Making My Kpanlogo Drum

Three days of intense work under moonlight and sunshine (mostly not on my part, though).

Materials involving wooden drum-shells, polish, rope, cow leather and chisels.

Finally, my own kpanlogo is ready!

Gidi went on a one-week quest to buy all the required materials for building a kpanlogo, on a double note. He is moving shortly to the US, to be with his wife, and also made a drum to commemorate this stage of his life.

For the drum's outside, it is traditional to select Adinkra symbols, West African drawings very popular in traditional culture, with various meanings. My drum had space for 9 symbols, two large ones and seven smaller ones. Selecting the symbols based on their meaning was great part of the fun of getting a drum made.

 

One of the shells, some rope, wooden pegs and leather.

Last Thursday, after work, I went over to Gidi's house for the first stage of the process: carving. His friend, Salam, came over with some a few tools: a pencil, a chisel and a mallet. In a few hours, the drum was not a smooth shell anymore, but partly covered with Adinkra symbols.
The two large symbols I selected are the "Siamese Crocodiles", which represent unity in diversity, and "He Who Wants to Be King", which represents service, or voluntary work. Both are the central parts of these nine months in Ghana, and will be engraved in my drum as a reminder of the significance of this experience.

Salam doing the deep-carving of the large symbols.

 The two large symbols were deep-carved, to give the impression that they are coming out of a portal in the drum. As for the seven smaller ones, their outline was carved more superficially.
The seven upper symbols were selected based on characteristics I believe are important in life, such as life-long learning, humility and persistence.

After Salam's carving work.

After the carvings were complete, I stepped in to work on my drum. In a very hot Sunday, I sand-papered the drum for three hours, to make sure it was esthetically flawless. Just to give you an idea, each of the lines on the carvings must be sand-papered, in order to make the edges curved and smooth. Believe me, after losing my finger prints (almost), I felt proud of my drum-to-be.
The next step was polishing the drum, in order to keep away termites and other bugs, protect the wood from moisture, and give it that shiny touch.

Polishing the wood.

We let the drum dry in the sun for an hour or so, and Gidi decided it was time to skin it. The three leather pieces had been in water for about three hours, so they would become malleable. Yes, their smell was pretty bad after that...
Why three skins for two drums? One was for me to do, of course Gidi expected me to destroy the leather anyways.

After putting the wooden pegs in the holes of the drum, and placing the skin on the mouth, a copper-wire ring is measured to the drum's opening, and set on top of the leather. With some leather-pulling, nail-hammering and rope tightening, the skin is set on the drum and stays for about a day outside to dry (and to get rid of the stench).

Learning how to skin the drum.

What Gidi had done naturally and flawlessly in half an hour, I took about three times as much to complete. Despite some clumsy strikes of the mallet at first, and folding the skin in ways that would make it unplayable, the children from the neighborhood lent helping hands to get the job done. If my own drum has any problems back at home, I would know how to change the leather.

My turn!

On the next day, after drying, the final stage was cutting the overlapping leather, shaving the top, and twisting the ropes to tighten the skin. To tune the kpanlogo, the pegs are hit down with a mallet.
Below is the final product: my own kpanlogo. With its weight of about 15kg, Gidi guarantees the wood will sound better and better as it ages. Nonetheless, it has a sweet sound already!
Yesterday I brought it home, and the Kumi seemed to think it was just as beautiful.

Playing and singing, it turns out the rhythm fits perfectly with samba!  Still at Gidi's house, I taught one of the older kids how to sing Marinho da Vila's "eu vou falar pra todo mundo, vou falar pra todo mundo, que eu so quero voce", while playing a fast-paced lead drum.
Drumming, dancing and singing is guaranteed fun in Ghana, especially with children around!

  

 

When I go home to Brazil, I'll bring along a traditional Ghanaian drum. Just one of the surprises West Africa holds.

Now drumming daily,

Kwame