Hey everyone. My neighbors are from Ghana. I was chatting with them the other night about how I want to get a drum. They said they could get me one for real cheap, because they know some people in Ghana who make them. Also, they make Kalabash type instruments too. They said that we could get the materials from there and they could show me how to put it together, too. Not sure wether to get it ready-made, or make it myself. Well, I guess I just wanted to see if anyone has ever been there. And if their style of drum is different from others made in Africa. Do you think if I ordered a bunch of 'em to sell on my website, that people would buy 'em? Just some random thoughts. Thanks for listening. Lena
I havn't been to Ghana myself but I lived in Benin for a few months which is still in the region. I purchased a djembe for about 12000 CFA (about $24 Cdn) and that was with a padded carry case. I've seen drums of inferrior quality here for well over $300 so getting it direct from the source is defineately the way to go. A good friend of mine over there who is a professional drummer and dance teacher said Mali is home to the best sounding djembes, that's where mine is from and I can certainly attest to it's craftsmanship, incredible resonation and vibrations. As for the style of drum, that all depends really, djembe's are more of a contemporary drum which are relatively the same (in design, but not neccessarily quality) anywhere you go. It's difficult to answer your question though because although most traditional drums in West Africa share many similar qualities there are tons of different types and sizes. Defineatly try to get your hands on a kalabash drum, because they're nearly impossible to find here and they have a sound like no other percussion instrument I know of. I think if you baught in bulk, at a fair price to the craftsman, and found a cheap way to get them here you would have no problem selling them because you could get away with selling them for a more reasonable price then the trendy "tribal" shops who chare outrageous sums. Seriously, most of the stuff you find in those places has more than a 100% mark up, it's rediculous.
I bought my djembe directly from my teacher, a djembefola from Guinee.. he imported the wooden drumbase plus the goatskin from his country and put it together here. The benefit of skins from that area is that they are thinner than the european/US skins and they therefor make a better sound. I would highly recommend letting a professional put the stuff together, unless you are really good at it yourself. The way you make the knots (especially the distance between them) is very important for the sounds, as well as making adjustments later on. As for importing the wooden bases. I think the biggest 'problem' will be the shippingcosts, because those things are damn heavy. Also, unless you know damn well what you're doing, you might end up with inferior quality, since not all the bases that are sold are of good quality. There are a lot of things that are important, like the type of wood, the shape, the lack of woodbugs (duh ), the way the wood is carved etc etc. I wouldn't start out with buying a whole bunch right away.. just order one or two, check the quality thorougly and if you like what you see, go from there. For mine, I paid 300 euro, including a high quality bag to carry it in (black, water resistant padded bag). The wood itself has a carving in the shape of the African continent and like I said, everything was imported from West Africa. It was already put together by my teacher, so that makes it a bit more expensive I guess. I only wish it still had the hairs attached to the rim of the djembé, just because I like how that looks and feels.. hehe.. but other than that, I love the thing
