Yacouba Portable Multi-Drum Set (Dan/Yacouba, Ivory Coast)

This Yacouba drum set consists of four single-headed, goblet-shaped drums of different sizes, which are firmly bound together with leather straps to form one portable instrument. Sets consisting of three drums are also known. A carrying strap attached to the instrument passes over the player's shoulder, allowing the complete group of drums to be carried against the body and played by a single musician. The drums are therefore not separate instruments played by several performers, but form one integrated multi-drum instrument.

The different sizes of the drums produce different pitches and timbres. The largest drum provides the deepest and most resonant sound, while the smaller drums produce progressively higher tones. By moving both hands between the membranes, the drummer can combine the different registers into rhythmic patterns, accents, and variations. The instrument consequently allows one performer to create a differentiated rhythmic texture normally requiring several drums.

Each drum has a hollow wooden body with a broad upper section and a narrower lower section forming the resonating chamber. An animal skin is stretched over the upper opening and secured by leather or cord tensioning. In their general form, the drums belong to the wider West African tradition of goblet-shaped hand drums and are comparable to the djembe type. The distinctive feature of the present instrument, however, is the combination of several differently sized and pitched drums into one portable unit.

The Dan, known in Côte d'Ivoire also as Yacouba, inhabit the mountainous forest region of western Côte d'Ivoire and neighbouring areas of Liberia and Guinea. Music is closely integrated into social and ceremonial life and is associated with dance, masked performances, initiation, religious practices, and other collective activities. The ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp documented Dan musical traditions extensively and described the terminology, construction, and musical functions of Dan instruments.

References:

Zemp, Hugo: Musique Dan: La musique dans la pensée et la vie sociale d'une société africaine. Paris and The Hague: Mouton 1971.
Reed, Daniel B.: Dan Ge Performance: Masks and Music in Contemporary Côte d'Ivoire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2003.
Meyer, Andreas: Afrikanische Trommeln – West- und Zentralafrika. Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 1997.
Wieschhoff, Heinz: Die afrikanischen Trommeln und ihre außerafrikanischen Beziehungen. Stuttgart 1933.