BRIEF HISTORIES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DRUMS AND PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

Buffalo Drum - A frame drum with a rope suspension handle, the Bahia Buffalo Drum features a low-frequency bass tone that is found in many traditional drums from Africa, Brazil and the indigenous cultures of the Americas.

Cajon - A cajón (Spanish for box, crate or drawer) is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru. Given that the cajón comes from musicians who were enslaved in the Spanish colonial Americas, there are two complementary origin theories for the instrument. It is possible that the drum is a direct descendant of a number of boxlike musical instruments from west and central Africa. These instruments were adapted by enslaved people from the Spanish shipping crates at their disposal. Peruvian musician and ethnomusicologist Susana Baca recounts her mother's story that the cajón originated as "the box of the people who carried fruit and worked in the ports," putting it down to play on whenever they had a moment. Another theory is that enslaved people used boxes as musical instruments to subvert Spanish colonial bans on music in predominantly African areas, essentially disguising their instruments.

The Bongo Cajon has high and low pitched areas similar to a bongo, but with a woody cajon sound. Bongos are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. Bongos originated in eastern Cuba at the end of the 19th century,

The Cajon Tab was designed with portability in mind by Louson Drums in Pittsburgh, PA in 2019. The 10” has a crisp snare and a pleasing base tone, and the 12” has a more subtle snare and lower low tones.  Both Cajon Tabs have an external snare with click castanets.

Doumbek or Darabuka – A goblet-shaped drum used in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. The origin of the term Darbuka lies in the rural Egyptian Arabic slang word that changed "darb" meaning "to strike" into "darabuka".

Djembe – A favorite for drum circles, this goblet-shaped drum is originally from West Africa, and is most often played with bare hands. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name comes from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose.

Frame Drum - A frame drum has a single drumhead with a width greater than its depth. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments, and perhaps the first drum to be invented and is played with hands or a mallet.

Timbau or Timbaul - The sound of the Brazilian timbaul varies from a clear, high tone to a strong, deep bass, and was designed to play loud, rapid phrases and solos with powerful slaps. It has the distinctive shape of an ice cream cone with the top and the point cut off.

Tubano - Remo Drum’s take on conga drums, tubanos have warm, low-pitched tones. Congas were developed by Cuban people of African descent during the late 19th century or early 20th century.

PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

Agogo Bells - The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West African Yoruba single or double bells. Agogo means bell in Yoruba.

Claves - Claves have been very important in the development of Afro-Cuban music, and are also often used in Samba music. They are traditionally made of wood (rosewood for example) and often used to play an ostinato, or repeating rhythmic figure, throughout a piece known as the clave. Many examples of clave-like instruments can be found around the world.

Guira, Metal - A percussion instrument from the Dominican Republic used in merengue and bachata music. Made from sheet metal (commonly steel) and played with a stiff metal brush.

Guiro, Frog - Hand carved from a single block of wood in Vietnam and Thailand. Rubbing the striker over the back ridges from tail to nose will make a convincing croaking-type sound. The larger the frog, the lower the pitch will be.

Guiro, Wood Cylinder - Commonly used in Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other forms of Latin American music, the wood cylinder guiro is played by rubbing a stick along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. Originally guiros were made from an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side.

Kalimba & Sansula Kalimba - Found in many parts of Africa, the kalimba (also known as a mbira or thumb piano), is a lamellaphone: an instrument whose sound is produced by the vibration of thin metal tongues, or lamellas. When plucked with the thumbs or fingers, each lamella produces a mellow, twanging sound. Kalimba body is American Cherry, Sansula frame is European Beech.

Shakers - They are called shakers because the method of creating the sound involves shaking them – moving them back and forth in the air rather than striking them. Dried seed pods and gourds with small pebbles were likely the first shakers. Wooden cylindrical shakers are typically made from hard woods like beech or oak.

Asalato - A simple percussion instrument that originated in West Africa, consisting of two small gourds filled with beans (essentially, two small maracas connected by a string). One gourd is held in the hand and the other is quickly swung from side to side around the hand, creating a "clack" sound upon impact.

Bendo Seed Shaker - Made from the seeds of the bendo tree, a species of fruit tree in Indonesia. The pulp of the seeds can be eaten raw and has a sweet taste similar to marshmallows.

Cabasa - Constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wooden cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, wooden or plastic handle. The more durable metal cabasa was created by Martin Cohen, founder of Latin Percussion. It provides a metallic, rattling sound when shaken or twisted, similar to the sound of a rattlesnake. It is often used in Latin jazz, especially in bossa nova pieces.

Castanets on Handle - The origins of castanets are not confirmed. The practice of clicking hand-held sticks together to accompany dancing is ancient, and was practiced by both the Greeks and the Egyptians. Most sources relate its historical origins and spread to the Phoenicians travelling and trading throughout the Mediterranean around 3000 years ago, with strong trade relations with what is now Spain. Origins further back in Ancient Egypt are deemed probable. According to sources, Ancient Romans encountered this instrument among the indigenous population (Iberians and others) of Hispania, already around 200 BC. It soon obtained an important role in folk music in various parts of Spain.

Maracas - Sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair.

Rainsticks - Made from bamboo with small pins arranged helically on its inside surface and partially filled with small pebbles, rice or seeds. Bamboo rainsticks are found in Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa. When the stick is upended, the pebbles fall to the other end of the tube, bouncing off the internal protrusions to create a sound reminiscent of falling rain.

Wood Block - A small, wooden slit-drum made from a single piece of wood (ash). The woodblock was originally a Chinese instrument, known as a ban. It was adopted by early jazz bands and became a popular drummer's effect.

2.25