“Two bits!”
You often see indigenous drums in our photos and videos – today you get to see how this hairy skin becomes a smooth drum head. The photo above is a djembe with a new antelope skin (or goat skin, I’m never quite sure as I’ve been told both). I put the new skin on the drum (a three-day process) and in these photos I will shave the hair to make a smooth drum head. (I hope to be completing another drum head soon and will post photos for you after)
As you can see from the photos, the hair remains on the drum skin until after it is mounted onto the hollow wooden drum, stretched and dried. With the hair still on the skin the only sound that can be produced is a dull “thud”. However, removing the hair is a painstaking process that must be done very carefully to avoid cutting through the skin and thus ruining the new drum head (and wasting three days of work).
The tool? A single-edged razor blade. The tool holder? My aching fingers! I’ll bet some of you were thinking of a razor blade scraper is used for cleaning paint from glass; sadly, no – the only way to shave the hair without damage is using your fingers.
I have a skin soaking in water as I write this – hoping for a good outcome in a few days!
Enjoy!
