Hello / Advice

[sar3483]

Hello from Florida. I'm new to djembe playing and just stumbled upon this site. It looks like a great community. I'm looking forward to learning all I can here.
Now for the advice. I've been an on and off drummer for 25 years. Always on a full set but not hand drums. I recently decided to take up the djembe and sit in on some drum circles. While looking around for a djembe I happened to be at a garage sale and ran across a VERY low priced Meinl Headliner key tuned djembe. Or what I find most of you would call a djembe copy. For the price though I figured that I couldn't loose by buying this drum. Now, I'm not one to really care about others opinions about me or what I do. However, I'm curious after reading about the disrespect that most of you give to this type of djembe, am I going get the same negative opinions at the drum circles by using a non traditional drum such as this or do most people in this environment really care? Please excuse me if this sounds silly. I'm just curious what the common opinion is.

[bubudi]

welcome! many of us who post here are serious students of the djembe and west african rhythms, not just into playing in drum circles. you might therefore get a somewhat biased view here. i don't think people in a drum circle will mind much what type of drum you play. having said that, many people who just jam get turned onto authentic djembes from guinea and mali after getting the chance to play a really nice one. once you feel and hear a nice djembe, there's no going back to the key tuned, factory produced imitations... they are great if you want to drum in the rain, though!

[BobF]

Welcome aboard Sar,

I wouldn't sweat worrying about what others think of your djembe in a drum circle (or anywhere else for that matter), I started out playing in drum circles and still go to some regularly and I could care less what type of drum the person is playing.

That being said, if you're interested in a traditional djembe, there are some guys from Guinea not too far from you. Mohamed DaCosta and Amo Soumah are in Jacksonville teaching at U of F and I'm sure they could hook you up with a traditional djembe if you ever decide to get one. Amo's a great guy and a good djembe player, if you want to learn some West African you should look him up.

Good luck and enjoy your new drum!
Bob

[BobF]

Ooops, thought Fort Myers was a lot closer to Jacksonville than it really is. Not sure if there are any West African drummers in the Fort Myers area..