A tanbou () is the national musical instrument and type of

barrel drum Barrel drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by a barrel-shape with a bulge in the middle. They can be one-headed and open at the bottom, or two-headed at opposite ends. Examples include the Vietnamese ''trong chau'' and the ...

from

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. The drum is used in many music genres of Haiti and has been influential in the rest of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n world.

Origins

The lineage of this Haitian drum is complex, originating in

West African Vodun West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

systems. A Tanbou needs to be carefully crafted in order to get the best sound. The drum is no longer used in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, but the ''banda rhythm'' that has been kept alive by Haitian drummers, such as "Bonga" (Gaston Jean-Baptiste). "Tanbou" is derived from the French word ''tambour'', which means

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 ...

Description

A tanbou produces an organic, versatile sound that can be used for dance, professional recording, and supposedly healing and merry making. The drum has survived centuries and some of the oldest are from old temples in Haiti. The older the drum, the better the sound according to the drummers. The tanbou is made with a stick like a vessel; a

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

– ''tronpèt'', ''bwachen'', ''gomye'' – and covered with a piece of animal skin or a material capable of awe as the skins in a corner are made

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

. These drums can be used like regular

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s. It is very difficult to get drums from Haiti into the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

because crafting them is equally challenging due to finding the right wood and particularly the skins which must be procured under the exact conditions.

References

External links

Website of Gaston "Bonga" Jean-Baptiste
{{Percussion Haitian musical instruments Hand drums Percussion instruments used as both pitched and unpitched Central American and Caribbean percussion instruments