GROUP#: MMD007

Ewe Drums - Antelope (aka Bush Deer) skin. Peg tuning. Two types are available: Regular Quality and Better Quality. All Motherland Ewe drums are carved from a solid piece of wood for low-maintenance use. Better Quality Ewe drums are made sturdier with a stronger tuning system and better-fitted skins & pegs; they are pre-tuned—virtually no maintenance is required. Older, hoop-and-stave construction drums still used in Ghana are available on special order, but we do not guarantee them as long. All drums pictured below are carved from a solid log. Better Quality drums are usually stained deep-burgundy brown. Regular Quality drums are usually finished with shea butter or an oil and wax polish. Most of our Ewe drums from recent shipments are Better Quality (usually with darker finish and featuring more-elaborate exterior carvings).

	Ewe Drum Set - Regular Quality Shown (Clockwise fr. L): Sogo, Kidi, Kagan, Astimevu, Boba, Kroboto (with 2 Gankoquis, Axatse)		Ewe & Ashanti Drums - Better Quality (Larger Sizes) Shown (L to R): Ewe Atsimevu, 2 Ashanti Fontomfroms (rear), Boba (front)		Ewe Drums - Better Quality (Smaller Sizes) Shown: 3 Agbadza Sets (with Kroboto and Totodzi)

GROUP#: MMD008

Kete Drums - A handsome set of four drums from the Ashanti region decorated with red and black checkerboard cloth. Large drum (kwadum) is headed with cow skin, others are headed with antelope skin. Includes playing sticks.

GROUP#: MMD009

Kpanlogo - Conga-shaped peg-tuned drum headed with antelope skin. (Red decorated design currently out of stock, sorry.)

GROUP#: MMD010

Kpanlogo (Special Quality) - Special quality Kpanlogo drums that are very profesionally carved and assembled. Please email or call for availability and pricing of this item. Regular quality generally in stock.

GROUP#: MMD011

Bougarabou - Ashiko type drum with cow skin. Conga sound with deep bass. Rope-tensioned tuning. Easily tuned up with Mali weave.

Mali bougarabou [left], Ghana bougarabou [right]

Drums from The Ivory Coast

GROUP#: MMD012

Bada - Made from a large gourd with a top section cut off, a goat skin is fastened to the gourd with rope and tuned using Mali weave.  Makes a nice clear tone.

GROUP#: MMD013

Bougarabou - Rope-tuned conga-type (some say djembe sound) drums headed with cow skin.

GROUP#: MMD014

Djembe from Ivory Coast - These sturdy djembes are carved from Iroko wood and tune up nicely, and are capable of crisp slaps, earthy tones, and deep bass notes. The wood is medium density, straight grained and very stable. The rings are carefully fitted and the top ring is pulled down enough for a big comfortable playing edge.  A good quality non-stretching rope is used for tuning.  

GROUP#: MMD015

Djun-djuns - straight and clean -  Same Dimba wood as djembes; the shells are cut straight and clean.

Dundun set (dundun [shown on right, above with djembe, left], sangban, kenkeni [not shown]); all three drums: $850.00

GROUP#: MMD016

Square Drums - Frame drums made from sawed boards with either goatskin or antelope skin head, played by hand or with sticks. Wedge-tuned.

Drums from Mali

GROUP#: MMD017

Djembe from Mali - These drums are among the best available anywhere. They are made entirely by hand by master carvers of Mali, west Africa.

We have a great selection of Mali drums!

Dugara [l.],  Ngoni [c.] and Jala [r.] heavy/medium-weight hardwood djembes              

  Lenke (heavy hardwood) djembes      

GROUP#: MMD018

Djun-djun headed with cow skin - Carved from solid heavy- or lightweight tree logs to approx. 3/4" thick, this is the bass drum "heartbeat" in many drumming ensembles. Rope-tuned and headed with cow skin, it is played with an included heavy dundun stick. Players often mount a dundun bell (round or flat) on the rope and play the bell with one hand using a bell striker, the other hand on one drumhead with a dundun stick.

Motherland Music also offers Dan's square metal tube Triple Dundun Stand (not shown; its height is adjustable for standard or short drums) to set up a single drummer with three dunduns (typically, from left to right: sangban, kenkeni, dundun): $330.00 with casters / $250 without casters.

GROUP#: MMD019

Congas hardwood -These drum shells are hand carved from  one piece of wood, same as above djembes. Assembled by Motherland with heavy all-steel tuning (finished or unfinished) hardware or with a rope tuning system and your preference of cow skin thicknesses.  

Dugara medium-weight hardwood conga shells shown outdoors    

Dugara [usually two-tone] heavy hardwood congas fully assembled with band carvings shown indoors in fluorescent light

Ngoni [l.], Dugara [r.] conga shells               

We offer rectangular or rounded custom-fabricated counterhoops in your preference of 5, 6, or 7 lug designs.
The two Lenke wood Congas shown top left feature our popular streamlined Motherland lugs (they're very strong, too!) designed by Dan.

