Information on instruments, and specific instructions for creating a few!
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The next step beyond making music with your body is making music with an instrument. An instrument is an extension of your body. A drum echoes the stamping of feet, a flute sings like a human voice.
Drums and rhythm instruments are found in every culture around the world. Each instrument has its special tradition. Balinese dancers move to the gamelan orchestra, while Mexican dancers are in time with a mariachi band. West African musicians use drums and a gourd with beautiful beads called a shékere. You’ll see many kinds of rhythmic and melodic instruments in the People Like Me show. You'll also hear some on tapes that you will not see. Can you find, or identify:
A conga drum
Ankle bells
A bamboo xylophone (gamelan)
A guitar
A flute
Here are some of the instruments used in West African music and dance. See if you can identify which ones are used in the show!
COW BELL: In an African musical ensemble, the bell is used as a time keper, or with a number of different bells, creates its own ensemble.
KITIRO: This drum is used to create the vitally important rhythmic foundation for the mandinka dancing of the West African countries of Senegal and the Gambia. This drum is conical in shape and is made from a deep red mahogany wood called kembo. The goat skin head is both pegged and laced when fastened onto the drum body.
DJEMBE: This drum originated in the West African countries of Mali and Guinea. The djembe is hewn from the trunk of the yir tree which is similar to the oak tree. Conical in shape, the Djembe is referred to a s being "sacred" because of its important religious use, in ritual.
DJUN DJUN: Originally from Mali, West Africa, this is a soft wood or oil drum. It has a double head which is made of cow hide, and laced to the drum body. Unlike the Djimbe, the Djun Djun is played with a stick in one hand and bell with the other. This method is playing the drum allows the drummer to keep double time.
SHE'KE'RE': This instrument is made from a gourd in the squash family. After being selected, the gourd is dried, hollowed, cleaned and strung with beads, seeds, or cowrie shells, to obtain a rattle sound, or sometimes just struck on the ground or with the player's palm, for a bass sound. Played mostly in West Africa, and in African based music in the Carribean and South America, the Liberians call this instrument the SaSa. The she’ke’re can be used in concert with the drums to enhance the rhythm, or a number of she'ke're's can be played, ensemble style.
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