96-493: Bolokada Conde , Soungalo Coulibaly , Mamady Keïta , Famoudou Konaté , Drissa Kone Douguitigui Kone , Dramane Kone A djembe or jembe ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ m b eɪ / JEM -bay ; from Malinke jembe [dʲẽbe] , N'Ko : ߖߋ߲߰ߓߋ ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa . According to the Bambara people in Mali ,
192-525: A gumbe . This mounting technique most likely goes back hundreds of years; the exact period is unknown. Bolokada Conde Moussa "Bolokada" Conde is a master drummer from Kissidougou , Guinea , an expert of Malinke or Mandinka rhythms, and one of the world's foremost djembefolas . He joined the Les Percussions de Guinée to replace the legendary Noumoudy Keïta as their lead drummer. He has traveled and performed in major venues all over
288-436: A meta-analysis of 18 African countries found that a third of them experienced increased economic growth post-independence. Scholars including Dellal (2013), Miraftab (2012) and Bamgbose (2011) have argued that Africa's linguistic diversity has been eroded. Language has been used by western colonial powers to divide territories and create new identities, which have led to conflicts and tensions between African nations. In
384-556: A century. Ferhat Abbas and Messali Hadj 's movements marked the period between the two wars, but both sides radicalised after the Second World War. In 1945, the Sétif massacre was carried out by the French army. The Algerian War started in 1954. Atrocities characterized both sides , and the number killed became highly controversial estimates that were made for propaganda purposes. Algeria
480-482: A deeper political awareness and the expectation of greater respect and self-determination, which went largely unfulfilled. Because the victorious allied powers had no intention of withdrawing from their colonial holdings at the end of the war, and would instead need to rely on the resources and manpower of their African colonies during postwar reconstruction in Europe, the colonial powers downplayed Africans' contributions to
576-452: A height of 58–63 cm (23–25 in). The majority have a diameter in the 13 to 14 inch range. The weight of a djembe ranges from 5 kg to 13 kg (11–29 lb) and depends on size and shell material. A medium-size djembe carved from one of the traditional woods (including skin, rings, and rope) weighs around 9 kg (20 lb). The djembe can produce a wide variety of sounds, making it an extremely versatile drum. The drum
672-625: A result of their fight for independence. Historian James Meriweather argues that American policy towards Africa was characterized by a middle road approach, which supported African independence but also reassured European colonial powers that their holdings would remain intact. Washington wanted the right type of African groups to lead newly independent states, in other words communist and not especially democratic. Meriweather argues that nongovernmental organizations influenced American policy towards Africa. They pressured state governments and private institutions to disinvest from African nations not ruled by
768-487: A single performance, which suited the aim of Touré's demystification program of "doing away with 'fetishist' ritual practices". Touré generously supported the ballets (to the point of building a special rehearsal and performance space in his palace for Ballet Djoliba) and, until his death in 1984, financed extensive world-wide performance tours, which brought the djembe to the attention of Western audiences. Other countries followed Touré's example and founded national ballets in
864-710: A sizeable population of expatriate performers and teachers in many Western countries. The 1991 documentary Djembefola by Laurent Chevallier depicts Mamady Keïta's return to the village of his birth after a 26-year absence. Upon release, the movie won the Wisselzak Trophy and Special Jury Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam , and the Audience Award at the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film , and brought
960-445: A solo performance ( djembe kan , literally, "the sound of the djembe"). A skilled player can use the sounds to create very complex rhythmic patterns; the combination of rhythm and the differently pitched sounds often leads an inexpert listener to believe that more than one drum is being played. The bass sound is produced by striking the drum with the palm and flat fingers near the center of the skin. Tone and slap are produced by striking
1056-430: Is available, he supplements the ensemble with a khassonka dunun , which is a bass drum similar in build to a konkoni, but larger. In Guinea, a typical ensemble uses three djembes and three dunun, called sangban (medium pitch), dundunba (bass pitch), and kenkeni (high pitch, also called kensedeni ). If an ensemble includes more than one djembe, the highest pitched (and therefore loudest) djembe plays solo phrases and
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#17328512890701152-554: Is inappropriate in a traditional context. A rhythm is rarely played as a performance, but is participatory: musicians, dancers, singers, and onlookers are all part of the ensemble and frequently change roles while the music is in progress. Musicians and participants often form a circle, with the centre of the circle reserved for dancers. Depending on the particular rhythm being played, dances may be performed by groups of men and/or women with choreographed steps, or single dancers may take turns at performing short solos. The lead djembe's role
