How talking drums show up in both Nigeria and Ghana

by @thecreed on The Creed View my bio on Blurt.media: The Gangan is a Djembe drum from the Yoruba people of Nigeria. It’s in the form of an hourglass and the drummer has a lot of control over the sound, by squeezing the cords on the side and changing the pitch. This lets the drum talk. It imitates the tones of speech, especially that of Yoruba, a tonal language. But the Gangan isn’t the only drum that is able to do this. In Ghana, there are other talking drums. They’re not called Gangan, but the concept is still similar. For the Akan, Ewe and Dagomba people, drums are an important part of music, storytelling and ceremony. Some of them are capable of mimicking speech also. In Ewe music, one lead drum may play a melodic or signal role, while a related lead drum may play a rhythmic role simultaneously. The Akan have the Atumpan, a pair of kettle drums for praise or announcement drums. The…