- The shell should be made out of a single piece of wood, which delivers an ultimate sound. (You can check it by turning it upside down. If you see vertical lines inside the base, it's a alarming sign of multiple pieces assembled together).
- A Djembe should be built out of traditional west African wood: Bala, Lingue, Douke, African Mahogany (Acajou), Melina...and more.
These woods are being chosen for their resonance, density, and other properties.
They cannot be found in North America or elsewhere but west Africa, were the Djembe originates from.
- The head should be made out of West African Goatskin - You can usually see the goat spine line in the middle of the head, which is a good sign of real goatskin.
West African goats are known to have special skins properties due to their feeding, hot and humid climate, which factors will provide skins with higher resistance, stretching capabilities suitable for a Djembe - Artificial heads won't do, and non African Goatskin heads only provide a much lower sound quality.
- The shell and head should be assembled with a total of 3 iron hoops, together with rope(Any kind of metallic fixation/screws cannot equal the traditional rope assembly).
- A non-stretching rope must be used to assemble the Djembe and maintain permanent tension to minimize tuning requirement frequency.
(If you cut the edge of a non-streching rope and look inside, you should see a light multifibre-like material inside - If not, the rope is of poor quality, which means tuning your Djembe all the time!).
Traditional Djembe used to be mounted with a different system without vertical rope, or with leather rope and no iron hoops. Iron hoops are recent Djembe enhancement from the Guinean "ballet" professionals touring the world. Djembe fine tuning used to require the skin to be heated from a fire (In the Village context) - The iron hoops and non stretching rope were introduced to allow a permanent tension, thus making the Djembe always ready to play in any environment, like indoor performances (No fire available for tuning), and allowing this instrument to get the international popularity of today.
- The inside shell shape proportions, as well as, how well the Djembe is carved on the inside, are very important factors for the sound quality - Because all inside surfaces are not visible to the eye once the Djembe is mounted, getting your Djembe from anyone carving/mounting the shell outside of west-Africa is not a good idea.
- The weight of a Professional Djembe should be from 5-10Kg (11-22Lbs!) - Anything lighter than that is most likely not a real instrument (Try lifting the Djembe from underneath the top ring with your pinky finger....if you can easily do it....it's not a Djembe!)
- A professional Djembe height should roughly be between 23" and 24.5", while the head should be around 11.5" and 13.5". Any Djembe significantly smaller than that is only an instrument for kids. Please note that Bigger does not necessarily means better within the range of professional Djembes - specially the height that should be picked/adjusted according to your own height and body arms proportion.
- A Djembe should be hand-made built / assembled by local West African craftsmen. Combination of wood type/density, shell inside shape, weight and proportion of the shell, together with the quality/thickness of the skin picked, assembly method, are important factors in the musical quality of a Djembe.
This is a traditional handmade instrument not meant to be produced at industrial quantities.
Some Companies in North America and Indonesia are constantly attempting to reproduce Djembes with modern materials, not understanding its complex assembling technics.
Other companies are importing Djembe shelves/skins from West Africa to mount their Djembe themselves before resell.
A small number of those locally built and mounted instruments might by chance end up having a decent sound, but most of them will not match the sound quality of Djembe mounted by West African professional craftsmen.
Do not get fooled by extreme outside nice finish of some Djembe-like instruments, as this contribute nothing to the instrument sound quality.
Furthermore, North American Djembe-like hand drum manufacturers, often use Djembe tuning as one of the marketing tools to have novice players stay away from authentic Djembes.
The only thing you may need to do on a quality authentic Djembe, is the easy final tuning explained in our tuning slide show .
Vertical ropes tightening is only done once (If authentic quality Djembe with non streching rope), and should be done by the craftsmen/seller, since it is part of the Djembe original mounting steps.
(See the final tuning technique showed on our animated slide): Tuning a Djembe .
It is a simple thing to do with a professional well mounted quality authentic Djembe.
Following those few tips to recognize a real Djembe will allow you to purchase a Djembe of good quality.
Whether you are planning on playing regularly or only occasionally, buying a non traditional/modern Djembe look-alike is not worth it. You will thank yourself down the road, if you purchase an authentic Djembe assembled in West Africa, while supporting the African craftsmen who work hard on each and every single Djembe for generations..
Most Djembe-like drums sound different from Authentic Djembes, and do not allow producing proper musical notes like any musical instrument should have.
Why try to learn on a look-alike instrument.
Ask any serious and experienced Djembe player, they will all tell you that there's nothing like
the sound from a traditional West African authentic Djembe.
Before choosing a Djembe teacher / instructor:
- Make sure your teacher is playing a real West African Djembe.
If he / she is playing any other syntethic head drum or non wood shelf drum, your teacher is most likely not qualified to teach you.
