-Fear less, hope more. Whine less, breathe more. Talk less, say more. Hate less, love more. Trip less, dance more……
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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.~Albert Einstein http://www.myspace.com/rhythmsofbarab… This is the shekere I was hired to create (make) for Mickey Hart formerly of the Grateful Dead. It took me hundreds of hours to complete this one and only! It now travels with Micky Harts traveling percussion museum. Bali Djembe drums vs West African djembe drums The prices of professional djembe drums are going through the roof on line (you can pay well over $650!). That said, under certain circumstances, one of the best buys going right now is a Bali djembe drum. They are just about always light weight, have nice skins and a great drum can cost you about $100 US or even less! Bali is still a wonderful place to visit, highly recommended and if you are a drummer or dancer and love the beach it can be quite idealic there as there can be drumming every night! There are many drum groups there and some awesome players as well. People told me for years about how great some of the players were there but I had to see it to believe it!  Bali Djembe of Eddy Tamba When I was in Bali at the djembe shop (where I bought my drums )I went next door to the surf shop where they make surfboard cases and had those guys copy my djembe case to the “t”. Don’t worry, the bag was actualy my original design now being sold by Drumskulls. I turned them on to the manufacturer. They even sewed my name into the top of the bag with large scrolled letters. Under $35 US! My friend Boaz had beautiful chrome sesse sesse, (aka casanka sank) made for him as well. There are only a couple of woods offered but Boaz was able to get them to carve a drum for him out of a more exotic wood.  individualised Bali djembe padded drum case The only problem with these drums, which is the same problem they have had there since they started making djembes there, is that the “choke” (the space where your fist can go through the tunnel of the drum inside of it) is still too small for some peoples tastes. Also, they usually do not loop the skin back over the rim for that finished look and extra protection the skin gives your hands. My drums have held up very well. I have had no cracking on my drums or any of the many drums Boaz brought back. The skin on one of my solo oriented djembe drums out lasted many of my other African drums, too!  Bali carved djembe (left) Guinea djembe (right) Now all that said, I would still only recommend buying a Bali drum if you are going there, or if you can see or play the drum first. Please do not buy one with out first checking it out! The quality varies tremendously, and quite frankly most of the Bali djembes I have seen in person or on line in the USA (outside of my familiar and large curdle of drum friends) are not up to par. So what does this mean? Buyer beware. There are some truly awful drums coming out of Bali in mass as well as some very nice ones!  Bali handmade dunun drum (bottom) with Thai carved kinkini (top) They make so many drums on Bali now it is mind boggling. It seems like there is a drum shop on every corner! Who is buying all these drums? One day Boaz and I made a point to go to every drum shop we could find in the Kuta Beach area and play as many drums with as many drummers as we could. It took us all day! But we sure had fun and made a lot of nice friends as well.  Michael P playing with friends on Bali beach So how do they compare with a nice Guinea djembe or Mali drums? Too me, I still prefer a top notch Guinea or Mali drum. Why? The sound to my ears fuller and more tonal. But don’t count out the Bali drum yet. They can also produce a full rich tone and be a nice solo drum as well. A point to note is this. Bali drums are turned on a lathe, so they are “perfect” or at least very symmetrical and also, smooth inside. This produces a certain tonal quality. African drums from Guinea, Mali and the Ivory Coast (maybe Senegal too) are all hand carved and therefore not as symmetrical. Some people believe that this factor, not being perfecty round, is actualy a positive and this what gives each djembe drum it unique voice. Also, many of the drums are not as smooth inside as the Bali drums. Meanwhile, I also like the shells from Ivory coast. I am not partial to the Senegalese drumsas they seem to be too slap happy and bass oriented and don’t have the certain tone I like to hear. This is all a matter of personal taste because they all make some fine drums.  2 of my Guinea djembes, one from Komoko Sano and one from Yagbe So here is the bottom line. If you have the cash, buy an African drum. If you do not, and you have contacts through Bali for a nice drum, you may be able to save hundreds of dollars. Again, if you do not see and play the drum first you could get burned badly with a poor sounding Bali drum, though! A few nights ago I heard a Bali djembe drum Ray Raush brought over to Bangkok, Thailand being played by Eddie Tamba of Liberia at the drum jam on Khao San Road in Bangkok. I have to say it sounded just as good or even better then the African drums we were playing. That said, Eddie can make any drum sound sweet, and his technique is way better then those of us playing the African drums, too.  Eddy Tamba playing his Bali djembe on Khao San Rd., Bangkok, Thailand So there you have it. If you are knowledgeable and play it smart you can have a great drum for very little money. However if you are not careful, it will not be worth it! Here are some tips on and about buying a used conga drum. First of all, do you want one, two or three conga drums. If it is your first time to buy a drum or you can only buy one drum, I recommend a segundo (second) aka conga drum. The three sizes are quinto the smallest in diameter and highest pitched (for soloing), conga (or second ) and tumba or tumbao the largest in diameter and lowest pitched. There is also sometimes a “super” tumba, even larger then a tumba.  