Drums: The Heartbeat of an Entire Civilization

I am taking understanding music at the collegiate level as a long-time percussion player. I love music. I love drums even more. So why not write my essay on the Drum Continent? I would like to share with you some things I learned and what all applies to my life and experiences as a percussionist.

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Drums and religious ceremony.

Omukongozzi,or "the carriers" keep with them shakers, rattlers, and of course, drums. They do ritual dance to create and shape a ritual space where the people can then pray and interact with their patron Gods. The closest thing I can compare this to western culture would be the catholic church burning incense, playing sacred organ music, and blessing people at the door as they enter to prepare for mass. It gets the people prepared and in the right headspace to worship as deeply and effectively as they can. For them, it is about creating an atmosphere. They are of course much more in tune with the earth, they feel her, seek to understand her. And this brings us to our next topic.

Drums and spirituality

In the west, we don't really do spirituality like eastern cultures do. Africa is absolutely spiritual, it is a huge part of their culture and their religion. Each region has their own unique quirks and distinctions, but here is one example that caught my eye. Among the Yorubas of Nigeria, they believe the trees are in close contact with humans. With those trees they make the "talking drums" which are said to broadcast actual spoken messages.

Drums and linguistics

At first, I assumed it was an exaggeration that a drum could actually speak. throughout this essay, I started to really think about it and the culture as a whole. African languages are, by design, mimicable by drum. This a quote from the Smithsonian, not used in the essay, but it reads like this. "Yoruba is a tonal language that uses three distinct tones at different frequencies. Similarly, the drums have three main tones, using rising and falling pitch to reproduce speech sounds." This is the key, the piece that ties the whole thing together. I understand what it means, I have heard an assortment of African languages and dialects, and in context, in makes sense.

Drums and Posterity

Africans teach not through literature, but through mouth. Orality is the mecca of African folklore and history telling. They share history through song and dance, accompanied by drum. With this idea that drums can speak, you can see how by learning a song or dance, you learn the story that is being told with it. Traditional drum dance is how oral tradition stays preserved through the generations. 

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Here are images of Instruments I have learned to use/ performed with of African decent as a seasoned percussionist

Djembe Drum

Cabasa Shaker

Shekere Shaker

Field Drum

Tambourine

These are all instruments I have performed with. Specifically the black swamp tambourine, I cannot tell you what it is made out of but it was the best sounding, highest quality tambourine I ever used. She was beautiful.

I hope you learned something new, I sure did. I love percussion, I love history, and I love drum culture. 

Thankyou for your time

-A R I