Dancing to the talking drum

About a week back, I was fortunate to be present at my cousin, introduction. It was an awesome experience. We were met at the entrance to the bride-to-be's house by a group of drummers. they were playing the talking drum. Forget about the dancing, money dropping, and the melodrama that seem to be the theme of the event, let me tell you all a bit about the talking drum.

The talking drum is simply a drum that talks. Not like humans per se, but the drum can be used to communicate in a way that some humans can understand. The drum is popular in the SOuthwestern, Yoruba-speaking part of Nigeria. The drum consists of 4 main components

• The woody part, usually made from Mahogany (Swietenia mahagony), open-ended and carved in an hourglass shape.
• The skin, made from cow, camel, or horse's skin. The skins are dried and used to cover the opened ends of the carved mahogany wood.
• The strings, usually attached to the covering skins at both ends and operated like tension cords. The tension cords allow drummers to manipulate the pitch of the drum and pass across subtle messages in the process.
• The wooden beater, otherwise known as 'Gongo' in Yoruba. The gongo is usually in curved form as you can see in the video. It is also specially carved to fit that particular function.

Most talking drums also have other accessory components which mostly function mainly for decorative purposes and have nothing to do with the output of the drum. Some might also have a carrier which is primarily a leather rope that is usually tied around the drum and used to suspend it on the shoulder.

Talking drums are quite historical in Yoruba land. While some messages from the talking drum can be quite conspicuous and easily discerned even by the newest of novices, messages can be made so cryptic that only the talented can fathom them out. They are used in celebrations, just like in the video above. In the olden days, talking drums are also employed during inter-community or tribal wars to motivate warriors. Most importantly, talking drums are used during important rituals.

It takes some specialty to play the talking drum. While modernization now allows every dick and harry to be able to learn how to play, it was not so in the past. Only those that are born into 'drummer's families' are allowed to play the drums. The drummer's families usually have 'Ayan' as an appendage to their family's name; such as Ayangalu, Ayanwale, Ayantola, etc.

Anyone that tries to play the drum without being from the drummer's family usually suffers some terrible consequences that require some form of atonement/rituals. Anyone born of the drummer's family naturally acquires the ability to discern the messages being passed by the talking drum.

Playing the Drum

The talking drum is usually played by holding it under the armpit of one hand with the fingers of the holding hand utilized in manipulating the tension of the skin to change the tone of the drum while the other hand beats the drum using the wooden beater.

In events involving celebrations like the one in the video above, drummers will not start playing the drum until some money is given to them. They usually call it the money for opening the drum. The drummers can also suddenly halt playing the drum if they are not happy with the people around because they are not tipping them adequately.

You can read more about the talking drum in the following resources: