Talking drum

West African Hourglass drum is known as the talking drum, its pitch can be synchronized to imitate the tone and prosody of human vocalizations. Several dimensions of hourglass talking drum exist in Africa which are conical or tubular in structure, they are known by different  names like Mande Dunun, Sangban, Kenkeni drums, Ngoma and Akan Fontomfrom.

The Yoruba and Dagomba peoples have some of the biggest sizes for drums in their Lunna and Dundun ensembles, with a length of around 9-15 inches (23-38 centimeters) and a drum head diameter of 4-7 inches (10-18 centimeters). This is used alongside smaller talking drums called Gangan similar to the Tama, in Yoruba talking-drum ensembles. While the Tama of the Wolof and Mandinka peoples use smaller sixes, having a length of 5 inches (13 centimeters) with a drum head diameter of 2.75 inch (7 centimeter).

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