A friend asked me this the other day...
"Did drumming originate from Africa?"
I didn't know the answer so i decided to research it and this is what i found...
The drum may have originated in Africa or India by the earliest humans of almost one million years ago.
I found that drumming was used from communication way before it was used to make music. Old hollow logs could be used as drums so there is no way we can date when drumming first started but we can only use knowledge of communication to tell where it first came from.
Slavery was massive in India and Africa and they used drumming/ the sound of banging on anything hollow to communicate with one another. There lives were awful and they were not allowed to speak to another slave in the presence of their master so they'd use the drums.
Drumming made the Africans and Indians happy and they soon realised they could dance to the beat and before we knew it music was created!
This is how and where drumming originated. I hope this helped if you were asking the same question too.
I was reading your blog and I would like to know how have the drums in Africa changed over the years and is there similar types of drums in other countries?
ReplyDeleteThe drums in Africa haven’t changed at all really. The only differences are that the resources used to make the drums have changed, African drum makers have tried using different skins from different animals to create a better/long lasting drum. They also have better tools to make the drums look nicer but the sound is no different. The other difference is that the drums used to be used only for communicating and this is how drumming has developed into music and used as a key part of ceremonies, so drumming really hasn’t changed it has just developed and become more popular!!
ReplyDeleteThe Djembe and The Talking Drums are the only two drums that are used a lot in other countries. They are the two drums used in workshops for children in schools and the drums used for an extra effect in live music shows or concerts. This means people learn to play this instrument and play it for money or their job.
Great! Thanks for that, that was everything I needed to know!
ReplyDelete