Djembe Man Drums

Djembe Man Drums are built in the traditional way, as they have been built for hundreds of years, using the traditional types of African wood.

Unlike many sites on the web selling ‘African’ djembes made in the Far East, Djembe Man Drums only sells authentic quality hand made djembe drums. None of our African drums are made in the Far East and all are truly quality hand made musical instruments – not mass produced drums manufactured on a lathe in the Far East, in countries that have no tradition in djembe playing or making.

Traditionally crafted djembe drums are carved in one single piece from hollowed out hardwood trees. Specific types of wood depend upon the forests accessible to the drum makers. Some West African hardwoods used for musician-quality instruments (carved in Guinea, Senegal, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire) include lenge, acajou, iroko, hare or khadi, and dugura.

These djembes are authentic, superb, quality musical instruments, not tourist quality djembes one would find in a west African market and not wall hangers as are so many djembes imported into the US and Europe.

What’s the difference? Hardwood vs. Softwood. The tourist quality copies use cheap softwoods which requires a much thicker shell. These thicker softwood shells have a dull, muffled tone that cannot compare to the explosive sound of a traditionally hewn hardwood Djembe.

The process of djembe making has different stages and a different artisan is responsible for each stage, from the whittling of the log into a djembe shape to the carving of the designs and the heading of the djembe.

The log is cut to shape and then hollowed by hand.

Djembes are not part of the culture or musical traditions of countries in the far east, such as China, Indonesia, Pakistan. Those countries produce copies of African djembe drums and are no match for real African drums. The countries are rich in their own traditions, culture and music, but djembes are not part of that tradition.

All and any of the djembe producing countries – Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gambia and Burkina Faso can and do produce great djembes – as well as low quality djembes. Buying a djembe from a ‘djembe’ country does not guarantee a great djembe.  But a great djembe, will only come from one of those countries and  djembe masters are to be found in all these countries.

What matters is the quality of the drum – real quality djembes are hard to find but they are being made from Senegal to Ivory Coast and from Mali to Guinea. Which djembe you decide to buy, everything being equal in quality,  will depend on what sounds and looks good to you.

What style of djembe drumming do you like? Listen to music and watch djembe players on DVD or on the web. My goal is to be able to supply you with djembes from most if not all of the djembe producing countries.

There is a tendency to Westernize the criteria of djembe production to suit our Western sensibilities of what makes a good drum.  We have to remember that African djembe drummers and djembe masters have been playing djembes that were produced locally by purely African standards long before the West even knew about djembes. Sometimes I think we get too hung up about rope type, symmetry and many other notions that are not necessarily the mark of a great djembe – and we forget about the sound, the music, the culture and the soul of the instrument. It is after all about the music – and the drum itself as  a whole – and not the totality of its parts. Building djembes should not be a project in engineering.

You need to beware of sellers who list their djembes as ‘African Djembes’ when in fact they are made in Indonesia – how can a djembe made in Indonesia be called African? Why would they call a copy made in the Far East  ‘African’ if they did not know that real djembes come from Africa? Those drums are definitely not ‘pro’ – in fact they are far from it.  These sellers lack integrity and are exploiting African culture, by calling a manufactured drum an African djembe, they do not respect the culture nor you the potential client.  Would you buy a ‘German’ car made in China – is that not an oxymoron?

Real African djembes are made by hand in small workshops – so called ‘Indonesian djembes’ are made on a lathe, like a piece of furniture – they are not hand made. A so called  ‘Indonesian djembe’ is a ‘goblet’ shaped drum. There are many types of goblet drums – dumbek, darbuka, zarb etc. they are wonderful drums – but they are not djembes.

Some of these dishonest sellers will also try and ‘drum’ up business for their fake djembes by calling them ‘eco friendly’ or made from  ‘government inspected wood’. I am not sure what that means with a product coming from a third world country where corruption is rampant. They try to use the ‘eco friendly’ claim as a reason for you to buy one of their fake ‘African djembes’ from Indonesia, when in fact deforestation in Indonesia is the amongst the worst in the world.

