Kamis, 06 September 2018

The importance of Drums for Africans




Welcome back to our blog. Thank you for visiting us. In this article, I am trying to write about the importance of musical instruments especially hand drums in the eyes of Africans. Looking at the reality that, the drum has become one of the most used musical instruments in today’s musical realm, then I decided to dig out some essential information regarding drums. I begin to do some research in the library and on the internet. I find out that hand drums instrument is said to be the oldest instrument in the world. This drum has existed for thousands of years ago, and as of now the main form still remains the same although there is much modification such as decorations. I particularly focus more on society and the culture of the people of Africa. Playing African drum is a fun thing to do.



In this article, we will talk briefly about the history of African music. As we all know that the African continent is the second largest continent in the world, and 10 percent of the world population is living on this continent. Furthermore, they also have more or less one thousand indigenous languages spoken throughout the continent. Can you imagine how riches are the cultures that belong to the African? It is impossible to elaborate in a very detail way about their cultures. I just generalize it. People of Africa are inherited with amazing natural talents. They are so talented and creative. They love music so much. One of the best ways to express their talents and creativity is to transform it into African musical instruments like Darbuka, Cajons, and djembe, dances, songs, and even crafts. Music is very much alive in African lives. They created drums as a means for entertaining, religious purposes, cultural ceremonies, and other important events.

Based on the research that I do via the library and the internet, it is clearly stated that hand drums are the heartbeat of Africans. For them, a drum is not just an instrument which is used only for the purpose of entertaining, but it is far greater than that. The drum hand holds a deeper historical and symbolic meaning for the Africans. African drums are used mostly for traditional and religious ceremonies. African drum actually had varied forms and names, depending on the cultural societies.  I will be mentioning some famous African instruments such as Cajon drums, hand drums, djembes, and Congo. We can see plainly the different perceptions between western, eastern, and the Africans regarding hand drums. In the western world, they see this instrument just as a tool for entertaining.




Most of the African societies always use drums in the many occasion and celebration that they have such as births, marriages, and deaths. Africans are best known as the lovers of dancing. They love to dance. That is why they really need the existence of African hand drums as musical accompaniment to accompany them singing and dancing. Mostly, they use drums during religious ceremonies and traditional rituals.

On the other hand, drums are used as a means of communication and making music, two essential characteristics of community life. It has been for centuries that the people of Africa use utilize the drum a primary medium of communication between tribes in a long distance area. Another important aspect is Africans use the drum as an alarm tool. In some cases such as wars and meeting, they use the sound of the drum as the alarm and time. In the old times, people of Africa still live in a rural area, even until today. The distance between one community to other community is quite far, and much more, mostly they live in mountainous areas, that is why it is quite difficult to reach each other quickly. It takes a long time. They use the sound of drum instruments such as Cajon drums and Djembe to call people to attend the meeting. We know that years ago, many Africans usually solve problems between the tribes with war. The sound of the drum can energize and stir up their emotions for battle and war. They also believe that the thunderous sounds of drums can bring the supernatural power of gods to protect them alive during the battle.



                We can conclude that African drums instrument is the heartbeat of the Africans. If you want to know more about the variety of African drums, you can visit the website of Bali Treasures Drum factory. This factory is nominated as the biggest African drums factory in the world. They have produced various types of African musical instruments weekly. 

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