1248-871: Is now known as the Cape Coast Castle . The Colony of Liberia, later the Commonwealth of Liberia, was a private colony of the American Colonization Society (ACS) beginning in 1822. It became an independent nation—the Republic of Liberia —after declaring independence in 1847. Colonialism in the colonial era, mostly refers to Western European countries' colonisation of lands in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The main European countries active in this form of colonization included Spain , Portugal , France ,
1344-405: Is preferred. Most djembe ropes have a polyester core with a 16‑ or 32‑plait mantle and around 5% stretch. Very low-stretch (<1%) rope materials, such as Vectran and Spectra , are used only rarely due to their much higher cost. The mounting system for the skin has undergone a number of changes over time. Originally, the skin was attached by wooden pegs that were driven through holes in
1440-757: Is the subject of an upcoming documentary, Bolokada Conde—Malinke Village Djembefola . He was awarded immigrant status as an alien with extraordinary ability in the arts in 2007. He was Artist Associate at the Robert E. Brown Center For World Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , having previously been a visiting lecturer from 2008 to 2011. He is also the musical director and lead soloist of Ballet Waraba in North Carolina , Ballet Wassa-Wassa in Santa Cruz, California , California, and Les Percussion Malinke in
1536-410: Is to play solo phrases that accentuate the movements of the dancers. Often, the aim is to "mark the dancers' feet", that is, to play rhythmic patterns that are synchronized with the dancers' steps. Individual solo dances are not choreographed, with the dancer freely moving in whatever way feels appropriate at that moment. Marking a solo dancer's feet requires the lead djembefola to have strong rapport with
1632-551: Is very loud, allowing it to be heard clearly as a solo instrument over a large percussion ensemble. The Malinké people say that a skilled drummer is one who "can make the djembe talk", meaning that the player can tell an emotional story (the Malinké never used the djembe as a signaling drum ). Traditionally, the djembe is played only by men, as are the dunun that always accompany the djembe. Conversely, other percussion instruments that are commonly played as part of an ensemble, such as
1728-595: The Françafrique had replaced formal direct rule. They argued that while de Gaulle was granting independence, on one hand, he was creating new ties with the help of Jacques Foccart , his counsellor for African matters. Foccart supported in particular the Nigerian Civil War during the late 1960s. Robert Aldrich argues that with Algerian independence in 1962, it appeared that the Empire practically had come to an end, as
1824-523: The griot caste, such as the balafon , kora , and ngoni . (The djembe is not a griot instrument.) Anyone who plays djembe is a djembefola—the term does not imply a particular level of skill. Geographically, the traditional distribution of the djembe is associated with the Mali Empire , which dates back to 1230 AD and included parts of the modern-day countries of Guinea , Mali , Burkina Faso , Ivory Coast , Gambia , and Senegal . However, due to
1920-453: The shekere (a hollowed-out gourd covered with a net of beads), karignan (a tubular bell), and kese kese (a woven basket rattle), are usually played by women. Even today, it is rare to see women play djembe or dunun in West Africa, and African women express astonishment when they do see a female djembe player. There is general agreement that the origin of the djembe is associated with
2016-720: The Atlantic Charter , which in part stipulated that they would, "respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them." This agreement became the post-WWII stepping stone toward independence as nationalism grew throughout Africa. Consumed by post-war debt, European powers could no longer afford to maintain control of their African colonies. This allowed African nationalists to negotiate decolonisation very quickly and with minimal casualties. Some territories, however, saw large death tolls as
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#17328512890702112-609: The French Community . Only Guinea refused by referendum to take part in the new colonial organisation. However, the French Community dissolved itself amid the Algerian War; almost all of the other African colonies were granted independence in 1960, following local referendums. Some colonies chose instead to remain part of France, under the status of overseas départements (territories) . Critics of neocolonialism claimed that
2208-690: The Gold Coast (present Ghana ) from 22 April 1650 to 20 April 1663, when Fort Carlsborg and the capital Fort Christiansborg were seized by Denmark. In 1652, the Swedes took Cape Coast (in modern Ghana) which had previously been under the control of the Dutch and before that the Portuguese . Cape Coast was centered on the Carolusburg Castle which was built in 1653 and named after King Charles X Gustav of Sweden but
2304-512: The Mandinka caste of blacksmiths, known as Numu . The wide dispersion of the djembe drum throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations during the first millennium AD. Despite the association of the djembe with the Numu, there are no hereditary restrictions on who may become a djembefola (literally, "one who plays the djembe"). This is in contrast to instruments whose use is reserved for members of
