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For thousands of years, drumming has played an integral part of both religious ceremony and secular life for virtually every culture around the world. It's a part of our history, our present, and definitely our future.

Djembe

The Djembe has two very distinct sounds: a very low pitched bass tone, and a high pitched tone or slap.The unique sound of the Djembe is produced by the shape of the drum. The hourglass shape allows for two distinct sounds. The higher pitched sound resonates within the upper half of the shell, and the lower half of the shell helps to accomodate the low bass tone created when the head is hit near the centre.

The Djembe is an African drum originally and originates in sub-Saharan countries - perhaps Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, or Togo. It is considered by people of those areas to be the most powerful drum. Historians have found that this drum dates back to the 12^th. century. The Djembe is a sacred drum, and was utilized in tribal ceremonies such as healing, ancestral worship, rites of passage, warrior rituals, communication and storytelling.

Doumbek

The Doumbek, or Dumbek, is a hand drum from the middle east: Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and India. These drums are made out of all sorts of materials like copper, steel, pottery, and wood, and are often decorated with intricate designs.

The Doumbek gets it's name from the sounds that it makes. The drum creates two very distinct sounds, a low sound which is called "Doum" (pronounced "Dum" or "doom"), and a higher pitched sound called "bek" -- hence the name Doum-bek. In this regard, the Doumbek is much like the Djembe which also produces two very distinct sounds.

Angklung

Angklung are an type of Indonesian bamboo shaker. When shaken, each Angklung will produce one pitch and they can be combined to create chords, or melody; although, playing melody on Angklung is both rare and quite difficult.

Angklung are usually found in one or two octave sets. The picture above shows a one-octave set. However, they are often tuned to a different scale than the typical Western major or minor scale. They can be found in pentatonic scales (a scale with five notes instead of seven), or in microtonal scales (a scale with more than 12 notes).

In the sound clip you can hear the Angklung being used as shakers to maintain a basic rhythm.

Bodhran

The Bodhran has quite an interesting history and is in essence one of the oldest hand drums. One of the Bodhran's direct ancestors was the frame drum, which is simply a round wooden frame with a skin. The Bodhran however, has a crossbar inside the frame. This crossbar was used to hold the drum in one hand while hitting the skin with the other.

The Bodhran has been used for centuries in Celtic music, but the drummers in the twentieth century are now taking it out of it's Celtic setting and using it in other styles of music. Also, the Bodhran was typically struck with a small stick called a tipper, but drummers are now starting to use it strictly as a "hand drum".

Thai Gongs

These incredible gongs create possibly the most ethereal sound of all gongs.

Thai gongs are tuned and have a raised centre or "nipple" as it is sometimes called. By tuned I mean that they have a specific pitch and should not be considered a "non-pitched" instrument. The shape and the particular mixture of brass and copper creates a beautiful tone reminiscent of ancient Asiatic ritual and song.