Djembe

By popular demand, a video demonstrating darbuka beats to accompany the Bengali mrdanga beats used in ISKCON kirtans.

I've been doing some investigation into drums and drumming lately.

Param Satya plays the tabla. I've been playing mrdanga for a few years now, and recently I've taken up doumbek (aka darbuka, tarambuka, egyptian tabla and more), and djembe.

Prahlad plays mrdanga, doumbek, and djembe.

We have a kirtan retreat coming up with drumming workshops and a drumming circle, so all these drums will come in handy. There are a few more at Atma as well.

We're also investigating designs, materials, and production lines for producing mrdangas locally and globally.

Remo manufacture a number of different models of djembes, designed in conjunction with percussionists such as Paulo Mattioli. This is a review of the key-tuned djembe.

This drum is made of a masonite-like material, a type of compressed cardboard (wood), and is surprisingly manufactured in the good ole US of A.

It's interesting to see a) that modern instrument manufacturers make modernized versions of traditional world drums, and b) how they do it.

Djembes are traditionally made using wood (there is a local outfit here in Byron Bay that do them out of camphor laurel). The head is traditionally an animal skin. These Remo drums are made using a processed wood as the body, and utilizing a synthetic "Skyndeep" head.

While Remo's site carries information on the Nuskyn and Fiberskin heads, it doesn't seem to have information on the Skyndeep head, apart from this page, which is low on details. Skyndeep heads don't appear in the latest Remo drum head catalog either.

[Update: It turns out that Skyndeep is a Fiberskin head with impregnated pigment finish.]

Remo make an imitation "fish skin" version of this head for doumbeks. I don't know how you make a drum head out of fish skin, or who first thought of trying it, but doumbek's with fish skins sound nice.

The key-tuned djembe uses the Mondo version of the head. It has tuning keys around the head that use 1/32" (imperial) nuts.

It comes with a small spanner for tuning.

One of the great features of this drum is the fact that it has a consistent sound. It may not sound as good as a traditional drum on its best day, but it always sounds better than a traditional drum on a bad day. It has a longer lifespan as well, with the ability to easily change the head, and tune it without having to take it to some dreadlocked, reefer smoking guy ;-)

Currently the bass note of this drum is tuned to D. We use it in large stand up kirtans with a harness strap (photo coming), and also in some mellow pieces with guitar and mandolin, although we've started to use a clay doumbek for that too.

The sounds are generally good and the dynamic range is wide, allowing the drum to pound it out in the mosh pit and also lightly accompany a mellow bhajan.

I'm doing some more mrdanga playing video podcasts, so I'll talk to Vrajadhama to get him to show you how to play the djembe along with the mrdanga in kirtan. He is the master of this.

Overall I would rate this drum as 9/10 for a synthetic drum. Durable construction, excellent materials, and innovative design combine to produce a very versatile and dependable addition to the kirtan backbone.