2400-836: The Mau Mau rebellion , the Algerian War , the Congo Crisis , the Angolan War of Independence , the Zanzibar Revolution , and the events leading to the Nigerian Civil War . The " Scramble for Africa " between 1870 and 1914 was a significant period of European imperialism in Africa that ended with almost all of Africa, and its natural resources, claimed as colonies by European powers, who raced to secure as much land as possible while avoiding conflict amongst themselves. The partition of Africa
2496-523: The National Liberation Front was able to negotiate a peace accord with French President Charles de Gaulle, the Évian Accords in which Europeans would be able to return to their native countries, remain in Algeria as foreigners or take Algerian citizenship. Most of the one million Europeans in Algeria poured out of the country. The French Union was replaced in the new Constitution of 1958 by
2592-581: The San Francisco Bay area. Decolonization of Africa The decolonisation of Africa was a series of political developments in Africa that spanned from the mid-1950s to 1975, during the Cold War . Colonial governments gave way to sovereign states in a process often marred by violence, political turmoil, widespread unrest, and organised revolts . Major events in the decolonisation of Africa included
2688-611: The Tsardom of Russia (later Russian Empire and Soviet Union ), the Kingdom of England (later Great Britain ), the Netherlands , Belgium and the Kingdom of Prussia (now mostly Germany), and, beginning in the 18th century, the United States . Most of these countries had a period of almost complete dominance of world trade at some stage in the period from roughly 1500 to 1900. Beginning in
2784-533: The colonial police on a protest march. Riots broke out in Accra and though Nkrumah and other Ghanaian leaders were temporarily imprisoned, the event became a catalyst for the independence movement. After being released from prison, Nkrumah founded the Convention People's Party (CPP), which launched a wide-scale campaign in support of independence with the slogan "Self Government Now!" Heightened nationalism within
2880-623: The (2,1), (0,2), (3,1), (1,2), and (0,3) modes (as well as higher-order modes) while suppressing the Helmholtz resonance and the (0,1) and (1,1) modes. Skilled players can also produce a medium-pitched sound (between a tone and slap) that is variously called third slap , tonpalo , or lé ; this sound emphasizes the (1,1) mode while suppressing all other modes as much as possible. By slightly varying striking and finger position, skilled players can selectively emphasize different slap harmonics and create melodies of differently pitched slaps. Traditionally,
2976-506: The 1945 Pan-African Congress , the Gold Coast's (modern-day Ghana's) independence leader Kwame Nkrumah made his focus clear. In the conference's declaration, he wrote, "We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the right of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic." In 1948, three Ghanaian veterans were killed by
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3072-556: The 1950s and the decolonization of West Africa , due to the very limited travel of native Africans outside their own ethnic group, the djembe was known only in its original area. The djembe first came to the attention of audiences outside West Africa with the efforts of Fodéba Keïta , who, in 1952, founded Les Ballets Africains . The ballet toured extensively in Europe and was declared Guinea's first national ballet by Guinea's first president, Sékou Touré , after Guinea gained independence in 1958, to be followed by two more national ballets,
3168-484: The 1960s, including Ivory Coast (Ballet Koteba), Mali ( Les Ballets Malien ), and Senegal (Le Ballet National du Senegal), each with its own attached political agenda. In the United States, Ladji Camara, a member of Ballets Africains in the 1950s, started teaching djembe in the 1960s and continued to teach into the 1990s. Camara performed extensively with Babatunde Olatunji during the 1970s, greatly raising awareness of
3264-486: The 1980s, a number of Guinean djembefolas (Epizo Bangoura, Famoudou Konaté, Mamady Keïta) started hosting study tours to Guinea, allowing djembe students to experience Guinean culture first-hand. Many other djembefolas followed suit; as of 2014, a potential visitor can select from tens of djembe tours each year. Djembe tourism created a market for djembefolas in Guinea that previously did not exist. Young djembefolas try to emulate
3360-614: The Ballet d'Armee in 1961 and Ballet Djoliba in 1964. Touré's policies alienated Guinea from the West and he followed the Eastern Bloc model of using the country's culture and music for promotional means. He and Fodéba Keïta, who had become a close friend of Touré, saw the ballets as a way to secularize traditional customs and rites of different ethnic groups in Guinea. The ballets combined rhythms and dances from widely different spiritual backgrounds in
3456-520: The Belgian Congo. The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State , which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II . The violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country. Belgian rule in
