattern/style of music practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. It is perhaps best known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition and techniques, especially using the gongon hourglass shape tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles; it left an especially important influence on the music used in Santería practice and the music of Cuba.
Gudugudu is a traditional drum used by the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. The gudugudu is a time keeping drum for the dundun family of drums that are said to mimic speech. It is designed to produce a sharp and loud beat that all the other drummers can hear and keep in time with. The gudugudu player, in turn, takes his cues from the master drummer who plays a large talking drum, or dun-dun. It can be seen and experienced in modern sekere, fuji, apala and possibly juju cultural performances.
The agidigbo or ‘’’molo’’’ is a large traditional plucked lamellophone thumb piano used by the Yoruba people of Nigeria to play apala music.
The Sakara drum is one of the four major families of Yoruba drums of Nigeria. The other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Gbedu drum. Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum playing the lead role and other drums playing in support. The Sakara is also made and used by the Hausa people of northern Nigeria.
The Saltigue, are Serer high priests and priestesses who preside over the religious ceremonies and affairs of the Serer people, such as the Xooy ceremony, the biggest event in the Serer religious calendar. They usually come from ancient Serer paternal families, and the title is inherited by birthright. In Serer country, Saltigue are always diviners.
The Serer-Laalaa or Laalaa are part of the Serer ethnic group of Senegambia. They live in Laa, the Léhar Region, which comprises eighteen villages north of Thies and whose inhabitants are Serer-Laalaa. Although the people are ethnically Serer, their language Laalaa is not a dialect of the Serer-Sine language, but—like Saafi, Noon, Ndut and Palor, one of the Cangin languages.
The Serer-Noon also called Noon are an ethnic people who occupy western Senegal. They are part of the Serer people though they do not speak the Serer-Sine language natively.
The Serer religion, or A ƭat Roog, is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people living in the Senegambia region in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog. In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox, Kopé Tiatie Cac, and Kokh Kox.
Somb is a town in Senegal situated in the west of the country.
The prehistoric and ancient history of the Serer people of modern-day Senegambia has been extensively studied and documented over the years. Much of it comes from archaeological discoveries and Serer tradition rooted in the Serer religion.
Tukar a large village in Senegal. Attached to the rural community of Ngayokhem, it is located in the area of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Sine, west of Senegal. The population is overrun by the Serers. As of 2006 to 2007, the population was estimated at 3000. Ndokh, which was a colony of Tukar, is now a separate village.
Roog or Rog is the Supreme God and creator of the Serer religion of the Senegambia region.
The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious and Ndut traditions are included in the narratives contained herein but are not limited to them.
Pangool singular: Fangool, are the ancient saints and ancestral spirits of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. The Pangool play a crucial role in Serer religion and history. In a religious sense, they act as interceders between the living world and the supreme being Roog or Koox. In a historical sense, the ancient Serer village and town founders called Lamanes were believed to be accompanied by a group of Pangool as they travelled in search of land to exploit. These Lamanes became guardians of Serer religion and created shrines in honour of the Pangool, thus becoming the custodians of the "Pangool cult".
The Njuup tradition is a Serer style of music rooted in the Ndut initiation rite, which is a rite of passage that young Serers must go through once in their lifetime as commanded in the Serer religion.
References
(in French)Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation seereer – Pangool, vol. 2, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal, 1990, pp. 40, 48–49, ISBN2723610551.
(in French) Gravrand, Henry, "L'Heritage spirituel Sereer: Valeur traditionelle d'hier, d'aujourd'hui et de demain", in Ethiopiques, numéro 31, révue socialiste de culture négro-Africaine, 3e trimestre 1982 (retrieved 7 May 2012)
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