Any one here ever played a dunun?

[midgard]

Lately I have been pretty intriqued by the african dunun drums, which basically look like 3 different sized bass drums. Typically a player will play a bell pattern with the left hand and a drum pattern with the right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunun

So, I was wondering - does anybody have any experience with these drums? Are they hard/easy to play? Fun? etc...

Here is an example, I really like the beat they get going at about 1 minute into this clip:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUVstOuDwRQ"]YouTube - Famoudou Konaté Hamana Mandenkono[/ame]

[concrete Building]

I think i might have once in my early childhood. I've seen those but never knew their name....Thx!

[PearlDrummer18]

Yeah i was just thinking the samething. I had no idea what those things were. On topic i have never played one.

[Gretschhead]

I was in a west african drum ensemble for a while, and I was primarily playing dundun. We played traditional west african material. The parts are very simple but the way they all lock together is really amazing. They are fun to play in an ensemble, but I couldn't really see much enjoyment out of it at home. I have seen percussionists use them as kick drums with their percussion rig though.

[bongobro]

I haven't, but if you've seen a dude called "bongodoggie" on YouTube (or seen his "primitive roots kit" on the last page of the September 2008 Modern Drummer), you'll see a dundun being used as a bass drum ... sounds intriguing (pun definitely intended)...

[midgard]

That is cool Gretschead! I am currently in an ensemble group and I was thinking it might be fun to round the group out a bit more by picking up the dundun. Basically it is a weekly on-going drum group/class taught and led by a really awesome drum instructor here. We play a lot of west african music, plus quite a bit of afro-cuban stuff. Especially after he returned from Cuba with a boat load of rhythms!

Besides our weekly sessions, we have played a variety of non-paid venues including sidewalk downtown celebrations, coffee shops, world beat festival, talent shows, etc. It is really fun to take what you have been working on as a group and perform it live....

I will have to look into the dunun more I think...

[Gretschhead]

That is cool Gretschead! I am currently in an ensemble group and I was thinking it might be fun to round the group out a bit more by picking up the dundun. Basically it is a weekly on-going drum group/class taught and led by a really awesome drum instructor here. We play a lot of west african music, plus quite a bit of afro-cuban stuff. Especially after he returned from Cuba with a boat load of rhythms!

Besides our weekly sessions, we have played a variety of non-paid venues including sidewalk downtown celebrations, coffee shops, world beat festival, talent shows, etc. It is really fun to take what you have been working on as a group and perform it live....

I will have to look into the dunun more I think...

Very cool midgard, your group sound similar to the one I was in. You should definitely look into addin them, they give a lot of depth to a djembe ensemble.Typically you will have 3 seperate dun parts, but you can buy a 3 drum setup for 1 player that are setup vertically, you play more like timpanis or toms. We used both in our group depending on the situation.

[luv4congas]

Now that's what I call a Rumba! Very cool vid Midgard! It's kind like batas with sticks!

[midgard]

I played the dununs today for the first time. I played all three drums in the famadou konate workshopt today (day 1 of a 4 day drum camp). We had about 20 people playing dununs and I was quite impressed with the melody between the three drums. I also have a new found appreciation for trap players who have mastered limb independence - the dunun's have a bell on them and they all have a bell pattern you play with your left hand and a drum pattern with your right hand.

My favorite was the sangban (medium sized drum), but it is going to take quite a bit more work until I really start to get the hang of this. It is going to be hard to go back to djembe only drum groups after this!

[joy]

I take lessons with the Arizona Rhythm Connection here in Phoenix. When you play African rhythms, you should also include the dundun parts. There is a learning guide that you can get. Just go to the AZRC website. Drummon