Collection: Djembes

Djembes for classrooms, drum circles and performance, in carved wood and composite, from Groove Masters Percussion, REMO, MEINL and NINO.

The djembe is a goblet-shaped drum from West Africa, played with bare hands. Its appeal in a teaching room is that three distinct sounds come out of it with almost no instruction. The centre of the head gives a low bass, the edge gives a ringing open tone, and a flicked strike at the rim gives a sharp slap. A student can hold a rhythm within a few minutes of picking one up.

Carved wood shells give the traditional warm tone and each one looks different, since the shell is turned and carved individually. Composite shells are lighter, hold their tuning through humidity swings, and take the knocks of a cart-based program without splitting.

Rope-tuned drums use the traditional cord lacing, pulled down to raise the pitch. Lug-tuned drums use a key, which is faster and easier for anyone who has not tuned a rope drum before.

Sizes run from six inch mini djembes for small hands up to full performance drums. The GMP AirDrum line, the tubolos and the three-piece nesting sets are also grouped here, as are hand-painted and carved models including elephant and ocean scene designs.