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Home > The ensemble |
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The ensemble
A traditional djembe ensemble like this one consists of three doundoun (or bass drum) players, one or two djembe accompaniment players (left), and one djembe solo player (right). The doundoun players play their drum with a stick in the right hand, and on top of the drum is a metal bell which they play with the left hand, using a metal nut or a nail or some other piece of metal. The smallest bass drum is the kenkeni, the mid-sized one and the lead melody is the sangban, and the largest bass drum is the doundounba. The main melody of the rhythm is formed by the three doundouns. The kenkeni can be thought of as a metronome, often simple parts are played on it that keep the main beat. The sangban player is the leader of that section. The doundounba and the sangban combined form the recogniseable part of the rhythm's melody.
The main interaction with the dancers is done by
the djembe solo player, who is also the leader of the ensemble as a whole.
However, as soon as there are ladies dancing, the de facto leaders are the
ladies of course (what else is new
Note that for dance accompaniment, where often only two or maybe three people are available, all three douns are played by one person. The douns stand upright on the ground, and the bell is absent. When you start with djembe lessons, you usually start with the simple djembe accompaniment parts. This is understandable, it is where anyone in Africa would start. However, the more interesting melodies are contained in the doundoun section. Also, they are the essence of the rhythm and are far more recogniseable than the djembe accompaniment parts. In my workshops I make it a point to practice the doundoun parts on the djembe with the whole group, and then if someone feels confident, they can step up to the doundoun and play it. Also quite often I transcribe the combined doundoun parts into one djembe part. Such a djembe part can be used as a break, or as an uni-sono part, or as support, or when no doundouns are present. Since the bulk of the doundoun melody can be played with a bass and a tone on the djembe, this is something that beginners are quite capable of doing. This transcription is a creative process that tries to capture the essence of the melody, without being note-for-note exact. It is what I consider working with the living tradition. Often I double the length of the doundoun melody so I can use different notes and patterns from the source and create something that has quite a bit of variation. 
Enjoy, and Happy Drumming!Dennis
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) They determine the speed, the variations,
if they like the music or not, and so forth...