The ashiko is a
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
, shaped like a tapered cylinder (or truncated cone) with the head on the wide end, and the narrow end open. It is made of hardwood and generally has a calfskin hide. Nowadays, goatskin is sometimes used, in imitation of the high sound of the popular
djembe
A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...
drum. It is played with the hands, and tuned by ropes. Ashiko drums – or variants thereof – are traditionally found in West Africa, as well as part of the Americas.
History
The origins of the ashiko drum are traced to the
Yoruba culture
Distinctive cultural norms prevail in Yorubaland and among the Yoruba people.Kola Abimbola, Yoruba Culture: ''A Philosophical Account'', Iroko Academic Publishers, 2005.
Art
Sculpture
The Yoruba are said to be prolific sculptors, famous for t ...
in (mainly) present-day
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
, West Africa. The word “ashiko” is also traced to a word in the Yoruba language meaning either “drum” or (with tonal difference) "time-frame" or “freedom”. The drum has a long tradition in Yoruba culture, where the drum functioned in community celebrations, as well as a “
talking drum
The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...
”. Traditional ashikos were/are hand carved from a single lug of wood and were not straight cones.
Perhaps because
Yorubaland
Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 or about 60% of the land area of Ghana. Of this ...
and surrounding areas were strongly involved in (affected by) the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
, drums with similar forms and characteristics are historically found in Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American cultures and traditions. In
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
specifically,“ashiko-like” drums can be identified in the drum known as “bocú” in Eastern Cuba, as well as one of the drums (a solo drum) used in the
Abakua secret society.
Drums similarly shaped to the ashiko - including the "truncated cone" form - can also be found in Afro-Colombian music (the Tambor Alegre in the Caribbean region of Colombia), as well as in Afro-Brazilian music, such as the
Timbau
The timbau or Brazilian timbal is a membranophone instrument derived from the caxambu drum, usually played with both hands. Slightly conical and of varying sizes, it is usually light in weight and made of lacquered wood or metal (usually alumin ...
. The latter, from the Bahia region, tends to have however synthetic heads and is, unlike the ashiko, tuned by pegs.
The African/Nigerian ashiko as such first got disseminated and popularized in some circles in the US in the 1930s, after Nigerian drummer Moses Mianns emigrated to New York in the 1930s. The drum he commissioned in the United States is in the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the NYPL. Examining it, one can see the original ashiko is not a simple cone drum but is, in fact, curved on the inside, creating a softer tone, and emulating carved drums.
The ashiko received exposure on a much wider scale in the US and elsewhere in the 1950s and 1960s with the popularity of the touring folkloric ensemble created by Yoruba musician
Babatunde Olatunji
Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.
Early life
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Niger ...
, which included ashiko and other drums. His ensemble of Montego Joe, Chief James Hawthorne Bey, and Baba Taiwo Duval, and Julito Collazo, were all students of Miannes who played with Olatunji, and disseminated the technique. They can be heard on Olatunji's groundbreaking LP for Columbia, Drums of Passion. Famed djembefola Ladji Camara, who truly introduced the drum to U.S. students, worked with Olatunji. He can be heard on Olatunji's More Drums of Passion.
After Olajuni opened for the Grateful Dead in the 1980s, the ashiko spread from its Afro-based constituency, and became part of the European-American growing local drum movement in the US and elsewhere in the Western world. Though it remains there, its popularity has dwindled to that of the
djembe
A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...
,
conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...
, or
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
drums.
Characteristics
Some call the ashiko a "male" counterpart to the djembe, though this is contradicted by references to the relatively
matriarchal Yoruba culture. Also it being regarded as "between a djembe and a conga" is seen as wrong, and disrespectful to the ashiko itself and its own tradition, including a distinct playing technique, different from the djembe or conga. A video example can be seen here
Traditional Ashiko Drum Playing Technique The ashiko is a drum with its own history and is not a counterpart or derivative. There is, besides this, a geographical difference, as the djembe's origins are associated with the
Mali empire
The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl ...
(Guinee and Mali region), and the ashiko's as said with Yorubaland.
Superficial sonic similarities with the djembe relate to the goatskin head it has in common with it, but the longer, cylinder form of the ashiko drum makes the bass tone “deeper” than that of the bowl-shaped djembe, while in general the sounds – most speak of three different tones of the ashiko – are different (a bit softer) when compared to the djembe. That is especially true of one uses traditional technique to play the drum. Some percussionists argue that the ashiko knows more "middle tones" when compared to the djembe.
Modern ashiko drums produced in the West are often made of vertical staves. Like other drums they can be purchased with the standard 8, 10, or 12 inch diameters of the hides. Ashikos tuned by lugs and metal tacks are nowadays also produced. Some manufacturers use cow hide; some assume to make the ashiko resemble an Afro-Cuban conga. This is, in fact, the "old school" method.
References
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Drums
Yoruba musical instruments