DRUMS OF THE WORLD
bougarabou drum senegal
bougarabou drum / Trommel / Tambour / Jola / Diola Senegal
Traditional drum with wood pegs and leather strips. The bougarabou is tuned by heating at an open fire.
Bougarabou drummers perform at all occasions that are celebrated by dance.
"A bougarabou (alternative spelling "Boucarabou") is a set of drums commonly used in West Africa. The drums are single headed (cow skin), with an elongated goblet or roughly conical shape (...) and most commonly played in sets of three to four. Until the last few decades the Bougarabou was played only one at a time, usually with one hand and a stick, but in the last generation or two (since the 1940s), possibly influenced from congueros in the western hemisphere, players play multiple drum setups. The drum is originally from the Jola (Jóola) people in the south of Senegal, the Casamance and the Gambia, the Jóola Buluf, the Jóola Fogny and the Jóola Kalunai. The drumset is played by a single drummer, unlike many African tribal situations. The drummer also wears a series of metal bracelets called Siwangas in Buluf and Fogny dialect that contribute to the sound. The audience and the dancers form a circle and clap, often with wooden chunks of palm peduncles, and sing with the music, but it is unique in that a single drummer traditionally provides the drumming. There are also some groups using a set of three or four drums and some more drums like djembe or other small Jola drums. They are normally played with only the hands in a standing position. They have a full, deep, rich sound which can be heard for miles and is effective at all dynamic levels. They produce a kind of bass melody in the total rhythm."(...)
excerpt from: Wikipedia® - https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougarabou
Donated by my friend, the percussionist Hannes Hausdörfer
Bibliography:
Hale, Thomas A. (1998) Griots and griottes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
CD: Saikouba Badjie – Bougarabou: Solo Drumming of Casamance.
Village Pulse (www.villagepulse.com)
"The Jola people of Casamance say that the bougarabou drum first came to them in a dream. When you listen to this recording of drumming by master Jola drummer Saikouba Badjie, you can appreciate the mystery and importance placed on this humble but powerful drum, the focal point of their music and dance traditions. Saikouba earns his living drumming for communities of his native Jola people in Casamance (the southwestern region of Senegal) and in neighboring regions of the Gambia and Guineé-Bissau. This field recording, captured with excellent clarity in 1994 in Gambia, showcases Saikouba's mastery of the Jola bougarabou drumming tradition. The drums are played to accompany dancing that celebrates the harvest, marriages, naming ceremonies and funerals of elder women. Performances typically start in the evening and continue through to daybreak-the drummers performing non-stop while being fed by an assistant who also mops the sweat from their brow. Today, the djembe, with origins in Guinea, is the most well-known West African drum outside Africa. The bougarabou is a relative of the djembe, with some important differences. The bougarabou usually has a calf skin head (rather than goat skin). Combined with the drum's taller and narrower profile, it creates a rounder, mellower tone, somewhat like the Cuban conga drum. Another significant difference is that while djembe music (and most West African drum music, for that matter) is played by groups of drummers with one person per drum, bougarabou music is played by one drummer, performing on up to four drums at once, accompanied only by the singing and clapping of the dance circle.(...)" - Barry Hall
Traditional drum with wood pegs and leather strips. The bougarabou is tuned by heating at an open fire.
Bougarabou drummers perform at all occasions that are celebrated by dance.
"A bougarabou (alternative spelling "Boucarabou") is a set of drums commonly used in West Africa. The drums are single headed (cow skin), with an elongated goblet or roughly conical shape (...) and most commonly played in sets of three to four. Until the last few decades the Bougarabou was played only one at a time, usually with one hand and a stick, but in the last generation or two (since the 1940s), possibly influenced from congueros in the western hemisphere, players play multiple drum setups. The drum is originally from the Jola (Jóola) people in the south of Senegal, the Casamance and the Gambia, the Jóola Buluf, the Jóola Fogny and the Jóola Kalunai. The drumset is played by a single drummer, unlike many African tribal situations. The drummer also wears a series of metal bracelets called Siwangas in Buluf and Fogny dialect that contribute to the sound. The audience and the dancers form a circle and clap, often with wooden chunks of palm peduncles, and sing with the music, but it is unique in that a single drummer traditionally provides the drumming. There are also some groups using a set of three or four drums and some more drums like djembe or other small Jola drums. They are normally played with only the hands in a standing position. They have a full, deep, rich sound which can be heard for miles and is effective at all dynamic levels. They produce a kind of bass melody in the total rhythm."(...)
excerpt from: Wikipedia® - https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougarabou
Donated by my friend, the percussionist Hannes Hausdörfer
Bibliography:
Hale, Thomas A. (1998) Griots and griottes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
CD: Saikouba Badjie – Bougarabou: Solo Drumming of Casamance.
Village Pulse (www.villagepulse.com)
"The Jola people of Casamance say that the bougarabou drum first came to them in a dream. When you listen to this recording of drumming by master Jola drummer Saikouba Badjie, you can appreciate the mystery and importance placed on this humble but powerful drum, the focal point of their music and dance traditions. Saikouba earns his living drumming for communities of his native Jola people in Casamance (the southwestern region of Senegal) and in neighboring regions of the Gambia and Guineé-Bissau. This field recording, captured with excellent clarity in 1994 in Gambia, showcases Saikouba's mastery of the Jola bougarabou drumming tradition. The drums are played to accompany dancing that celebrates the harvest, marriages, naming ceremonies and funerals of elder women. Performances typically start in the evening and continue through to daybreak-the drummers performing non-stop while being fed by an assistant who also mops the sweat from their brow. Today, the djembe, with origins in Guinea, is the most well-known West African drum outside Africa. The bougarabou is a relative of the djembe, with some important differences. The bougarabou usually has a calf skin head (rather than goat skin). Combined with the drum's taller and narrower profile, it creates a rounder, mellower tone, somewhat like the Cuban conga drum. Another significant difference is that while djembe music (and most West African drum music, for that matter) is played by groups of drummers with one person per drum, bougarabou music is played by one drummer, performing on up to four drums at once, accompanied only by the singing and clapping of the dance circle.(...)" - Barry Hall
