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For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation).
- This article or section should include material from Jungle drums
Drums are an ancient device, usually invented and used by cultures living in forested areas.
The drums were used for communication, ceremonial and religious functions.
There are different communication drum types, although they are all commonly known as the "talking drums".
Log Drums
The oldest drums were made out of hollowed logs. The bigger the log, the louder sound would be made and thus the farther it could be heard. A long slit would be cut in one side of the tree trunk. Next, the log would be hollowed out through the slit, leaving lips (wooden ledges) on each side of the opening. A drum could be tuned to produce a lower note and a higher note. For that it would need to be hollowed out more under one lip than under the other.
The drum's lips are hit with sticks, beating out rhythms of high and low notes.
The message-sending logs are not drums at all from the techincal point of view, since they do not have a skin or membrane that would vibrate as they are beaten. Instead, the entire log vibrates like a big cylindrical gong, so musicologists call this type of instrument a slit gong.
Modern Drums
Some cultures improved the log drums with animal skins and hides which were were stretched over the end of a log, thus creating a device bearing more resemblance to the modern drum.
One of the most famous talking drums are the drums of West Africa, where they were invented. From regions know today as Nigeria and Ghana they spread in Africa and to America and the Caribbean during the slave trade. At that time they were banned because they were being used by the slaves to communicate over long distances in a code unknown to the slave traders and masters.
Talking drums are also known as: gan gan, dun dun, atumpan, dondo, and lunar.
In the 20th century the talking drums have become a part of popular music in West Africa, especially in the music genre of juju.
Drum code
Cultures using drums for sending messages usually developed a code, similar to today's Morse code. Sounds of various interval and tone conveyed different meanings, for example 'enemy is coming', 'forest is on fire' or 'river is flooding'.
Some of those codes were made to resemble real sentences. To prevent messages from being short and sounding too similar, very long descriptive sentences can be used to enhance the drum language.
See also
External links
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