Traditional African instruments

Drums

African drums come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The bodies are usually made from wood, gourds [Gourd: The dried and hollowed out shell of a fruit. ], and clay; drum heads are made from animal skins.

African instruments include the djembe, sakura, talking drum and doumbek

• The djembe drum has been called "the healing drum". It dates back to the 12th century Mali Empire of West Africa. It has a very wide tonal range setting it apart from other drums.
• The sakara is a hand-held drum made in Nigeria, West Africa. It comes in a family of four sizes, from tiny(Atele) to large (Iya-Alu). It has goatskin stretched over a rim of red clay and is played with a light stick. These drums are played all over the world in a variety of ways.
• Talking drums belong to the family of hourglass shaped pressure drums. The gan gan is the smallest, the dun dun is the largest. They have a drum head at both ends.
• The doumbek drum comes from the middle east, originally played in Egypt, Turkey and Armenia. The drum is played with the fingers. Dum is the bass tone played with your right hand in the middle of the drum. Tek is a high ringing sound played with your right hand. Ka is the same sound as tek, but played with your left hand.

Other percussion instruments

African instruments include the gonkogui, yenca, axatse, toke

• The gonkogui is a traditional double bell which is held in the hand whilst being struck with a stick. It has one high and one low tone.
• The yenca rattle is a gourd containing seeds that make the sound. It has a sponge plug which can be removed to change the seeds for different sizes, to give a different sound.
• The axatse or shekere also has seeds loosely covering a hollowed gourd. It is played by striking it on their hand, then on their leg, in various patterns. The top of the ball can be hit to create a deeper tone.
• The toke or banana bell is played by striking it with a metal rod whilst it is lied across the palm of the hand. It can also be hung on the side of drums. A pair of these bells, tuned a fourth apart, usually play together.

Stringed instruments

These include lutes, lyers, harps and zithers

• The kora is a 21- string harp-lute, which includes both plucked and sympathetic strings [Sympathetic Strings: Strings that are not played but make a sound due to vibrations from other strings. ]. It is used by professional musicians among the Mandika people of Gambia.
• The xalam is the most common stringed instrument in Senegal in west Africa. A plucked lute which is a close relative of the African American banjo.

Other instruments

African wind instruments include flutes, whistles, oboes and trumpets. The flutes were made from bamboo, reed, wood, clay, bones and other materials found in the sub-Saharan region.

Trumpets, often associated with royalty, were made from animal horns or wood. Clarinets, from the Savannah region of West Africa are made from guinea-corn or sorghum stems, with a reed cut from the surface of the stem at one end. Double-reed instruments, such as the hasua algaita, are derived from North Africa.