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Things You Need To know About The Djembe Drum

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The Djembe Drum

The Djembe is an African drum with a goblet shape and distinct sound. It is a membranophone instrument with huge popularity across Africa and the world at large. It is the most well-known among the African percussion instruments.

The djembe drum is of different shapes and sizes. Specifically, the djembe’s size ranges from 55cm to around 100cm in height and 30 to 38 cm in diameter for the drumhead.

The shape and design of djembe are majorly for its sound production and ability to resonate, not for aesthetics as some people may think.

In addition, the popularity of the djembe has made the making of the djembe drum available in the Western world in different styles. However, most African djembes are hand-carved from one wood log.

Anyone that plays djembe, either skilled or not skilled is called djembefola. In addition, the different localities have different approaches to playing this rhythmic drum.

The size of the drum actually has a great effect on its pitch and the smaller the drum, the higher is its pitch. In summary, the smaller djembe produced sound with a higher pitch compared to the bigger one.

Origin of The Djembe

Things You Need To know About The Djembe origin

The Djembe is absolutely originating from West Africa. However, no one has come out to claim the actual origin of this wonderful percussive instrument.  And till now, we have different stories about the actual origin of this peculiar drum.

One of the lore has it that one of the village wives pounded grain through the bottom of a mortar. Immediately, her husband came with the skin goat in his hand to cover the hole of the mortar and make the first djembe.

In truth, the goblet shape of the djembe resembles the shape of the Africa mortar used in pounding yam or grains.

There is another narration by the Mandinka legend. The legend said that djembe making is a skill set taught Mandinka blacksmith by genie also known as a djinn.

It was said that Genie (supernatural creatures) gave the tree to the Mandinka blacksmith and revealed to him how to carve and use it to make the djembe.

Perhaps, the stories above are true about the drum but the narration of the Mandinka legend is widely accepted. Likewise, there is prevailing compliance that the Mandinka tribe of the great Mali empire is an inventor of djembe.

Besides, the djembe is connected with the Mandinka caste of blacksmiths, widely known as Numu and this was dated back to 1230AD.

Also, people also believe that the movement of Numu people from one place to another across the west African made djembe to spread. The instrument can now be found in Mali, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, and Ghana.

Type Of The Djembe Drum

The type of djembe we have is based on two classes. The first class we will discuss is based on the carving system of the drum shell.

Thereafter, we will discuss the second class which is typically based on the drum tuning method.

 The second class is a more pronounced way of classifying the djembe than the first class. Because the second class can still take up the different types of drum shells we have in the first class

Type Based On the Carving System Of The Drum Shell

Typically, we have three different types of djembe drums based on this class. And for this type, the way the tail of the drum shell was carved in relation to the upper shell of the drum is used.

The first type of the djembe drum is one with a vertical and round drum shell with a tapering tail base end. This type is common among people of Guinea, and most of the Guinea djembes are like that.

The second type of drum is one with a funnel shape and large circumference shell and also with a tapering tail base end. This type is common in the area of Senegal

The third type is the djembe drum with a fairly narrow and cylindrical base. You can easily find this type of djembe around the Mali region.

Type Based On the Tuning Method

Besides considering the general shape of the drum shell we can still classify the djembe into two types according to the drum tuning method.

So we have Key-Tuned Djembe Drums and also Rope Tuned Djembe Drums. Now let us discuss the two tuning types of the djembe that we have.

Rope Tuned Djembe Drums

Djembe Drum

The rope tuned was the traditional djembe drum. This drum used rope that attached the drumhead to the base of the drum’s upper shell for its tuning. The rope tuning is done by adjusting and tightening the ropes that surround the upper shell of the drum. 

Specifically, the rope is located on the head of the djembe drum. The tuning ropes were arranged in such a way that the horizontal ropes were interwoven between the vertical ropes.

So when the tension on the ropes is increased, the tension on the skin of the drumhead will also increase. How this tuning is done was discussed better in the How to tune the Djembe section.

Key-Tuned Djembe Drums

This type of djembe drum is the modern form of the drum. The traditional djembes were designed to be tuned by rope as discussed above.

However, the key-tuned also known as the top-tune, bolt tuned or mechanical tune djembe utilized bolt and nuts mechanism for tuning.

This modern key tuned design has a metal hoop placed above the drumhead. Specifically, the metal hoop holds the drumhead down with the aid of the metal lugs attached to the sides of the drum shell.

The metal lugs secure the hood and the drumhead to the body or shell of the drum. Some of the key-tuned drums have up to four or eight screw lugs depending on the size of the drum.

In addition, the lugs are used to tune the drum by adjusting its screws to adjust the tension on the drumheads.

Specifically, to tune the drum, the wrench is used to tighten the bolts or screw connected to the metal lugs. This action will tighten the drumhead and simultaneously tune the drum.

This type of djembe drum produces a satisfying range of sounds as well but not compared to the sound from the traditional rope tuned.

Also, this drum lacks the aesthetics of the traditional rope-tuned drum. For this reason alone, many professional djembe drummers or djembefola prefer the traditional rope tuned.

Nevertheless, the key tuned djembe drums are very easy and fast to tune compared to the traditional ones. Also, replacement of the drumhead is a simple process with the key-tuned drum.