3552-498: The Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" ( trinité coloniale ) of state, missionary and private company interests. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo experienced extensive urbanization and the administration aimed to make it into a "model colony". As the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, as the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville in 1960. Of Belgium's other colonies,
3648-525: The Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples stated that colonial exploitation is a denial of human rights, and that power should be transferred back to the countries or territories concerned. Colonial economic exploitation involved diverting resource extraction (such as mining) profits to European shareholders at the expense of internal development, causing significant local socioeconomic grievances. For early African nationalists, decolonisation
3744-424: The Malinké believe that its spiritual qualities are superior. (Malinké traditional wisdom states that a spiritual energy, or nyama , runs through all things, living or dead.) Besides lenke, traditional woods include djalla ( Khaya senegalensis ), dugura ( Cordyla africana ), gueni ( Pterocarpus erinaceus ), gele ( Prosopis africana ), and iroko ( Milicia excelsa ). Shells are carved soon after
3840-691: The Soviet Union's proletarian internationalism . Many Africans fought in both World War and World War II. In the First World War, African labor was essential on the Western Front, and African soldiers fought in the Egypt and Palestine campaigns. Many Africans were not allowed to bear arms or serve on an equal basis with whites. The sinking of the SS Mendi in 1917 was a particularly tragic incident for Africans in
3936-489: The United States' sphere of influence, and Ethiopia , which won its independence at the Battle of Adwa but was later occupied by Italy in 1936. Britain and France had the largest holdings, but Germany , Spain , Italy , Belgium , and Portugal also had colonies. By 1977, 50 African countries had gained independence from European colonial powers. The early twentieth century was a time of rising nationalism throughout
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4032-656: The Vichy France regime controlled the Empire. One after another, most of the colonies were occupied by foreign powers (Japan in Indochina, Britain in Syria , Lebanon, and Madagascar , the United States and Britain in Morocco and Algeria , and Germany and Italy in Tunisia ). Control was gradually reestablished by Charles de Gaulle , who used the colonial bases as a launching point to help expel
4128-590: The Vichy government from Metropolitan France. De Gaulle, together with most Frenchmen, was committed to preserving the Empire in its new form. The French Union , included in the Constitution of 1946 , nominally replaced the former colonial empire, but officials in Paris remained in full control. The colonies were given local assemblies with only limited local power and budgets. A group of elites, known as evolués, who were natives of
4224-541: The allied victory. On February 12, 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the post-war world. The result was the Atlantic Charter . It was not a treaty and was not submitted to the British Parliament or the Senate of the United States for ratification, but it turned out to be a widely acclaimed document. Clause Three referred to
4320-449: The background rhythm ( groove ) that is created by the other instruments. Traditionally crafted djembes are carved from a single log of hardwood. A number of different wood species are used, all of which are hard and dense. Hardness and density are important factors for the sound and projection of the djembe. The most prized djembe wood is lenke ( Afzelia africana ), not because it necessarily sounds better than other woods, but because
4416-576: The colonial era, principally the Belgian Congo (modern DRC ) from 1908 to 1960 and Ruanda-Urundi (modern Rwanda and Burundi ) from 1922 to 1962. It also had a small concession in China (1902–1931) and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco . Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium itself) – known as
4512-566: The country grew their power and the political party widely expanded. In February 1951, the CPP gained political power by winning 34 of 38 elected seats, including one for Nkrumah who was imprisoned at the time. The British government revised the Gold Coast Constitution to give Ghanaians a majority in the legislature in 1951. In 1956, Ghana requested independence inside the Commonwealth , which
4608-498: The dancer, and it takes many years of experience for a djembefola to acquire the necessary rhythmic repertoire. The lead djembefola also improvises to a rhythm at times when no-one is dancing. While there is considerable freedom in such improvisation, the solo phrases are not random. Instead, individual rhythms have specific key patterns (signature phrases) that the soloist is expected to know and integrate into his improvisation. A skilled soloist will also play phrases that harmonize with
4704-435: The defeated Central Powers . The independence demands of Egyptian and Tunisian leaders, which would have compromised the interests of the victorious Allies, were not entertained. Though Wilsonian ideals did not endure as the interwar order broke down, the principle of an international order based on the self-determination of peoples remained relevant. After 1919, anti-colonial leaders increasingly oriented themselves toward