4 Used Oak LP conga drums What is your budget? If your budget is slim, you may want to try Craigslist or even a pawn shop if you live near a big city. Know the drum you want to buy first, however. You can look on line at the models. I am posting photos of my favorite drums here as well. I do not recommend the lower line models such as the LP Aspire congas (see photo).  Aspire conga drum (low end budget model) by LP Skins are always a personal preference. I enjoy medium thickness on my conga and tuba and medium thin on my quint. If a skin is too thin the sound is ringy and not full. It does help the slap project more however if the skin is thin. If you find a used conga and the skin looks like the photo here it may be time for a new skin. You can get used congas at or around the same price as the bottom of the line new drums. There are also great deals on ebay but you can not see the drum first unfortunately unless it is in your area of course. So buyer beware. Since drums are made of wood or fiberglass, there is not much that can be hidden in terms of damage if you are buying a used drum. If it is wood, check for cracks. Turn the drum upside down and put it on top of a towel or soft object to protect the skin.  LP Galaxy® Giovanni Series™ 11\ Many used drums can use a new skin which is easy to put on if you are a little bit handy. If you are looking at fiberglass drums make sure there is no indentation in the fiberglass or sagging anywhere especially by the hardware. This happens on older fiberglass drums tht have been left in a heated situation such as a trunk of a car. Speaking of hardware check for rust, and bring a wrench with you and test each bolt by turning as you would normally do tune a drum. Many used drums have not been tuned in ages.There are many different oils that can be used, and you may be able to bring old nuts and bolts back to life, but don’t count on it and new hardware replacement parts can be expensive. What brand to buy? Again personal preference. I come from the era of LP’s, Val Jay, Gon Bops and Skin on Skin. I have owned Toca drums in Thailand and I think they are also a fine choice in the higher end line. You generally can not go wrong with any of these brands in there upscale models. Some people like the Meinel. I am not a big fan, however. I live in Thailand part of the year and interestingly enough, most of the new drums are made in Thailand. Some of them at the same factory!  Raymond Rausch plays 2 Toca fiberglass congas at Khao San Road drum jam I currently own and play LP Galaxy Giovanni Series Congas as well as LP original short fiberglass drums . I also have a set of 4 Skin on Skin congas as well. I do find myself playing the LP Giovanni the most, though. The Skin on Skin were hand made in New York by a man named Jay for many years but now I hear they are not individual made by him anymore. There was also another hand made company in New York called “Jr.’s congas” but they are almost impossible to find. If you do find them, grab them! The prettiest congas for many years were the Fat Congas. They stopped making them a while back, though. Jesse Seymour, the conga player in Barabajaba plays Kona brand cogas, bongo and bata. They are beautiful, light and made from exotic hardwoods butch fetch a pretty penny! There are many different ways to learn drums. Some people prefer an intellectual approach, to understand the breakdown or math of the part or pattern on the drum. The beats and dividing the beats. This is a western approach that really works for some people.  how we learn to play These type of learners can not learn unless they first understand how the pattern is set up with numbers. This is not my personal preference or way I think, but over the years I have grown to accept the fact that this is the only way certain people can learn. We have different ways, so we need to respect each others process as no two people are the same. I have respect for the great thinkers in the drum movements and I also believe it is important to have some system of notation as a full time student or professional. That said, I do not believe in learning a rythym or pattern (piece) for the first time from a book or internet. The numbers can not give you a feel, no matter how far you divde or break it down.  Hawaii's own drum carver Boaz Martin plays Bata The number system and traditional or non traditional music notation for me is good for seeing how something that appeared complicates is actual made up of smple parts and also notation and to refresh my memory. I do like to know where the “one” or first beat of the pattern starts and where the pulse in the pattern is. Drums were traditional taught by a vocal system (singing or speaking) and by demonstration in West Africa. Each tone you can make on any type of hand drum be it congas, djembe, dumbec or whatever can be thought of and used as a spoken or sung sylable.  drummers and dancer Try repeating back a a new rhythm someone shows you by first saying or singing it. If you stumble verbaly, wait until you can repeat it back as a song or spoken word set perfectly before you try playing it. For many of us this by steps the part of the thinking process and replaces it more with the feeling process, thus making it easier for us “feelers” (those who learn by feeling and hearing and then playing back) to learn. If you can say it, you can play it! |
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