African Drum; An Outstanding Artworks of The People of Africa

There are a thousand ways that people use to express their talent, hobby, and creativity. The Africans also express their sense of art in various works, such as music, songs, drawings, crafts, and etc. One of the most famous artworks of ancient Africans is the so-called African drum instruments. African drum is known to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Could you imagine how talented and intelligent the African indigenous were? They might be so clever and genius that they were able to think and create such an amazing hand percussion musical instrument.

I have several questions in mind regarding this reality such as; How did they find music? What did push them to create an instrument? Why did they mold a musical instrument? How did they create this wonderful instrument? Based on the historical facts, this African drum was first created thousands of years ago. The expert historians also find it difficult to give an exact year of the birth of this musical instrument.

According to some librarian and internet research that I did recently, African drums indeed have several shapes and names. Its shape and name depend on the cultural society to which this instrument belongs. There are several kinds of these instruments. They are Bara and Tama from Mali. Djembe, Bougarabou, Dundun, Gome, Baga, and Dan from West Africa. Asante, Atumpan, Kpanlogo from Ghana. Cameroon has Bamileke. Nigeria has several types of drums which are known as Sakara, Gbedu, Gudugudu, Chamba, Dunno, Udu, and Bambara. In central Africa, they have Chokwe, Kili, Mondo, Bata, Kuba, Luba, and Yuka. In East and South Africa, they also have several instruments as well namely Udu, Ngoma, and Ngoma.

Based on the historical facts, I could conclude that traditionally, the drum is the soul and the heart of most cultural societies in Africa. It has been centuries, from the first generation until the present generation that the Africans consider the drum to be intrinsically part of their daily lives. The drum is so meaningful to them. it is an instrument that is being used to celebrate almost all aspects of their lives.

African drum is a kind of artful work that is always associated and integrated with dances, gestures, body-postures, rituals, ceremonies, and dramatizations. The African drums are both musical instruments and works of art which are often adorned in a resplendent manner that is really suitable for their ceremonial and ritual function.

African drum is an outstanding artwork that nowadays has been modernized and popularized. That’s why almost every country we can find and see the African Drums. For instance; Indonesia. The present Indonesian musicians love to collaborate their music with African drums. There are many stores and factories that sell these musical instruments. For example; Bali Treasures Drum Factory in Bali. This company is considered to be the largest African drum wholesale manufacturer in the world (Cajon & Djembe). One of its main products is African drums.