Gúdúgúdú drum

The Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria plays the Gúdúgúdú drum. This drum is supposed to be the oldest drum of the family of the Àyàn – the Òrìsà of drums. The Gúdúgúdú is a small hourglass-shaped drum with a single head and is made of wood. It is worn around the neck and played with two leather thongs. The black dried sap placed in the middle of the drum's head allows the drum to produce two different musical tones when played, depending on where the drum's head is struck. The drum is also tuned with wooden wedges hammered between the drum base and a bottom metal ring. The Gúdúgúdú drum is usually used as part of a dùndún ensemble of five talking drums and is the only one that has only one hourglass-shaped head. In dùndún ensembles, the Gúdúgúdú drum provides a steady rhythm over which the other drums transmit sayings, prayers, and messages. Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, a linguist, known for his research among the Gullah communities of South Carolina and Georgia, in Bahia, Brazil, and West Africa, collected this object during a research trip to West Africa in 1951. He was interested in the tonalities of music and language and how they carry meaning within communities and cultures.