A bougarabou (alternative spelling “Boucarabou”) is a set of

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s commonly used in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. The drums are single headed (cow skin), with an elongated goblet or roughly conical shape, usually placed on a single stand, and most commonly played in sets of three to four. Until the last few decades the Bougarabou was played only one at a time, usually with one hand and a stick, but in the last generation or two (since the 1940s), possibly influenced from congueros in the western hemisphere, players play multiple drum setups. The drum is originally from the Jola (''Jóola'') people in the south of

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, the Casamance and the

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, the ''Jóola Buluf'', the ''Jóola Fogny'' and the ''Jóola Kalunai''. The Jola call a single drum ''Búgarabu'' (the ''a'' is pronounced like in about) or ''Búgarab''. As ''-ab'' or ''-abu'' represents the article, also ''Búgaar'', the indefinite denotation, is used synonymously in everyday life whereas the Plural ''Wúgaraw'' is nearly not used. The drumset is played by a single drummer, unlike many African tribal situations. The drummer also wears a series of metal bracelets called ''Siwangas'' in Buluf and Fogny dialect that contribute to the sound. The audience and the dancers form a circle and clap, often with wooden chunks (size 25–30 cm) of palm peduncles, and sing with the music, but it is unique in that a single drummer traditionally provides the drumming. There are also some groups using a set of three or four drums and some more drums like

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

or other small Jola drums. They are normally played with only the hands in a standing position. They have a full, deep, rich sound which can be heard for miles and is effective at all dynamic levels. They produce a kind of bass melody in the total rhythm. In other modern drumming situations, they are often used to back up djembes and tammas in a percussion group.

References

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Hand drums African drums West African musical instruments Goblet-shaped drums