4800-458: The djembe forms an ensemble with a number of other djembes and one or more dunun. Except for the lead (or solo ) djembe, all instruments play a recurring rhythmic figure that is known as an accompaniment pattern or accompaniment part . The figure repeats after a certain number of beats, known as a cycle . The most common cycle length is four beats, but cycles often have other lengths, such as two, three, six, eight or more beats. (Some rhythms in
4896-510: The djembe to the attention of a wide audience. A 1998 follow-up documentary, Mögöbalu (also by Chevallier), contains concert footage uniting four master drummers ( Soungalo Coulibaly , Mamady Keita, Famoudou Konaté, and Doudou N'Diaye Rose ) on stage. The Oscar-nominated 2007 drama The Visitor ensured that the djembe was noticed internationally by mainstream viewers. The djembe has been used by many western artists, including Paul Simon , Cirque du Soleil , and Tool , raising awareness of
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#17328512890704992-409: The drum closer to the edge; the contact area of the fingers determines whether the sound is a tone or a slap. For a tone, most of the area of the fingers and the edge of the palm contact the skin whereas, for a slap, the contact area is limited to the edge of the palm and the fingertips. The basic sounds are played "open", meaning that the hands rebound immediately after a strike, so the contact time with
5088-622: The dundunba family from the Hamana region in Guinea have cycle lengths of 16, 24, 28, or 32 beats, among others.) Cycles longer than eight beats are rare for djembe accompaniments—longer cycles are normally played only by the dununba or sangban . Each instrument plays a different rhythmic figure, and the cycle lengths of the different instruments need not necessarily be the same. This interplay results in complex rhythmic patterns ( polyrhythms ). The different accompaniment parts are played on djembes that are tuned to different pitches; this emphasizes
5184-510: The earliest educational resources available to a student of the djembe were an educational VHS tape by Babatunde Olatunji released in 1993, as well as books by Serge Blanc, Famoudou Konaté, and Mamady Keïta. In 1998, these were supplemented by a three-volume VHS set by Keïta and, in 2000, by a VHS tape by Epizo Bangoura. Since then, the market for educational materials has grown significantly. As of 2014, dozens of educational books, CDs, and videos are available to an aspiring player. Starting in
5280-576: The end of World War II, recognised all people as being born free and equal. After World War II , the US and the African colonies put pressure on Britain to abide by the terms of the Atlantic Charter. After the war, some Britons considered African colonies childish and immature. British colonisers introduced democratic government at local levels in the colonies. Britain was forced to agree but Churchill rejected
5376-473: The end of colonialism, and delegates included future presidents of Ghana , Kenya and Malawi among other nationalist activists. Following World War II, rapid decolonisation swept across the continent of Africa as many territories gained their independence from European colonisation. In August 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss their post-war goals. In that meeting, they agreed to
5472-728: The establishment of elected territorial assemblies, representation in Paris in a new "French Federation", and the eventual representation of Sub-Saharan Africans in the French Assembly. However, Independence was explicitly rejected as a future possibility: After the war ended, France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the decolonisation movement. In Algeria demonstrations in May 1945 were repressed with an estimated 20,000-45,000 Algerians killed. Unrest in Haiphong, Indochina, in November 1945
5568-419: The exclusion of any indigenous languages from administrative (and often, any public) use. An extensive body of literature has examined the legacy of colonialism and colonial institutions on economic outcomes in Africa, with numerous studies showing disputed economic effects . Modernisation theory posits that colonial powers built infrastructure to integrate Africa into the world economy ; however, this
5664-415: The fat content; they tend to sound dull and lifeless in comparison. Even though the fat content of male goats is lower than that of female goats, many players prefer female skins because they do not smell as strongly and are reputed to be softer. The skin is mounted with the spine running through the centre of the drum head, with the line of the spine pointing at the player, so the hands strike either side of
5760-553: The instrument in the US. After the death of Sekou Touré in 1984, funding for the ballets dried up and a number of djembefolas (who were never paid well by the ballets) emigrated and made regular teaching and performance appearances in the west, including Mamady Keïta (Belgium, US), Famoudou Konaté (Germany), and Epizo Bangoura (France, US, and Australia). A number of other djembefolas—M'bemba Bangoura, Abdoulaye Diakité , Bolokada Conde , Mohamed "Bangouraké" Bangoura, and Babara Bangoura, among others—followed their example, establishing
5856-422: The instrument with western audiences. Recordings of the djembe far surpass the number of recordings of any other African drum. Beginning in the late 1980s, a slew of djembe-centric recordings was released, a trend that, as of 2014, shows no sign of abating. This is significant because these recordings are driven by the demand of western audiences; there are almost no djembe recordings within African markets. Among