Lightweight wood [l. to r.: conga/segunda, quinto, tumbadora] red-stained congas with legacy Motherland lugs

Drums from Nigeria

GROUP#: MMD020

BATA - Hourglass-shaped Yoruba ritual drums carved from Oma wood and skinned with goatskin heads. Shoulder strap and leather playing stick included.

GROUP#: MMD021

Batá drums (Cuban Style; carved in Africa)

GROUP#: MMD022

Ekwe - Two-tone Ibo log drum. Available in two types of hardwood. Played with either a plain wooden stick, or a rubber-tipped beater. These wood log drums are found in the eastern part of Nigeria. Click here for more information on these drums.

GROUP#: MMD023

Gudugudu - Small wood bowl drum played with two long thin rawhide sticks. Tuning paste on head enables two-pitch effect. Tuned with wood wedges against an iron ring at the base.

GROUP#: MMD024

Igba - Short, stout open-bottom tom-tom-like drum from eastern Nigeria. Slung from the shoulder, played with an included curved stick. Antelope skin, wedge tuning. Click here for more information on these drums.

GROUP#: MMD025

Tall Igba -  Tall, open bottom tom-tom like drum with wedge tuning. This Nigerian drum is headed with Antelope skin and is played with a curved stick (included). Click here for more information on these drums.

GROUP#: MMD026

Sakara - Clay ring covered with goatskin, played with an included wood stick. Small sizes produce nice, tight sound. Larger sizes produce more resonance.

GROUP#: MMD027

Talking Drum - Hourglass-shaped variable-pitch drum from the Yoruba region of Nigeria. These drums are used for entertaining guests at weddings and other ceremonies and ocassions. Goatskin heads, hardwood shell. Shoulder strap and curved stick are included. Click here to find out more about the different sizes of Talking drums and their  respective roles.

GROUP#: MMD028

Udu - Clay pot drum with attached woven-grass ring base. These drums come from the eastern region of Nigeria and are played alongside other eastern Nigerian drums such as the Ekwe, Igba, Oyo and others. Click here for more information on these drums.

Drums from Senegal

Motherland Music is pleased to present the best of Senegal. We now offer the finest-sounding, most elegantly designed and highest quality of craftsmanship and materials used for drums being made in Senegal. Shell wood is exclusively Dimba. Our Senegal drums often have unique and distinctive design features (especially the djembes, which often feature a wide-flared base and deep bowl) like distinctive stain in one or more of the flag colors of Senegal (red, yellow, green).Sometimes a few natural-color cowrie shells are inset in the base section of Senegal (and other) djembes for decorative effect.

GROUP#: MMD029

Djembe from Senegal -Two styles are available, 'Guinean' (flared-stem, curves out at base) and 'Malian' (less flared, curves in at base). Both types are made with Dimba wood and most are decorated with intricate designs on the foot of the stem and artistically-carved symbols or geometric designs on the central section of the stem. All the wood is highly polished on the outside with multiple coats of varnish; different areas on the djembe body may be stained or painted to reveal contrasting sections of smooth and decorative-design wood. In a word, these drums have "style."

Guinea-style, depictive stem decoration

Guinea-style with deep bowl and
ornate white carved & painted stem decoration

Guinea-style with carved & painted symbol decoration

Guinea-style stem, Adinkra symbol stem decoration

Mali-style stem, geometric carved stem decoration

GROUP#: MMD030

Djun-djun (cowskin heads) - The shells are constructed from the best Dimba trees and are carved evenly to a fairly light weight. The wood is stained a solid color, red, green or, yellow then finished with a hand-applied varnish or wax and the shell is decorated with a picture of a baobab tree. The heads are medium thick cow hides. The rings fit tight to the shell and a heavy duty rope is used  

GROUP#: MMD032

Sabar from Senegal -The sabar is an orginal Senegal drum. It is traditionally played by the Wolof tribe in a drum ensemble of a family of three basic types of drums (thoil, mbeng-mbeng, and n'der) . The shells are bueatifuly carved from dimba wood stained one of a variety of colors and are finished with varnish or wax. The shells are covered with select goatskins tensioned by a webbing-peg system. Normally played using one flexible stick and one hand. Easily tuned by adjusting knots in the webbings under the tuning pegs.

Top: Mbëŋ-Mbëŋ (Wolof language; also spelled Mbeng-Mbeng in Latin alphabet; pronounced "Bung-Bung"); Above: Red-stained N'der. Mbeng-mbengs are available in three basic sizes (large-to-small): [usually more-decorated, not necessarily much larger] mbeng-mbeng bal, [regular] mbeng-mbeng, and [sustantially smaller] mbeng-mbeng tungone. Need a lot more info.? Feel free to ask Pape Diouf, our resident Wolof griot and Sabar/Tama master drummer.

Not pictured: Thiol [aka Lambe], the bass Sabar drum that resembles the Mbeng-Mbeng pictured, but is slightly larger with a solid [closed] base.

GROUP#: MMD033

Tama -This talking (or variable-pitch) drum is from Senegal. The shell is carved in an hourglass shape of Dimba wood. A strong wound-cotton cord is used for tensioning (the drum is placed under the player's arm). The heads are lizard skin. A small curved playing stick is included.