The jembe is from West Africa where it has a long tradition of being used to accompany dances. In recent years the instrument has become incredibly popular around the world with huge numbers being produced and played in all kinds of music.
Jembe Sounds
The jembe can make warm low sounds, flat drum tones and high pitched slaps and is great for both slow and fast music. You can listen to some examples below, but remember: in Africa the jembe is for dancing, not listening!
Learn more about the Jembe>>
Listen to some Jembe examples played by Kevin Hathaway of the Philharmonia Orchestra:
clip 1 -
Turn this djembe rhythm up loud to hear the rich bass notes!...
clip 2 -
In this rhythm you can hear high pitched 'rim-shots' on the djembe.
Xylophone
Does every school have a xylophone? Has every school pupil played the xylophone at least once? The answer must surely be yes to both those questions and yet very few people realise the instrument originally came from Africa. The word xylo-phone means wooden-sound and first xylophones played in Europe were actually imported from Africa almost 700 years ago.
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