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Making a djembe Making a djembe

Mamady Keïta remembers:

In the past, the drums were made by the blacksmiths. The cermonies accompanying the making of a djembe were still conducted as recently as 20 years ago. At that time, the djembe was built only for one's private use. Unlike today, there was no commercial interest. Nobody would ever have thought to make money for the making of a drum. The village djembe player went to the blacksmith, gave him ten cola nuts, and asked him to make a new djembe. The blacksmith considered the making of such a drum an honour.

First of all, they would go to see the tree that was to be cut. This tree most often would be a "lenke" tree (note: one of the sacred trees - D.) , and they would dance sing and drum before it. The blacksmith and his companions would bring cola nuts to the tree in order to tell the spirit of the tree that it had been chosen, and, at the same time, apologise for the cutting. After the tree had been cut, the outer rough form of the drum would be carved, then the body would be hollowed out. Another ceremony would give the djembe its voice after all the woodwork had been done and the first skin was mounted. A long time ago, this was the skin of an antelope, later goatskin was used. Finally, the djembe's skin would be stretched and tightenend, and when it was played for the first time, there would be another ceremony, which would give it its voice.

Even today, it is customary that djembe players give their drums cola nuts in order to be protected, for instance, from competition with drummers from different villages.

Credits
Text excerpt: Uschi Billmeier: Mamady Keïta - A Life for the Djembe ( Arun-Verlag, 2004, ISBN: 3-935581-52-1 ) Mamady Keïta's web site, TamTam Mandingue.
Photograph of djembe builder: Aatmi djembe, a french-language photo page that shows the complete creation of a djembe, from a section of a tree, all the way to the finished product.


 

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