Fred's Drum Shop

Djembe Shop, originally uploaded by LeggNet.

A djembe (pronounced "ZHEM-bay") is a goat skin covered drum shaped like a large goblet and meant to be played with bare hands.

I had the opportunity to go to Fred Simpson's shop today. Fred is a master drum instructor that specializes in repairing and maintaining African drums called djembes. He was finishing up repair work on a drum for our church band. As I waited for him to put the finishing touches on our drum, I explored the shop. It was very intriguing to hear him tell of the history of the different drums and how he can tell where the drum was made by the style and the type of wood used (ours is from the Ivory Coast).

This capture is of several drums of various origin waiting to be skinned or tuned. The low light caused a bit of a challenge in photographing. This shot was shot at a shutter speed of 1/13” with the lens set at it’s maximum aperture of f/4.

Thanks Fred, it was very enjoyable learning about the history of the djembe.