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#17328512890705952-545: The lack of written records in West African countries, it is unclear whether the djembe predates or postdates the Mali Empire. It seems likely that the history of the djembe reaches back for at least several centuries and possibly more than a millennium. The goblet shape of the djembe suggests that it originally may have been created from a mortar . (Mortars are widely used throughout West Africa for food preparation.) Prior to
6048-453: The late 19th century, Imperial Japan also engaged in settler colonization, most notably in Hokkaido and Korea . While some European colonisation focused on shorter-term exploitation of economic opportunities ( Newfoundland , for example, or Siberia ) or addressed specific goals such as settlers seeking religious freedom ( Massachusetts ), at other times long-term social and economic planning
6144-503: The majority population. These efforts also helped change American policy towards South Africa, as seen with the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. Occupied by Italy briefly [REDACTED] Togoland South African Border War On 6 March 1957, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast ) became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from European colonisation. Starting with
6240-402: The most significant was Ruanda-Urundi , a portion of German East Africa , which was given to Belgium as a League of Nations Mandate , when Germany lost all of its colonies at the end of World War I . Following the Rwandan Revolution , the mandate became the independent states of Burundi and Rwanda in 1962. The French colonial empire began to fall during the Second World War when
6336-482: The name of the djembe comes from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language , "djé" is the verb for "gather" and "bé" translates as "peace." The djembe has a body (or shell) carved of hardwood and a drumhead made of untreated (not limed ) rawhide , most commonly made from goatskin . Excluding rings, djembes have an exterior diameter of 30–38 cm (12–15 in) and
6432-433: The other djembes and dunun play accompaniment. An ensemble may have only two dunun, depending on whether a village has enough dunun players and is wealthy enough to afford three dunun. A djembe and dunun ensemble traditionally does not play music for people to simply sit back and listen to. Instead, the ensemble creates rhythm for people to dance, sing, clap, or work to. The western distinction between musicians and audience
6528-424: The overseas territories but lived in metropolitan France emerged. De Gaulle assembled a major conference of Free France colonies in Brazzaville, in central Africa, in January–February 1944. The survival of France depended on support from these colonies, and De Gaulle made numerous concessions. These included the end of forced labour, the end of special legal restrictions that applied to natives but not to whites,
6624-407: The polyrhythm and creates a composite overall melody. The number of instruments in the ensemble varies with the region and occasion. In Mali, a traditional ensemble often consists of one dunun (called konkoni ) and one djembe. The konkoni and djembe are in a rhythmic dialog, with each drum taking turns playing accompaniment while the other instrument plays improvised solos. If a second dunun player
6720-537: The remaining colonies were quite small and lacked active nationalist movements. However, there was trouble in French Somaliland ( Djibouti ), which became independent in 1977. There also were complications and delays in the New Hebrides Vanuatu , which was the last to gain independence in 1980. New Caledonia remains a special case under French suzerainty. The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte voted in referendum in 1974 to retain its link with France and forgo independence. Sweden temporarily controlled several settlements on
6816-483: The right to decide what form of government people wanted, and to the restoration of self-government. Prime Minister Churchill argued in the British Parliament that the document referred to "the States and nations of Europe now under the Nazi yoke". President Roosevelt regarded it as applicable across the world. Anticolonial politicians immediately saw it as relevant to colonial empires. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, three years after
6912-410: The rule of King Leopold II of Belgium in the 19th century and Siddharth Kara has described colonial rule and European and Chinese influence in the 20th and 21st centuries. Colonisation may be used as a method of absorbing and assimilating foreign people into the culture of the imperial country. One instrument to this end is linguistic imperialism , or the use of non-indigenous colonial languages to
7008-404: The same volume as a jackhammer. Djembe players use three basic sounds: bass , tone , and slap , which have low, medium, and high pitch, respectively. These sounds are achieved by varying the striking technique and position. Other sounds are possible (masters achieve as many as twenty-five distinctly different sounds), but these additional sounds are used rarely, mainly for special effects during
