Djembe Production in Ghana, West Africa

Djembe Production in Ghana

Are you wondering how Ghana Djembes are made? Watch our Djembe builders at work and see for yourself!

The Djembe production takes place out in the villages, in the shade of palm leaf roofs or trees, where the drum frames are hand-carved out of the tree trunk. These are transported to Accra, where we build the drums in small work shops.

Our Djembes are completely hand-made with simple tools, which makes building Djembes a very physical task. In addition, the very hot and humid weather makes the work even more tiring. Understanding this, we hope that drummers all around the world will better appreciate their hand-made Ghana Djembe.

Easily ten workers with different skills participate in the build of one Djembe, not even counting the suppliers of all the materials. When a foreign importer is fair enough to pay decent prices for the hard work involved, to make Djembes can be a wonderful opportunity for a lot of hard-working builders in Ghana.

Find detailed explanations and photos of our Djembe production below.

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1. Carving the Djembe frame

2. Welding the iron rings

3. Decorative carvings

4. Polishing the Djembe

5. Roping the Djembe

6. Mounting the goat skin

7. Tuning the Djembe

8. Testing the Djembe

Djembe frame (shell)

The Djembe frame (or shell) is cut out of one solid piece of wood with the help of different types of hand tools. Apart from the physical effort, the various steps involved require a lot of skills and practise. That's why often different workers perform these steps. Only an experienced worker is able to give the Djembe the optimal shape, thickness and finishing.

Iron rings

Each Djembe frame is measured and the three iron rings are custom-fitted to it. This must be done very precisely to ensure a tight fit of the skin later on. The iron rods are hammered into a perfectly round shape and joined, using an old welding device. The welder has to stay very focussed and careful to avoid serious burns and possible blindness.

The rings are later wrapped in cotton cloth. That not only enhances the looks of the drum but is necessary to protect the ropes and skin from cuts and rust damages. Traditionally, red cloth was used for Ghana Djembes, as red is the colour of mourning and the drums are usually played during funeral ceremonies.

Decorative hand-carvings

To enhance its looks, talented carvers beautify the Djembe frame with hand-carved designs. Although every carver has his own style, the traditional West African Adinkra symbols are a favourite sujet on Ghana Djembes, which are engraved or deep-carved in the body of the drum. After the detailed work of the carver, the drum frame is sanded three times for a smooth surface. Remember that all this is done by hand, which makes this step extremely time consuming and physical. Although this does not contribute to the sound quality of the Djembe, it surely adds a great deal of aesthetics and value to it!

Oils and polish

The wood is then moisturized with palm oil to repell bugs, and a protective wood polish is applied, which brings out the natural colours and beauty of the wood.

Roping the Djembe

The rope is knotted around the crown ring and the base ring. The verticals are then loosely woven around the drum's head, joining the two rings. The top rim of the drum is prepared for the skin. It is carefully rounded towards the middle and sanded. This makes playing the Djembe more comfortable and prevents the skin from being torn because of sharp edges and splinters in the wood.

Mounting the goat skin

Each goat skin is carefully selected and checked for scars, cuts and weak spots. Only a perfectly intact skin is suitable for a good Djembe. The skin is soaked in a solution of water and insecticide, to make it soft enough for the next step and to prevent later damages by bugs. The flesh ring is wrapped into the skin, slipped under the crown ring and placed on the drum. Light tension is then applied to the skin by carefully tightening the verticals all around the drum. This step can be very tricky and makes all preceding work worthless if not done properly. The crown ring must stay level to the ground withouth slipping away from the flesh ring, the skin has to be perfectly streched without any folds (but not overstreched) and the verticals need to be straight on every side of the drum. When a good result is achieved, the skin is carefully cut at the crown ring and the Djembe is put down for the skin to dry.

Tuning the Djembe and final touches

Once the skin is completely dry, the fur is shaved with a razor blade. Then, the most important step of all: The Djembe is tuned to achieve a crisp, clean sound. The musician increases the tension on the skin by pulling the verticals, using the same technique as described above, but this time using more force. When he is satisfied with the sound quality, the ropes are knotted and wrapped around the drum for later diamond tuning.
The skin is sanded with a fine paper to remove any stubbles, a braided carrying strap is attached to the Djembe and the wood is polished a few more times.