Here are some of the drums I have collected from around the world. They are mostly replicas of larger drums that are indigenous to that country but most of them make some kind of interesting noise.

MEXICO

These two drums come from the Chiapas region of Mexico. The first drum was made by the Lacandón Indians who are one of the Maya peoples that still live in the jungles near the southern border with Guatemala. I bought this in a small, insignificant shop in San Cristóbal de las Casas, up in the highlands of the Yucatan.

For more information please click this link.

This drum which

depicts a snake

on the side and a

head mask on the

front again originates

from the area of San

Cristóbal de las Casas

This is a great town

that had plenty of live

music and some amazing

bands and performers along with a good mix of Spanish influence and Mexican resistance and is in the homelands of the revolutionary group , The Zapatistas.

EGYPT

I bought this drum in a small bazaar in

Luxor. It is typical  Egyptian Gawharet

El Fan Famous Mother of pearl drum.

The Dumbek/Tabla as an instrument is

the most popular for solo work. It was

originally introduced by the Arabs into

Spain and spread from there top the

rest of Europe .

TANZANIA

This drum is made of cow skin and I

bought in a small back street shop

in Arusha, Tanzania.

U.S.A.

I bought this drum in a large trading

post in Utah on the road to the

Grand Canyon after having seen the

great sights of Arches National Park,

Zion National Park and having spent the

night sleeping under the stars in

Monument Valley with the Native

Americans on their reserve.

Different Native American tribes have

different traditions about their drums and how to play them. For larger dance or powwow type drums, the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with rawhide buckskin or elk skin stretched out across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of singers who sit around them in a circle. For smaller single-sided hand drums, a thinner frame or shell is used, and a rawhide surface is string onto only one side, with lacing across the other.

GREAT BRITAIN

This really a champagne cooler but it came from

'The Roundhouse' in Bielefeld, Germany where I

was given it after gig I did in 1990. The Roundhouse

was a large hall where Hiter used to address his SS

officers during the Second World War but later

became part of a British Military base.You can still

see the balcony from where he made his speaches

but the huge swastika on the floor has since been

covered over.

TURKEY

This drum is a Darabuka and I haggled for

it in Dalyan, a great small town on the

South-Western Mediterranean coast and

set in the centre of a broad delta whose

natural beauty is completely unspoilt.

A Darabuka is a goblet shaped hand drum

used in Arabic music, Persian music, Balkan

music, Armenian music, Azeri music and

Turkish music. Its thin, responsive

drumhead and resonance help it produce a

distinctively crisp sound. It is of ancient

origin, and is believed by some to have

been invented before the chair.

MOROCCO

I haggled strongly for these drums in

Fes and Marrakech. The first on the

right is a Moroccan Doumbek

These wonderful ceramic hand drums

are hand made and the fish-skin

drumhead gives a deep, full resonant sound in

the middle (the 'Doum') and a higher, sharper

 tone towards the edge (the 'bek' sound).

These drums are normally played by holding

under one arm while tapping the edge and

center with the fingers. This is the drum

that is used with belly dancing.

The square flat drum features the

hand of Fatima and the small drums

are bongos and are made of clay.