Show off your axe

[FreekAce]

awesome, you guys rock!

i think it came with the cowries, but i'm not sure (i dont mind a little bit of decoration, and kinda like the way they did it here).it has been reheaded in Canada by Saikou, the owner of the shop where i bought it and that facilitates a couple of teachers (Mohammed Diaby and Amadou Kienou). i take my classes here as well. one of the better, if not the best place in T.O. for everything to with African percussion.

check out his site [url]www.calypsostudio.com/drumcultures/Africandrums3/index.html/url]

there's a nice little youtube vid of Mohammed Diaby and some other players.

[Dugafola]

ok experts...tell me what these are...

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[FreekAce]

they appear to be drum's......

thank you, thank you very much! i'll be here all week, try the veal

[bops]

Guinea - Lenke
Mali - Lenke ? or Djalla
Mali - this one's hard to pick out... Lenke?

[michi]

they appear to be drum's......

Yep, I agree. Definitely drums. Djembes, actually, if you want to be pedantic

ok experts...tell me what these are...

Wow, the gloves are down...

At the risk of making a fool of myself:

• Number 1 looks like hare, but could also be iroko (Guinea).
• Number 2 looks like lenke, but could be unusually red djalla (Mali).
• Number 3 is dugura, I think (Mali).

Now, go and shoot me...

Michi.

[Daniel Preissler]

I'm no wood professional.
The first one is from Conakry, but with some influences from Ivory Coast. Might be lenke, not sure.
The second one (I would say Djalla, which is more red than lenke). Could be a Conakry one (older style), more likely Upper-Guinea or Mali. It's my favourite by far!
The third one is Ivory Coast or Burkina to me. Dugura? I have to pass, no idea about that style. It's no lenke, I'ld say.
nice game!
d

[BobF]

probabaly totally wrong on all of em but I'm guessing:

1) Lenke
2) Acajou
3) Gele

I really like the shape of the last one.. Details on this piece?

[Paul]

No idea, but the grain on the first one looks like a pint of guinness when it is settling (yum).

This is mine.. I took it apart during the summer and changed the rim, oiled it for the first time (my teacher was against oiling) and changed it from 40 to 26 verticals... Sounds totally different (somewhat easier to rope up also)..

The wood is kinda strange in proportions, the length of the top section gives it nice tones and slaps, but without a bowl the base is more of a thud..

[bops]

the grain on the first one looks like a pint of guinness when it is settling (yum).

That is an interesting piece, Paul... is it from Burkina? Like you said, it has a long bowl. Looks like hare wood.

[Onetreedrums]

In my experience, I have seen Lenke manifest similarly to all of these jenbes ... could be a trick question. However, on sight, I would have to guess that 1) is a Guinea Lenke shell (although I have some Hare and Beng that look very similar, 2) is from Mali and the shell is most likely a lighter than normal colored Gele (typically Gele of this quality would be darker purple), although I just assembles a red Lenke which looks very similar, 3) most likely Ivory Coast Iroko. The ultimate test would be to really see the grain as well as smell the shells. Definitely a fun test, Duga. I'll try to post some of mine after the new year ...

[Dugafola]

In my experience, I have seen Lenke manifest similarly to all of these jenbes ... could be a trick question. However, on sight, I would have to guess that 1) is a Guinea Lenke shell (although I have some Hare and Beng that look very similar, 2) is from Mali and the shell is most likely a lighter than normal colored Gele (typically Gele of this quality would be darker purple), although I just assembles a red Lenke which looks very similar, 3) most likely Ivory Coast Iroko. The ultimate test would be to really see the grain as well as smell the shells. Definitely a fun test, Duga. I'll try to post some of mine after the new year ...

DING DING DING DING DING!!!!
1. lenke shell i got in guinea 2006. gave to a good friend.
2. gele wood mali shell i had for a while. someone on this board now owns it.
3. iroko ivory coast sold a couple years ago.

[Paul]

That is an interesting piece, Paul... is it from Burkina? Like you said, it has a long bowl. Looks like hare wood.

Yeah.. I think its Hare (wen in wolof).. Its from Gambia actually, they have good wood on the Northside of the river, but most of the commercial makers are southside and its a problem to bring the raw wood over on the ferry, as a result I think they keep the best wood for sabar, saw great lenke trees (white and red)..

The design came from a old Guinean fola in Banjul who had this drum that was super straight angles made in white lenke.. I drew it in the sand for a sabar maker who then had big arguments with local djembe and sabar players as to what would work best.. So it was an experiment really, the sabar maker got really into copying designs from other countries so you ended up with some interesting hybrids...

[michi]

Suitably humbled, I live and learn...

It's interesting though to see how huge the variation in appearance of the same wood can be. I've seen Hare from a very pale blond with little grain to very dark brown with almost black grain. And your Guinea Lenke shell looks more brown than red.

Michi.

[Daniel Preissler]

gele is dyalla, isn't it?

[Dugafola]

gele is dyalla, isn't it?

not the same.

gele is the bamana word...it's known as bele in maninkakan and celen in peul.

gele is one of the densest woods you can get for a drum...it's similar to dugura/dookie.

http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/maindata/we974.html

yalla is more like lenke.

It's interesting though to see how huge the variation in appearance of the same wood can be. I've seen Hare from a very pale blond with little grain to very dark brown with almost black grain. And your Guinea Lenke shell looks more brown than red.

Michi.

very interesting indeed. i think there's tons of factors...proximity to ground water source, whether or not the tree was already dead, fallen etc etc. that play a factor in grain characteristics.