Calabash Water Drum

Also known as Water drum (tinde · water calabashes)

Water drums of the Sahel are made from half-gourds floated upside down in a basin or pot of water. Players strike the curved back with mallets or the hand, and the water around and under the gourd lends a deep, rounded boom; pressing or lifting the gourd bends the tone.

Play the preview About this tradition

Calabash Water Drum: photograph by de:Benutzer:Smalltown Boy — Photo: de:Benutzer:Smalltown Boy, Free use (Wikimedia Commons licence template), source on Wikimedia Commons

Calabash Water Drum: the game in attract mode

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How to play

Four pads stand for the strokes: a deep one, a middle one, a lifted one and a sharp rim stroke.
Listen as the drum plays a four-beat phrase and the pads light up in order.
Then answer it: strike the same pads in the same rhythm.
Play the three songs in turn; each holds four short phrases.

Rules at a glance

The drum plays a phrase of four beats, then you answer it, in turn through the song.
A stroke within a hair of the beat is perfect, a near one is good, and a missed one scores nothing.
An extra stroke while you answer costs a few points.
The deep, middle and lifted strokes stand for the gourd sunk, held and raised in the water; the rim stroke is on the edge.
Three stars need roughly nine notes in ten on time.

About the tradition

Water drums are played by women in several Sahel communities of Niger and Nigeria, often in groups with one gourd each in a shared basin. The gourds are cut by hand and the amount of water is adjusted to taste to tune the drum.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Africa: Sahel, West and Central.

Credits

Tradition: Sahel water drum music; phrases written for this game
Photo of water drums from Wikimedia Commons (free use)
Photo: de:Benutzer:Smalltown Boy, Free use (Wikimedia Commons licence template), source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wassertrommeln.jpg

Get the app

Calabash Water Drum is one of 10 drums and rhythms in the Drum Music of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Live on Google Play. Submitted to the App Store; in review, and the store link appears here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 10 drums and rhythms in the app

In review on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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