7104-668: The shoulders of the goat. With thicker skins, such as from a cow or horse, the skin round is usually taken from the side of the hide so it does not include the spine, which is too thick for use on a djembe. Skins may be shaved prior to mounting or afterwards, or may be de-haired by liming . Liming weakens skins; some djembefolas also claim that limed skins are harder on their hands and do not sound as good as untreated skins. Factory-made djembes often use skins made from synthetic materials, such as FiberSkyn . Modern djembes exclusively use synthetic rope, most commonly of kernmantle construction, 4–5 mm in diameter. Low-stretch (static) rope
7200-497: The skin and the shell near the playing edge. Four to five people would stretch the wet skin over the drum to apply tension while the pegs were driven into the bowl. The shrinkage of the skin while it dried then applied sufficient additional tension for the skin to resonate. A similar mounting technique is still used by the Landouma (a subgroup of the Baga people ) for a djembe-like drum known as
7296-410: The skin is as short as possible. Acoustically, a djembe is a Helmholtz resonator : the frequency of the bass is determined by the size and shape of the shell and independent of the amount of tension on the skin. In contrast, the pitch of tones and slaps rises as the tension of the skin is increased. The bass has a frequency of 65–80 Hz. Depending on the size of the drum and the amount of tension on
7392-469: The skin, tone frequency varies from 300 Hz to 420 Hz and slap frequency from 700 Hz to 1000 Hz, with audible overtones reaching beyond 4 kHz. The difference in pitch of the sounds arises because the different striking techniques selectively emphasize specific vibrational modes of the drum head. A tone emphasizes the (0,1) mode while suppressing the bass (Helmholtz resonance) and higher-order modes as much as possible. A slap emphasizes
7488-573: The slaps; thinner skins have a sharper sound with fewer overtones in the slaps and are louder. Thick skins make it easier to play full tones but more difficult to play sharp slaps; for thin skins, the opposite applies. Thin skins are louder than thick ones. Thick skins, such as cow, are particularly hard on the hands of the player and cause more callousing than goatskins. Skins from dry and hot-climate areas and poorly fed goats are preferred for djembes because of their low fat content. Skins from cold-climate goats with high-value nutrition have more than double
7584-417: The sound of the instrument. (Djembes with smooth interiors have tones and slaps with too much sustain.) Often, interior grooves form a spiral pattern, which indicates a carver taking pride in his work. The djembe is headed with a rawhide skin, most commonly goatskin. Other skins, such as antelope, cow, kangaroo, or horse can be used as well. Thicker skins, such as cow, have a warmer sound with more overtones in
7680-535: The southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. Kenyan independence was preceded by the eight-year Mau Mau Uprising . In Rhodesia , the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the white minority resulted in a civil war that lasted until the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, which set the terms for recognised independence in 1980, as the new nation of Zimbabwe . Belgium controlled several territories and concessions during
7776-409: The spine. Animal skins are thicker at the spine than the sides; mounting the skin with the spine centered ensures that the left and right hand play symmetric areas of equal size and thickness. In turn, this helps to minimize differences in pitch of the notes played by the left and right hand. Normally, the head end of the spine points at the player, so the hands strike the area of the skin that used to be
7872-563: The struggles for African nationalism . During the Second World War, some local African industries and towns expanded when U-boats patrolling the Atlantic Ocean impeded the shipping of raw materials to Europe. Over time, urban communities, industries, and trade unions grew, improving literacy and education, and leading to the establishment of pro-independence newspapers. By 1945, the Fifth Pan-African Congress demanded
7968-702: The success of their predecessors and cater to the needs of the tourists, leading to change and commodification of the original djembe culture. Most djembes from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Senegal are still hand carved from traditional species of wood, using traditional tools and methods. In the 1990s, djembes started being produced elsewhere, such as in Ghana , Nigeria , South Africa , and Indonesia , often using modern machinery and substitute species of wood, such as tweneboa ( Cordia platythyrsa ) or mahogany ( Swietenia mahagoni or Toona sureni ). However, these woods, being softer and less dense, are not as suitable as
8064-503: The traditional woods. A number of western percussion instrument manufacturers also produce djembe-like instruments, often with fibreglass bodies, synthetic skins, and a key tuning system. The traditional barriers against women djembe and dunun players have come down over time. For its size, the djembe is an unusually loud drum. The volume of the drum rises with increasing skin tension. On a djembe tuned to solo pitch, skilled players can achieve sound pressure of more than 105 dB, about
8160-418: The tree is felled while the wood still retains some moisture and is softer. This makes the wood easier to carve and avoids radial splits that tend to develop in logs that are allowed to dry naturally. Carvers use simple hand tools, such as axes , adzes , spoke shaves , and rasps to shape the shell. A well-carved djembe does not have a smooth interior but a texture of scallops or shallow grooves that influence
