Talk:Djembe

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[edit] Size

I have a full size djembe, constructed in the traditional way. The shell was carved in Guinea, and the goat skin came from the Ivory coast. I also have a 3/4 size djembe; both the shell and goat skin came from Guinea. I made these at drum-making workshops. I'll take photos and change the photos in the article. Bruce 22:25, Sep 12, 2004 (UTC)

[comment deleted by user]

Loosely defined, any of these drums can be called a djembe because of the shape and construction. However, anything smaller than about 12" will generally not produce the range of sounds that a "real" djembe can. This is an important distinction -- the djembe is traditionally used in an ensemble, and occupies a certain part of the melodic line in a song, so a player of traditional music must be able to play in that range. The djembe has become so popular that it is used in many ways that are out of the traditional context, so these smaller drums can fit in many other places.

I am a musician and have played with West Africans since the mid 80's, and have bought, sold, and otherwise interacted with dozens of djembe drums in that time. Nearly every one of them was between 24 and 25" tall, and between 11 and 14" across the top. This is pretty standard. I don't think there's any point in disparaging the size of another guy's drum, but for the purposes of the article, if "size matters" to the definition, I'd say that's what should be used.

The smaller drums that are being produced these days are mostly made for tourists, and many africans make them for the huge U.S. market. At lest the bodies of the drums pictured probably originated in Senegal. Just like any other instrument, some djembes are considered better than others by musicians. Those produced in Guinea, Mali, and Ivory Coast top the list, while those from Ghana and Senegal are not considered as good. Of course, there are exceptions - good and bad drums are made in all of these places, but the djembe is not native to either Senegal or Ghana -- they got into the game later on. I play with som Ghanaians now, and they use djembes from Ivory Coast, not Ghana. (It's also important to note that the way these modern countries are divided up bears little relation to the cultures and ethnic groups that originated the drums.)

I changed the disputed paragraph so it would be more NPOV. I made it clear that traditional djembes are twelve inches and the djembes pictured are not full sized. I think the pictures are fine. I mean, they still look like djembes.

Ccj

[edit] US and Europe

I changed the "The djembe is very popular in US and Europe for all over the world. Its also popular in Brazil and in Japan, places I lived. Dionisio

[edit] Adding and external link

I would like to add an external link to my site www.djembefola.com, but it would be preferable if someone else were to deem it appropriate and add the link.

We hope to help connect djembe players around the world, facilitating learning from each other and to help those eager to learn but have no access to teachers.

We also provide learning reseurces, such as articles and videos for those interested in learning djembe and related instruments. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Djembefola (talk • contribs).

Wikipedia's "external links" sections are for additional reference information, not for directing users to non-reference resources or related communities. You might consider submitting the link to the Open Directory Project at http://dmoz.org instead. — Saxifrage ✎ 18:33, 20 October 2006 (UTC)