Any qualified teacher should know that you canno't learn on a Non West African or syntethic head Djembe.
These type of non West African drums does not allow to play the different notes on the head.
Think of it as a guitar that would have all the same strings with the same tension...what's the point of having a guitar with multiple strings if they are all playing the same note? The same way, what's the point of playing a Djembe drum that can only make one note on the edge! - .
- Make sure your teacher has clear notes when playing the edge of the Djembe (Tone and Slaps), and that you can hear a difference in the notes played on the edge.
If you don't hear the difference, this would mean that your teacher most likely does not have the level to be teaching you, or is using one of the non West African drums, or both!
- Make sure your teacher can name the rhythm of the pattern he is teaching you, as each pattern has an associated rhythm. If he keeps making up his own patterns, again, he/she is most likely not a qualified teacher.
There is obviously more to it than the few above tips to choose a qualified Djembe teacher, but this will make you avoid most of the very fake teachers.
There are a wide variety of djembe-like drums on the market nowadays, improperly called Djembes, and sold as such, very few quality Djembes.
These Djembe look-alike drums are sometimes more expensive than Djembes because of the cost of material and assembly used to make them look like Authentic handmade West African Djembes.
The Djembe is an 800 years old musical instrument invented in West Africa (region of Guinea and Mali of today). This phenomenal instrument recently got the attention of neighboring countries in Africa that also started to produce and play the instrument - shortly after, the entire African continent embraced the instrument, other countries in the world started attempting to built and mass produce it without fully understanding its confection process (mainly Indonesia...North America...etc).
As you can imagine, none of these countries will ever match the expertise of 800 years of building and perfecting the instrument in Guinea and Mali. This is why Djembes from other African countries are usually not as good as the one from Guinea / Mali.
If you want a real Djembe....Buy from someone that goes to the source and can prove it ! ... This doesn't necessarily means paying more!
Djembe Buying guide - Advice for purchasing a Djembe.
5 minutes to know everything you need to know...read on !
Promoting traditional music and culture of Guinea for over 10 years !
we are from Guinea - based in Toronto Canada
This is called a DJEMBE, (NOT a bongo drum) !
The best Djembes in the world are built in Guinea and surrounding area in West Africa, region where this instrument originates from.
You will only know if you purchased a high quality Djembe when you start playing/learning the real West African rhythms (Not what is played in drum circles..) This will only happen when you start practicing/learning face to face with one of very few true West African Master drummers - Alternatively from many trained players/instructors directly learning from West African Masters in and outside of Africa.
I have seen far too many websites selling Djembes supposedly from Africa that do not have a single element actually from Africa!
I have seen far too many websites with Videos, rhythm notations, or instruction books that are written by people that barely studied how to play and don't say a thing about how or where they learrnt.., MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE - DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE OR READ ABOUT DJEMBE DRUM ON THE INTERNETINFORMATION FROM A COMPANY THAT APPEAR VERY LARGE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN ACCURATE INFORMATION - ONLY USE RELIABLE SOURCES LIKE OUR WEB SITE AND A FEW OTHERS !
why stay away from remo drums and syntetic djembes
why Djembe from Guinea and Mali are the best
recognize a great djembe at a glance
what to look for while purchasingh a djembe
purchasing a djembe buying guide
buying a djembe buying guide
what to know befor you purchase a djembe
what to know when looking for a great djembe
Online Djembe lesson and Djembe instruction video are not a good way to be introduced to Djembe drumming. Djembe rhythm notation should always be followed by live face to face lessons. Djembe secrets will only reveal themselves to the most disciplined and dedicated students, and Djembe online instruction, as well as Djembe instruction DVD provides little to no help.
The drum circle is a relatively new phenomenon inspired from the African djembe ensemble which uses Djembe drum unlike in drum circle which uses any drums.
Authentic Djembe or Professional Djembe is required to play in a djembe percussion ensemble.
You can find many djembe drums for sale on the market, and it’s not easy to choose which one to get. African Djembe drum among other instruments are widely used in drumming circles
And Djembe jam.
Best Djembe are Guinea Djembe without a doubt, and finding a djembe for sale is no easy task.
Djembe sale online has grown to many websites selling products with the name African Djembe, though they have absolutely no material from Africa, nor are they built in Africa.
Examples of these sites are: Bali Djembe, X8 Drums, Remo Djembe, discount Djembe, Djembe direct, world wide drums etc..
Djembe sale has became a very lucrative business with the emergence of Fiberglass Djembe
, Plastic head Djembe in almost all drumming circles.
Learning to play cannot be achieved in drum circles with plastic or fiberglass djembe, and Djembe secrets will only be revealed through hard work with a real West African instructor face to face. Buy Djembe today and get started.