The organization Global Forest Watch claims that:

“Indonesia has the highest rates of tropical forest loss in the world”
and that “Deforestation in Indonesia is largely the result of a corrupt political and economic system that regarded natural resources, especially forests, as a source of revenue to be exploited for political ends and personal gain.”

Click for info on deforestation in Indonesia

Deforestation is a serious problem world wide – and there are many projects led by governments, non govermental organizations and non profit organizations to reforest West Africa. Most reputable djembe workshops in West Africa have some sort of reforestation program.

Other people will claim to sell you a ‘Pro’ or ‘African’ djembe made in Ghana. Ghana has an extremely rich and wonderful tradition and culture in music and percussion – djembe is not part of that. Ghana has no djembe playing or making tradition. Most djembes from Ghana are cranked out to meet the need of the mass market and are not of great quality.

There’s a few importers of African drums who also get djembes and other traditional Ghanaian drums from Ghana. They also import and/or build high quality djembes from Ivory Coast, Mali or Guinea and they are reputable sellers – they know djembe and their djembes from Ghana are not the same as  most djembes  sold on the web. But beware – most djembes from Ghana are tourist quality and wall hangers.

For the same price as a manufactured copy of a djembe you can by a hand made djembe made in Africa by the ‘people of the djembe’ – support the ‘people of the djembe’ and buy a quality hand made instrument – you will hear the difference and not regret it.

Djembes are traditionally hand carved from one piece of wood, the whole process from the forming of the shape out of a log of wood to the final shaping and design carving is done by hand. Please see my ‘Youtube Gallery’ link from the main menu to see a short clip of djembe and dunun production in Burkina Faso.

The best types of wood are the ones that have been used traditionally for djembe production through the ages. Lenke, Akajou, Khadi or Khardi, Iroko etc. The names may change according to the different areas and countries. Despite what some websites claim and misinform you – Tweneboa is not a traditional djembe wood. It is too soft but is good enough for djembe that will be used for informal drumming and drum circles.

Melina or Mango wood which is a light wood traditionaly used to make dunun drums and is fine for a student level or inexpensive alternative to a hardwood djembe – if itis well made and  comes from a ‘djembe country’.

Goat skins should be African skins, from Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast or Senegal. Goat skins from Ghana are not really good, mostly too thin. Goat skins from the far east (such as Pakistan) are not as good for djembe heading as a west African skin and that is because of the lean diet of goats from the African djembe producing countries, which help create superior sound. many skins from the Far East are chemically treated too.

A djembe has to be tuned correctly to produce the correct sounds. While this is not an exact tuning the way we would tune a piano or guitar, there are a range of tunings which are acceptable. Despite the fact that many new djembe players are captivated by the great bass a djembe has, tone and slaps are as important than a booming bass. Only a handfull of knowledgable and reputable djembe sellers on the web know the difference – how to tune a djembe and take the time to tune the drum and will actually sell you a properly tuned drum.

In African cultures drumming and dancing are part of the celebration of life, its cycles and seasons and is part of the expression of the cultural richness and amazing heritage these cultures have given us. I personally believe that if we like the drum or musical instrument, we should recognize where it came from. It did not come out of a vacuum. It is an expression of the creative intelligence and richness of the culture it came from and it is always good to appreciate and respect the culture.

Less expensive drums are great for an informal drummer or someone on a tight budget. If you are considering going to a class for African drumming or want to get the ‘correct’ djembe sounds from your drum, I would suggest buying a higher end drum. Less expensive drums will work well in a drum circle and smaller drums are good for enjoying some basic percussion or taking camping or backpacking. I do not recommend a small drum or lower end drum for serious drumming or any type of African drumming class.

Please contact me directly so I can help guide you to the best djembe for your particular needs.