The Talking Drum

How a drum can talk

Many West African languages are tonal: the same syllable means different things depending on whether it is spoken high, middle or low. Yoruba, spoken mainly in southwestern Nigeria and Benin, uses three main tones. The talking drum reproduces those tones and the rhythm of speech, so listeners who know the language can follow phrases, names and proverbs without a single spoken word.

The drum is shaped like an hourglass, carved from one piece of wood, with a skin at each end. Dozens of leather or gut cords run between the two heads. The drummer holds the drum under one arm and squeezes the cords to tighten the skins and raise the pitch, or relaxes them to let it fall, while striking with a curved stick.

One idea, many peoples

Hourglass drums are found across a wide belt of West Africa. Among the Yoruba the lead drum is the dundun, with the smaller gangan beside it. The Hausa call it kalangu, the Dagomba of northern Ghana lunsi, the Akan dondo and the Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia tama. Akan drummers also use the atumpan, a pair of large goblet drums tuned high and low, to speak in the Twi language.

Messages, praise and history

In the past, drummers could announce news, summon people to a gathering or warn of danger, and the sound could carry across villages. At royal courts, the drummer is also a historian and praise singer. Yoruba drummers perform oriki, praise poetry that recalls a person's ancestors and deeds, and court drummers in Ghana recite the names and stories of past rulers.

Because the drum follows real language, the art takes years to learn and is often passed down within drumming families, from parent to child. Among the Yoruba, many hereditary drummers belong to lineages linked with Ayan, regarded as the spirit of drumming, and carry names that begin with Ayan, such as Ayandele or Ayantunde.

From palace to pop

The talking drum moved easily into modern music. It is central to Nigerian juju, made famous worldwide by King Sunny Ade, and to fuji and apala. Today it is heard in Afrobeats tracks, gospel churches and film scores, and drummers still perform at weddings and naming ceremonies, calling out the names of guests in the language of the drum.

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