La paire de tambours d'atumpan (vu avec les symboles)

The Atumpan is a type of Bono talking drum. Played in pairs, these drums provide the bass part in Adowa dance ensembles. These drums are also found in

Fontomfrom Fontomfrom is a Bono type of hourglass-shaped drum mostly used by an ensemble of Bono people to communicate Bono monarchy royal messages in a Bono people ethnic group setting. The Fontomfrom ensemble provides music for ceremonies honoring Bono c ...

ensembles.

Construction and functionality

The body of the atumpan is made of wood, with a hollow interior. Its bottom is open, to increase its resonance. Its

drumhead A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands, so that it vibrates and the sound resonates through the drum. Additionally outside of percu ...

is made of

animal hide A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use. The word "hide" is related to the German word "Haut" which means skin. The industry defines hides as "skins" of large animals ''e.g''. cow, buffalo; while skins refer to "skins" of smaller an ...

that is stretched out to cover the top of the drum's body. There are several pegs near the top of the drum's body, which tension cords attached to them. These cords extend to the drumhead, holding it in place. Most atumpans are about 25 centimeters (8 inches) in width, and almost 60 centimeters (22 inches) high. The atumpan is played either with one's bare hands or L-shaped sticks.

History

The atumpan or ntumpane talking drum were introduced into

Bonoman Bono State (or Bonoman) was a trading state created by the Bono people, located in what is now southern Ghana. Bonoman was a medieval Akan kingdom in what is now Bono, Bono East and Ahafo region respectively named after the (Bono and Ahafo) a ...

by Bonohene Akumfi Ameyaw I and Bonohemaa Owusuaa Abrafi around 1320s from

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

References

African drums Ashanti musical instruments {{Membranophone-instrument-stub