Assignment1-4 Weekly Written Analysis 1

This weeks Analysis, I will talk about DJEMBE as pop culture in the continent of Africa.


A djembe also known as djimbe and jembe is an instrument of music. It is characterize by a skin covered hand drum shaped like a goblet and meant to be played with a stick. According to the Bamana a tribes in Mali ( a country in west Africa).the name of Djembe comes from the saying “Anke dje, anke be” which translates to “everyone gather together” and the define the drum’s purpose.(Fotolia, 2010)

By focusing on the definition of djembe we can notice that his role is to gather people.

The djembe (the drum) occupy an important place in African tradition. In the history of the kings in Africa many of them were surrounded by drums which were handled by the griots.The griots are usually those who follow and sing for the kings.The djembe was used also to communicate between generation to generation.

The djembe is played, with full hands to accompany the social facts such as the marriages, baptisms, harvests, with rhythms particular to each occasion and each ethnicity.

The music of West Africa nowadays has its entire place in our Occidental culture. We see appearing djembe in many contexts quite as different from each other. The African artists who were the precursors of Djembe in the world allowed a great number among us (apprentices players of djembe) to discover a passion and it is that even which gave us thirst to travel, to share and discover a culture impressed of an extraordinary musical richness.

These are some facts that make djembe a precious instrument and a pop culture topic.

In conclusion, the African music wakes up in us a simple and unquestionable love of life stripped of any ambiguity; because it is the source even of a social link out of the common run, which is only able, even for a short moment, to link in complete symbiosis of the beings, culture, thought, colors and different beliefs and it is that even which makes it unconsciously so gravitational.



Reference

Fotolia. (2010). The djembe and the African culture.Retrieved from http://www.prof2zik.com/le-

           Djembe on March 02, 2010