Water Drum

[e2c]

I jumped on a special offer at DSD last week - a water drum! (One of the mallets went missing; they marked it all down for quick sale.)

It's a gorgeous thing, but I need to come up with a new "stand" for it. The sound is very unusual - full, rich, but so unlike any drum made of wood and hide. The closest I can come by way of description is "unearthly," but that doesn't tell you much!

Fwiw, it's also pretty heavy and awkward when filled up. (Takes a few days for the larger half to dry out after use, too.) I haven't experimented with different pitches yet - will probably have to have it in close proximity to either a bathtub or kitchen sink so I can add/dump water as needed.

[bubudi]

that's one of my favourite instruments. it's called djidunun or djikirin. now that's a wet sound they have surprising sound projection. the stand is pretty much the traditional thing and often people just have them sitting on rolled up towels. if you go to a percussion shop, get yourself some of those doughnut shaped stands that are used for indian tablas and udu drums. better yet, have a go at making some with some west african fabric. those are nice mallets, by the way. did you make those?

another thing you might want to do is line the inside of the calabashes with beeswax to waterproof them. you don't want your djidunun to go mouldy in the winter. you only need to fill them with as much water as you need for the top calabash to float just a bit. you can always keep a bucket next to the djidunun to tip the water into instead of walking the calabash to the bathroom/kitchen.

[e2c]

DSD calls them "filendunun." (Looks like that's singular, not plural.)

The mallets are from DSD - they normally sell a pair with the water drum, but somehow, one of the mallets for the one I bought went missing and they sold the whole megillah for 1/2 price. I'm not quite sure what they used to pad the mallets, but they're pretty heavy.

As far as the amount of water in the drum, I'd assume that it all depends on the pitch you want to get. So yeah, just enough to float the top calabash is one thing, but actual tuning is another. I'd ultimately like to get a couple more of these (in different sizes) and have a set.

Thanks much for the tip on beeswax - my only concern is how easily the calabash absorbs it, and whether it will melt in our humid summer weather. (Our climate might be called "temperate," but that's a real misnomer! It's one thing to keep instruments in an air-conditioned room, but a whole different ballgame when using them in performance situations with no a/c, 80-96 F heat with high humidity....)

they have surprising sound projection...

Yes- I wasn't expecting that and it was a real surprise!

[bubudi]

there may be a slight absorbtion of the beeswax into the inside of the gourd but it doesn't seem to affect the sound at all. it would take at least 62°C to melt the beeswax (144°F) so don't worry about it. even in a performance setting under strong lights and no aircon, the water will be a big cooling factor

the term filedunun means gourd drum. it can be used for an upturned calabash played with sticks or the hand, not just a water drum.
the term djidunun specifically means water drum.

the pitch will not be that important if you're just playing them singly, which is how they're usually played. sometimes 2 are played, but to have a tuned set is not really traditional. i'd say that will eventually change. i have a set of 3 at home which was a custom order from mady keita after one of his trips to mali. the bowl for the deepest djidunun is a huge one (like those used for kora). then there is a medium sized one and a smaller one. i tune them like dununba, sangban and kenkeni. i put the highest pitched one on the left, like you do with ballet style dunun. great for practicing your dununba rhythm variations, left-right hand independence exercises or composing your own rhythms, late into the night!

[e2c]

Thanks muchly for the info. and tips, bubudi.

I'd like to (eventually) get 3-4 of these drums, so that I have some tonal range. As for tuning, it's fun to experiment. I'm not terribly concerned about whether I'm playing in a traditional way or not.

[gfarand]

I love the djidundun ! Costly in water, but the sound is amazing. I have two -one smaller one larger- which i tune a rough third apart.

The main problem with it, i find, is projection, especially next to hide drums. You can improve that slightly by replacing the bottom calbash with a plastic container (a tip from some of my Guinean friends), but i have to admit i don't like the sound that produces quite as much. Another way is to make your mallets much harder by stuffing them with as much felt as they will take (you might also want to restitch them so they don't split -i use kevlar thread lol). You get a more percussive quality to the sound that way, too.

[throbule]

I'd love to hear this or a similar one - does anyone have a link to any video's of these?
Thanks....
Max

[michi]

Here is an excerpt from Patrick Kersalé's DVD "Tambours Et Djembes Du Burkina Faso":



The DVD is excellent, with good performance footage and a lot of cultural info, well worth buying.

Patrick Kersalé, "Tambours Et Djembes Du Burkina Faso"

Patrick Kersalé DVD.jpg (59.04 KiB) Viewed 487 times

Cheers,

Michi.

[bubudi]

here's a video from mali showing the djidunun being played a bit more skillfully. you can also see the kids in the yogoro festival, a kind of bambara equivalent of halloween which happens on the 15th day of ramadan (full moon festival). the boys dress up in masks and go door knocking, asking for money or small gifts.

[e2c]

I've yet to hear any recording (audio or video) that captures the strange booming sound that comes from these drums when they're struck with a padded mallet... it really is unearthly!

[bubudi]

sounds like suku/soli rhythm