Bijilo Cultural Centre

Given the differing times it takes to make the various instruments, we recommend that you choose either to make an African shaker, or to make a gongoma and string/skin a djembe.

If you wish to take the instrument home with you afterwards, we charge extra for the pre-work and raw materials:

African shaker: £2 Gongoma: £10 Djembe: £25

You can also choose to buy a ready-made instrument as well as other work on display.

Schedule

09.30 - 10.00: Pick-up from your hotel/guesthouse 10.15: Arrival and introductions 10.30: Start making your respective instruments 13.30: Lunch 14.30: Continue with the instruments 16.30: Kora demonstration 17.30: Learn and play some basic djembe rhythms 18.30 - -19.00: Drop-off at your hotel/guesthouse

For bookings contact:

Facebook/Bijilo Cultural Centre [email protected]

When booking, please state any food allergies or vegan/vegetarian preferences. Thanks!

Making an African shaker: ~five hours Handwoven from reed, calabash shell and string, these hand percussion instruments are traditionally played alongside drummers and were thought to ward off evil spirits. They are usually played in pairs. Vibrant, fun shakers are great all-round percussion which produce a range of sounds depending on how they’re played.

Building a gongoma: ~two hours The ngongoma (gongoma) is a thumb piano from West Africa, composed of half a calabash and a piece of light wood assembled on top. It has three to six saw blades cut to different lengths. The tuning can be done by pushing the blades towards or away from the opening. Usually held around the neck with a strap, the instrument is played by rhythmically tapping the top, bottom or side with one hand with or without a metal ring, while the other hand plays musical patterns from the blades.

Stringing /skinning a djembe: ~three hours The djembe (pronounced “jem-bay”) is one of the most versatile and widespread percussion instruments on the planet. Its huge popularity is down to the fact that it can create an unusually wide range of pitches, namely the bass (low), tone (medium) and slap (high). These sounds are created by striking different areas of the djembe skin in various ways with the hands. The djembe drum is said to have been invented in the 12th Century by the Manding tribe in what is now Mali, in West Africa. It has been played by West Africans for generations, forming an integral part of ritualistic life in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, The Gambia and several other West African countries.

Kora demonstration: ~one hour Kora players come traditionally from jali families from the Mandinka tribe, who are historians, genealogists and storytellers, passing their skills on to their descendants. The instrument is played mainly in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and The Gambia. "Jali" means something similar to a "bard" or oral historian. The instrument’s body is composed of a long hardwood neck attached to a calabash gourd resonator, itself covered by a soundboard made of skin. Twenty-one strings are attached to the top of the neck with tuning rings. The strings pass over a notched bridge (usually 10 strings on one side of the bridge, 11 on the other) and anchored to the bottom of the neck with a metal ring. In performance the musician plucks the strings with the thumb and forefinger of each hand, while the other fingers hold two hand posts attached to the top of the gourd. With a range of just over three octaves, the kora is tuned by moving the rings located on the top of the neck.