The craft of West African instrument-making
by Eduard Alves a.k.a. Dudu Bongo
West Africa possesses an infinite variety of musical instruments that is unrivalled except perhaps in Asia. Beyond the expected variety of drums, they have also a rich array of harps, lutes, zithers, rattles, plucked lamellophones, stuck instruments, horns, whistles, etc. These instruments take part in the foundations of West African and Black African culture in general, given that music is an integral part of African lifestyle. Professional craftsmen who specialised in instrument-making are extremely rare in Africa. Generally speaking, each musician makes his own instrument. Furthermore, they believe that instruments are more than material objects. They are often considered quasi-human for the capacity they have to transmit, express, sing and even talk.
The intention of this project is to introduce myself to West African music and, particularly, to the process of crafting traditional instruments. Beginning with the selection of materials that will shape the instruments, following with their construction and ending with a composition of a repertoire for the final performance. At present, the collection is composed of four pieces that could be classified into two main groups: two melodic and two percussive instruments. The melodic chordophones are the Kamale NâGoni, native to Nigeria, and the Guembri, native to South Africa. The percussive group counts with the Udu and the XekerĂȘ or AgbĂȘ, both native to Nigeria. They can also be sub-classified into aerophone and idiophone respectively.
As a musician and West African enthusiast, I wanted to experiment the process of making instruments that could suit my particular tastes and adaptations (taking into account the traditional way of construction). The size of the Kamale NâGoni, for instance, is determined by the dimension of its calabash, therefore, every instrument of its particular kind is unique. Its general characteristics correspond to those of its type, but each one has its own individual beauty â its own qualities and defects.
The last part of the project counts with a repertoire of short compositions based on the different sounds, dynamics, ranges and textures that I am capable of extracting from the instruments. An important fact to take into consideration in the performance is the adaptation of the acoustic elements with the current phase of technological experimentation that I am also interested in, merging together the ancient sounds of West Africa with the modern digital sound treatment.














