Ewe Drumming - Tonal Drumming

Tonal Drumming

Like many West African drums, the master drum and sometimes the kidi have the ability to speak the language. Most African languages are tonal, so by producing different sounds at different pitches on the drum, the drummer can imitate the tones of the language. Some African drums can even imitate consonants by hitting the drum with a stick or hand at different angles and with different parts of the stick or hand. The Ewe also play a pair of two drums called atumpan (pronounced ah-toom-pahn) which are used all over Ghana as talking drums. The atumpan player stands up and plays the drum with two sticks shaped like an L.

In Anlo-Ewe cultural understanding, a drum is a super projection of the human voice. In this view, the role and power of the drum in play embodies the Sub-Saharan concept of combining natural forces of the universe in forming the supernaturals. In the composition of this conscious experience, human force is combined with other natural forces - skin of animal, hollowed solid tree-trunk, etc. - as a medium for arousing the attention and reaction of mankind. In a variety of tonal properties - pitch, timbre, intensity, and intricate rhythms - the drum and the drummer, in mutual cooperation, create patterns of consciousness that give a moment of inspiration to those they touch. Among the Anlo-Ewe, a legendary metaphor, "ela kuku dea 'gbe wu la gbagbe" which means, "a dead animal cries louder than a live one," is commonly used to explain the human experience that inspired the origin of the drum. A human being has a tendency to attract a lot more attention when dead than when alive. So when the need came to communicate louder, a super voice surrogate was built out of a skin of a dead animal that could deliver the message louder and clearer—Ladzekpo (1995: web).