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D’Jembe Rhythm: Kuku

07/31/2013 04:50

How to Play 2 Djembe Drums Together - Howcast


The kuku is a dance and a drum rhythm in West Africa. Women would dance to the kuku to celebrate their return from fishing. Usually it is played with 2 d'jembes where one plays the rhythm and other d'jembe which is tuned lower plays the deeper bass sound. But a dunun drum can be used for the bass part of the 2nd d'jembe instead. Kuku is also used for celebrations and during a full moon. There are 3 parts to the song.

  1. Call
  2. Rhythm
  3. Ending

The call starts out with a flam. This is where you hit the drum almost at the same time with both hands. One hand hits right before the other. One way to play a flam is to have the lead hand right above the drum and the other hand a little higher than the other hand and then try to hit the drum at once with both hands. Note the flam is represented by 2 overlapping black circles meaning it is a flam using the tone. The black circle is the tone, the black star is a slap, and the open black circle is the bass. Call

kuku-call

D'Jembe 1 rhythm

kuku-rhythm1

D'Jembe 2 rhythm

kuku-rhythm1

The End - Notice the end is similar to the call except is has an added slap at the end.

kuku-rhythm1

There are many variations on the kuku. Look on any Youtube and you will see a variety of kuku performances. Get your D'Jembe or Dunun drums today.