Types of Hand Percussion

    

Welcome back to our blog. In this article, I will share some types of hand percussion instruments. I prefer to give the information only about the most used hand percussions in a worldwide range. I am sure that everyone is very familiar with percussion instruments. It is a definite fact that every cultural society has their traditional musical instruments, and most of them are in the form of hand percussions. Then, what is a percussion instrument? Cambridge Dictionary defines percussion as a musical instrument which is played by striking or beating the instrument using both bare hands and sticks. On the other hand, Merriam-Webster defines percussion as the striking, beating, and shaking of a musical instrument.  

    According to historical information that I researched on the internet, it is said that the hand percussion instrument is the oldest musical instruments in the world. This is based on the facts, given by expert historians. They say that most probably, the evolution and development of percussion instruments began in the continent of African Drum. The basis of this statement is the existence of hand drums which can be found in many places in Africa. They name it differently and use it with a varied purpose but the basic form of the instrument is the same. Africans express their creativity in the form of musical instruments, dances, and songs. The following paragraph, I will describe more details about various African hand drums. Just to inform you that African drums have become very popular at this present time. Many musicians are interested to use them on various occasion which is very much related to musical display. 

    There are many types of hand drums and percussion instruments which belong to Africans. Here they are; Djembe, Cajon, Balafon, Shakers and Rattles, Bells, Xylophones, drums, shekere, Udu, Marimba, Djun-Djun, Tama, Mbira, Slit drum, Gonkogawe Bell, Cuica, Timbales, Congas, Bongos, and Batak. There are four among them which are become so popular in the whole world namely Cajon drums, Djembe, Bongos, and Congas. Today's musician prefers to create a music which is composed of the collaboration of Cajon or Djembe, or Congas with other hand drum musical instruments.

    In this paragraph, I would like to give you further information about the most popular African drums that I have just mentioned before. Cajon drum is actually originated from the country of Peru. It is a box-shaped instrument which is made out of wood. It is said that this instrument was first created by the Peruvians during the colonialism of Spaniards. This African Cajon drum instrument is played by sitting on the top of it and then beating the front surface of the instrument. The back part of the instrument, there is a hole which primarily functions for resonance. Congas is also well-known as Latin hand drums. This instrument is originally coming from Cuban. The original materials which are used by the people of Cuba to create the instrument are wood staves and calfskin heads. Generally, a full set of Congas consists of three drums. Djembe instrument is said to be originated from the Central and West Africa. This instrument has been very popular in Indonesia, especially in Bali. Djembe is made out of animal skin and a curved piece of wood. The common form of the djembe is the upper part is bigger than that of the lower part. Bongos is also originally coming from the country of Cuba. Bongos usually consist of pair hand drums. Traditionally, this instrument is played with the position of seated and held between the two legs. This Bongos is well-known to the world-wide range. There have been many countries that have popularized this instrument.

    In this particular paragraph, I will inform you about the Asian percussion. Hand percussion also can be found in Asia, America, and Australia. It is not only in Africa. For instance: Doumbek, Tar, Finger Cymbals, tambourine, Bothran, Tabla, Gendang, gong, Kanjira, Gamelan, Dholak, Duggi, Eo, Gubguba, Maram, Nodo, Thavil, Udukkai, Nagara, and Urumi.  among the many Asian hand percussion instruments, I will just tell the three of them more details. I prefer to choose the most popular ones namely Doumbek and Gamelan. 

    According to Wikipedia, darbuka is also called goblet drum. This instrument is originally coming from Egyptian Arabic. Darbuka is composed of single animal skin and a goblet-shaped body. This musical instrument is mostly used in the Middle East, South Asia, and Egypt. Gamelan is considered to be one of the most famous Indonesian traditional hand drums. This instrument is originated from Bali. Nonetheless, Gamelan also can be found in Madura and Lombok.