Good wood

[michi]

even 2 drums carved from the same tree most likely will not sound the same because of age, sunlight etc. depending on what part of the tree it came from.

I heard him say this too. One of his drums is actually made from the below-ground part of the tree. Mamady said that such shells are very rare. (No surprise there—it would be a huge amount of work to dig up the root ball of a mature Lenke tree.) Despite being carved from the root system, the shell looked like normal Lenke (maybe a bit darker than usual). There was none of the burl wood that you often get from root wood.

Cheers,

Michi.

[bops]

Has anyone ever heard of a ivory coast djembe being made out of dimba?

I haven't. As far as I know, dimba is used only in Senegal.

Cheers,

Michi.

I don't think that's the case. Dimba is the Wolof name, in Susu they call it Duki and in Bamana they call it Dugura. It's not that uncommon. It's quite possible that they get that type of wood in Ivory Coast from time to time. I've seen Lenke drums come from IC, too.

[michi]

I haven't. As far as I know, dimba is used only in Senegal.

I don't think that's the case. Dimba is the Wolof name, in Susu they call it Duki and in Bamana they call it Dugura.

Hi Bops, you are right. I wrote this because, until yesterday, I was living under the impression that Dimba is distinct from Duki/Dugura. As I now know, that's not the case

Cheers,

Michi.

[bops]

That's a great write-up, thanks Michi! Nice work.

[bops]

When I was in Mali this winter, I visited the the home village of my good friend, called Kolomalaila. It is in Guinea, about 5 km from the Mali border. The Guinean gov't officially recognizes the village as Bagafea. We hiked up a sacred mountain, called Marina Kuru, and on the way, I snapped these pictures of a Lenke tree and its seeds:

Lenke tree

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Closeup

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Lenke seeds

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[bops]

From the top of Marina Kuru, you can see Guinea, Mali and Ivory Coast. Here are some pics from the hike:

Marina Kuru

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Hunters

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At the summit

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[e2c]

Thanks for the photos, bops!

Just curious: I'm guessing that Marina Kuru has something to do with the hunters' societies, based on what you've uploaded. Can you tell us a bit more about why it is sacred?

[bops]

e2c... I will write more about this soon! Sorry to leave you hangin! Thanks for asking the questions, though. There's some interesting history...

[e2c]

Looking forward to it, bops!