The Growth of Hand Drums

A hand drum is a kind of drum that is played primarilyequally accompany the mridangam in Classical
with hands other than using any sticks, mallet, hammerkarnatatic music. The term tabla is originated from an
or any type of beater. Frame drum, a shallow,Arabic word which means drum. The majority of the
cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of thetabla performers were Muslims, whose habitat was
open ends, is one of the early forms of this kind ofeither near or at the center of Mughal cultural centers
drums. Tabla, mridangam etc. are the Indian forms oflike Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Hyderbad and Lahore.
hand drums.Initially vocalists and instrumentalists accompanied tabla
The types of drums vary from place to place. Like inplayers. But gradually they developed a tradition of
the Middle and near east Tar, tambourine, daf, dayereh,solo performances.
ghaval, tonbak etc. are found. In Africa the mostIn Europe the Irish Bodhran sometimes is played with
common form of hand drum is djembe, single headed,the bare hand. A goat skin head is attached to one
large drum, which is goblet in shape. Its other Africanside, though now a days new materials like synthetic
types are ashiko that is similar to djembe that comesheads or kangaroo skin, are sometimes used. The
in the shape of truncated cone. While Bougarabouother side is open ended, so that the hands could be
drums are made with cow skin heads.placed in the drumhead in perfect manner to control
In Latin America, congas and bongos are part andthe pitch and timber. If we peep in history, we will find
parcel of every kind of Latin American music.that the bodhran was used during the Irish rebellion of
Especially Caribbean and South American regions use1603 as a war drum or battle drum. The drum is
congas and bongas both in folklore like punta, rumbausually played in a seated position, held vertically on the
and popular music like salsa, latin jazz and others. Theplayers' thigh and is supported by the upper body and
conga is a tall, narrow, single headed Cuban drum thatarm.
is commonly played in Congo. The person who plays aThe hang is the modern kind of hand drum that is
conga is called a congureo. Congas are played in fiveplayed with fingers. The hang is played resting on a
basic types of strokes namely open tone, muffledplayer's lap or sometimes on a stand. It was the result
tone, bass tone, slap and touch. Bongo drums orof many years of research and study of the wide
bongos are two small drums attached to each other.variety of instruments across the world like gongs,
They produce high pitched sounds and are playedgamelan, ghatam, drums, bells etc.
holding between the knees with the larger drum on theThe world of hand drums is really very rhythmic and
side. They are played by striking the drumheads withmelodious. With the passage of time the evolution of
the fingers and palms.hand drum seems to bring a sweet note on the
In Far East and India tabla, mridangam are an integraltechnology driven life.
part of music. Not to mention ghatams and kanjiras