8256-437: The universal applicability of self-determination for subject nations. Italy, a colonial power, lost its African empire, Italian East Africa , Italian Ethiopia , Italian Eritrea , Italian Somalia and Italian Libya , as a result of World War II. Furthermore, colonies such as Nigeria , Senegal and Ghana pushed for self-governance as colonial powers were exhausted by war efforts. The United Nations 1960 Declaration on
8352-483: The war, with 607 of the 646 crew killed being Black South Africans . In the Second World War, Africans fought in both the European and Asian theatres of war. Approximately one million sub-Saharan Africans served in European armies in some capacity. Many Africans were compelled or even forced into military service by their respective colonial regimes, but some voluntarily enlisted in search of better opportunities than they could find in civilian employment. This led to
8448-513: The world since 1996 and was featured in the IMAX movie PULSE: a Stomp Odyssey. Since 2004, he has been performing and teaching in the United States. He has conducted percussion workshops in many cities in the US and Europe. He has released two musical CD's, Morowaya and Sankaran . He stars in the DVD M'bemba Fakoli: A Musical Journey Through Guinea and has released the djembe instructional DVD M'bara . He
8544-564: The world. The end of the First World War saw the breakup of the German , Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires according to the principles espoused in Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points . Though many anti-colonial intellectuals saw the potential of Wilsonian Internationalism to advance their aims, Wilson had no intention of applying the principle of self-determination outside the lands of
8640-753: Was a moral imperative around which a political movement could be assembled. In the 1930s, the colonial powers had cultivated, sometimes inadvertently, a small elite of local African leaders educated in Western universities, where they became familiar with ideas such as self-determination . Although independence was not encouraged, arrangements between these leaders and the colonial powers developed, and such figures as Jomo Kenyatta ( Kenya ), Kwame Nkrumah ( Gold Coast , now Ghana ), Julius Nyerere ( Tanganyika , now Tanzania ), Léopold Sédar Senghor ( Senegal ), Nnamdi Azikiwe ( Nigeria ), Patrice Lumumba ( DRC ) and Félix Houphouët-Boigny ( Côte d'Ivoire ) came to lead
8736-563: Was a three-way conflict due to the large number of " pieds-noirs " (Europeans who had settled there in the 125 years of French rule ). The political crisis in France caused the collapse of the Fourth Republic, as Charles de Gaulle returned to power in 1958 and finally pulled the French soldiers and settlers out of Algeria by 1962. Lasting more than eight years, the estimated death toll typically falls between 300,000 and 400,000 people. By 1962,
8832-574: Was built mainly for extraction purposes. African economies were structured to benefit the coloniser and any surplus was likely to be 'drained', thereby stifling local capital accumulation . Dependency theory suggests that most African economies continued to occupy a subordinate position in the world economy after independence with a reliance on primary commodities such as copper in Zambia and tea in Kenya . Despite this continued reliance and unfair trading terms,
8928-480: Was confirmed at the Berlin Conference of 1885, without regard for the existing political and social structures. Almost all the pre-colonial states of Africa lost their sovereignty. The only exceptions were Liberia , which had been settled in the early 19th century by formerly enslaved African-Americans and was recognized as independent by the United States in 1862 but was viewed by European powers as being in
9024-717: Was granted peacefully in 1957 with Nkrumah as prime minister and Queen Elizabeth II as sovereign. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan gave the famous "Wind of Change" speech in South Africa in February 1960, where he spoke to the country's Parliament of "the wind of change blowing through this continent." Macmillan urgently wanted to avoid the same kind of colonial war that France was fighting in Algeria. Under his premiership decolonisation proceeded rapidly. Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for Southern Rhodesia , were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from
9120-413: Was involved for both parties, but more on the colonizing countries themselves, based on elaborate theory-building (note James Oglethorpe 's Colony of Georgia in the 1730s and Edward Gibbon Wakefield 's New Zealand Company in the 1840s). In some cases European colonization appeared to be primarily for long-term economic gain, as in the Congo where Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness described life under
9216-765: Was met by a warship bombarding the city. Paul Ramadier 's ( SFIO ) cabinet repressed the Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar in 1947. French officials estimated the number of Malagasy killed from as low as 11,000 to a French Army estimate of 89,000. In Cameroun , the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon 's insurrection which began in 1955 headed by Ruben Um Nyobé , was violently repressed over two years, with perhaps as many as 100,000 people killed. French involvement in Algeria stretched back
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