Construction of the Rope-Tuned Djembe

Things You Need To know About The Djembe making

The djembe drum is basically made from wood, rawhide, rings, and ropes. These four materials constitute what we call the djembe. A typical djembe will have a hollow wood shell or body with a goatskin fastened with the aid of rope and rings over the top of the hollow wood.

1. Wood

The wood is used to make the body or shell of the drum. Traditionally, it is carved from one piece of Africa hardwood like lenge, iroko, and others.  The shell has two parts for different functions.

The upper part, like a bowl, is the hub for the lower tone of the drum. The lower part, like a duct, is the hub for higher tone and volume of the drum.

The inside part of traditional djembe is ideally carved roughly in a spiral pattern. It is done that way to improve the tonal quality of the drum and also reduce unnecessary overtones.

2. Rawhide

The rawhide is used for the drumhead and traditionally it is from female goatskin. However, some still substitute cow, antelope, horse, deer, and synthetic leather for it.

The thickness of the skin has an effect on the sound of djembe. The thinner skin creates a very sharp sound with a minute overtone when the player strokes for a higher tone.

The thicker skin has more overtones in the higher tone and it is difficult to play a sharp high tone on it. Nevertheless, the thicker hide lasts better than the thinner one and produces less quality sound.

3. Rope or Cord

Basically, the major use of a rope is to stretch and tighten the rawhide used for the drumhead so that the drum can be playable.

In order to have a harmonious sound, every loop of the rope needs to be tightened with an even tension all around the drum.

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Before now, djembe rope used to be twisted strips made from the thick hide, for example, the cowhide. However, the common rope used nowadays is majorly kernmantle built low-stretch synthetic rope.

This rope has a different fiber core that reinforced it and an outer sheath that protects the core. The major factor for rope selection in djembe making is its stretch level.

The rope should be strong, able to withstand stress with low stretch.

4. Rings

The rings are usually made of structural steel and partly wrapped in colored cloth for aesthetic purposes and also to restrain the rusting flakes.

The rings are also an essential part of the djembe because it contributes so much in stretching and tightening of the drumhead which makes the drum suitable for playing. Normally, two rings are used on the upper part of the drum to properly secure the hide.

The first ring known as the flesh ring is used to spread the hide and the second ring known as the crown ring is used to trap and secure the hide as a drumhead over the hollow surface.

The ropes are attached in the form of loops to join both the crown and bottom ring together and also to tension the drumhead and secure it in place.

Interestingly, you can read Construction of the Djembe to learn more about the art of making the djembe.

Playing the Djembe

Things You Need To know About The Djembe playing
Playing the djembe – Source

The djembe is played by hands and not with sticks like other drums. The drum player can sit or stand to play the drum. However, sitting is more comfortable compared to standing. And while sitting, your hand should get to the drum back and forth easily.

Moreover, there is a need for good posture to play djembe comfortably. Of course, the posture should give you all freedom in your body and arms in relation to the drum.

 In addition, the hand should be posed in such a way that will make hitting the drum easy and smooth. The best hand positioning and placement on the djembe drumhead is to have your hands in a triangular shape.

Also, your hands need to be relaxed so that you can produce the best sound out of the drum.

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To produce sound from the djembe, you have to strike the palm of your hands on the surface of the drumhead. This will set the air around the skin into vibration and the vibration will resonate through the shell.

Specifically, hitting the drumhead will actually produce three distinct tones on the djembe.  Those basic tones you can produce on the djembe are bass tone, open tone, and slap tone.

The drummers combine those three tones together in an artistic way to produce a melodious rhythm.

The three tones, bass, open, and slap, symbolized low, medium, and high tone respectively. However, there is a particular way you will hit or stroke the djembe to bring those tones alive.

If you want to learn more about playing the djembe, and how to create those tones on it, try and read How to play the Djembe (The art of playing the djembe). The article gives more insight on how to hit the drum and play all its three tones.

How To Tune The Djembe

Tuning of the djembe is just an activity to bring back its tonal qualities into life. This is necessary because djembe devalue in tonal qualities and become flabby when its drumhead is not sufficiently stretched and tightened.

Therefore, there is a need to tune the drum when some of the tones have decay in their qualities. For instance, when the higher tone also known as the slap is dry and not crisp.

As well as when you notice that the response of the lower tone known as the bass is significantly wobbly or not even alive.

Another condition that calls for tuning of the drum is when the tension is not evenly distributed around the drumhead. Definitely, in this situation we throw the sound quality of the drum off the balance and make it sound nasty.

Any of the situations stated calls for the tuning of the drum.

In order to tune the drum, you must know what to do and how to do it. Actually, the traditional djembe tuning is done by adjusting the tension on the drumhead by tightening or losing the loop of rope that hooks it.

This is done by pulling the rope with a shirt and thick stick designed for that purpose. Though people are applying some technical method to do that nowadays.

The task is to pull and tighten the rope in order to stretch and tighten the drumhead evenly at every side. Simon Lewis explained better in Easiest and simplest way to tune your djembe video.


At Phamox Music, we go all out for exactness and honesty. For this purpose, if by any means you found any possible glitch, be it factual, editorial or something that we need to update, kindly contact us.


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