Traditional African Musical Instruments

Djembe

Goblet-shaped drum played with the hands. Different tones (bass, tone and slap) produced by hitting different parts of the skin.

Dundun or doundoun

Double-headed cylindrical drum played with a wooden stick. Different sizes make different pitches.

Talking drum

Double-headed drum held under the arm and played with a hooked beater. Pitch changed by squeezing strings to change tension of the drum skin.

Balafon

Xylophone with gourds underneath as resonators.

Maracas

Rattle instruments, often made of gourds filled with beans or beads.

Mbira

Thumb-piano - wooden board with metal strips plucked with the thumbs.

Kora

Long-necked harp lute with a gourd resonator.

Marimba

A larger form of the xylophone with resonators underneath the note bars.

Shekere

A dried gourd covered in a net with beads or shells woven in, forming a kind of rattle.

Agogo bells

Metal bells often in pairs, sometimes attached to drums.