Learn the Djembe

This page is devoted to helping students of the djembe drum who are seeking advice and knowledge relating to old style traditional djembe playing. This page will contain a variety of content - text, video and audio - to help the aspiring djembefola learn about the art of djembe playing. I will try not to post the usual instructional material - rhythm notation, video of dunun parts and djembe parts - because that has been done already and can easily be found on video and on the web. I want to add something a bit different. I want to point out issues that have not been discussed thoroughly yet when it comes to learning djembe. Odds and ends ideas that could help to glue together all the factual knowledge some folks have been collecting over the years. I will add content to this page little by little as time permits.

Djembe Image

The Basic Idea of Traditional Djembe Playing

One of the best ways to learn how to play traditional djembe is with one konkoni (small dunun headed with goat skin and without metal rings - very traditional) player who can play a bass accompaniment part while you practice solo on your djembe. The simplest scenario is generally best for learning the fundamental timing and skills you will need to be a good djembe player. 2 or 3 players is enough really. If you have 3 players - that would make 1 konkoni player and 2 djembe players. One djembe player will play accompaniment djembe while the other will practice solo phrasing.

Traditional djembe soloing is a strategic art. It requires skill, timing, feeling, concentration, intelligence and technique. Each rhythm has its own unique language. It is not a matter of simply hearing a bunch of powerful and loud dununs and djembes playing together and then you get excited and start going crazy on your drum. That is not the kind of skill I am talking about when it comes to traditional soloing. Traditional soloing begins with a moderate to slow tempo. The soloist must concentrate on the feeling and tempo of the rhythm. He must try to understand the particular feeling essence of the rhythm he is about to solo for. Each rhythm has a particular feel and style that is totally unique to it. This must be understood and felt deeply in order to begin to play correct traditional phrasing.

9.14.08 Traditional Solo Phrasing

There are usually maybe 4 or 5 very important "root solo" phrases from which all other traditional phrases evolve from. I call them "root solo" phrases because they are usually: very old, very specific to the particular rhythm, easily identifiable in relation to the rhythm with which it belongs and the root solo contains the essence and feel of many solo phrases that can be created for that particular rhythm.

The first thing you need to do is find an old djembe master who can show you just the straight ancient solo phrases without spicing them up or modernizing in any way. You want to know exactly how the root solo phrases used to be played 50 or more years ago. If you find an old master who can show you 4 or 5 of the fundamental ancient phrases for a particular rhythm you can begin to practice. With these root solo phrases you can even develop a full traditional solo without a teacher if necessary. The key is to simply keep practicing these basic phrases you have learned until they become second nature. Once you have reached that point, you will start to notice that you are naturally beginning to feel a pull and desire to vary the phrases slightly from time to time. You will start to "mess around" with the root solo phrases but without losing the basic essence, sensibility and timing embedded in these root phrases. This is the beginning of the art of djembe drumming...

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