Sakara drum
Encyclopedia
The Sakara drum is one of the four major families of Yoruba
drums of Nigeria
. The other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Gbedu
drum.
Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum (iya ilu) playing the lead role and other drums playing in support.
The Sakara is also made and used by the Hausa people
of northern Nigeria.
The Sakara is a shallow drum with a circular body made with baked clay.
The clay shell is perhaps ten inches in diameter and one and a half inches deep, sloping inward funnel-wise towards the back. The skin is secured to the shell with twine and tuned using pegs spaced around its body.
The men use goat skin to make the heads of these drums, or for the largest drum may use cow or antelope skin.
The fingers of one hand change the tone of the drum, while the drummer hits the face of the drum with a stick.
When several sakara drums are played together, the iya ilu is the main voice, and dictates the pace and rhythmic style.
The fixed pitch omele ako and omele abo drums talk rhythmically, and the smaller and higher-toned omele "chord" drum adds flavour by playing varied pitches.
The Yorubu have traditionally used Sakara drums for a variety of purposes. They are played during Yoruba wedding ceremonies. A king could use them to summon people to court. They were also used to announce visitors to the king, to broadcast messages, and to speak prayers and to play "orikis."
Yoruban Wéré music
was traditionally played using Sakara drums to call Muslims to feast and prayer during Ramadan
.
Fuji music
grew from this musical form.
The Sakara drum and the solemn-sounding Goje
violin are used in Sakara music
, popularized by Yusuf Olatunji
, which overlays the nasalized, melismatic vocals of Islamic music on the traditional percussion instruments.
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
drums of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Gbedu
Gbedu
Gbedu literally means "big drum" and is a percussion instrument traditionally used in ceremonial Yoruba music in Nigeria and Benin.More recently, the word has come to be used to describe forms of Nigerian Afrobeat and Hip Hop music.-Tradition:...
drum.
Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum (iya ilu) playing the lead role and other drums playing in support.
The Sakara is also made and used by the Hausa people
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
of northern Nigeria.
The Sakara is a shallow drum with a circular body made with baked clay.
The clay shell is perhaps ten inches in diameter and one and a half inches deep, sloping inward funnel-wise towards the back. The skin is secured to the shell with twine and tuned using pegs spaced around its body.
The men use goat skin to make the heads of these drums, or for the largest drum may use cow or antelope skin.
The fingers of one hand change the tone of the drum, while the drummer hits the face of the drum with a stick.
When several sakara drums are played together, the iya ilu is the main voice, and dictates the pace and rhythmic style.
The fixed pitch omele ako and omele abo drums talk rhythmically, and the smaller and higher-toned omele "chord" drum adds flavour by playing varied pitches.
The Yorubu have traditionally used Sakara drums for a variety of purposes. They are played during Yoruba wedding ceremonies. A king could use them to summon people to court. They were also used to announce visitors to the king, to broadcast messages, and to speak prayers and to play "orikis."
Yoruban Wéré music
Were music
Were music is an indigenous Yoruba music, which, like ajisari, is a way of using music to arouse the Islamic faithful to pray and feast during Ramadan festival in Yorubaland. Ajiwere or oniwere means "one who performs were music."...
was traditionally played using Sakara drums to call Muslims to feast and prayer during Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
.
Fuji music
Fuji music
Fuji is a popular Nigerian musical genre. It arose from the improvisation Ajisari/were music tradition, which is a kind of music performed to wake muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season...
grew from this musical form.
The Sakara drum and the solemn-sounding Goje
Goje
The Goje, is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts leading to the Sahara. Snakeskin or lizard skin covers a gourd bowl, and a horsehair...
violin are used in Sakara music
Sakara music
Sakara music is a form of popular Nigerian music based in the traditions of Yoruba music.It is a Moslem-influenced style, mostly in the form of praise songs, that uses only traditional Yoruba instruments such as the solemn-sounding Goje violin, and the small round Sakara drum, which is similar to a...
, popularized by Yusuf Olatunji
Yusuf Olatunji
Yusuf Olatunji, also known as Baba Legba or Baba L’Egbaa was a Nigerian Sakara drum player, who popularized the sakara music style....
, which overlays the nasalized, melismatic vocals of Islamic music on the traditional percussion instruments.