The Drums and Marimbas
of Botswana
BY SARAH SMITH WATERS
I
n most of the African country of Botswana, traditional in- side-by-side with the Bakalanga. According to the elders of the
strumental music is difficult to locate. Unlike Central or villages, their songs and dances mingled. The singing and
West Africa, music in southern Africa is primarily vocal and drumming are in a duple compound meter while the hand-clap-
usually accompanied by dancing, hand-clapping, or instru- ping and dancing alternate between a duple compound and
ments. Botswana’s desolate topography is a large part of the simple triple. In other words, the drumming and singing are in
reason that vocal music is dominant. There are few resources 6/8 time, and the dancing and hand-clapping alternate between
such as hardwood trees from which instruments can be made. 6/8 and 3/4.
Botswana is a landlocked southern African country. Located These songs are performed for a variety of ceremonies. They
on a plateau approximately 3,000 feet above sea level, it is are especially important in rain-making ceremonies, since
nearly the size of Texas. The landscape is reminiscent of Ari- pula, or rain, is so precious. In addition to drumming, the
zona and New Mexico as eighty-five percent of the country is Bakalanga are famous for their rain-making abilities. Tradi-
the Kalahari Desert. A little more than half of Botswana’s 1.5 tionally, women would perform the rain-making songs called
million people belong to eight Tswana tribes, with the remain- maile. In these songs, the words are not important; the drum-
der being members of the Bakalanga, San (commonly known as ming, hand-clapping, and dancing are the primary focus. In
Bushmen), Hambukushu, and several other small tribes. fact, words can be added or dropped at the discretion of the
The boundaries of most African countries were arbitrarily performers, and most words have no real meaning in transla-
drawn by European colonizers—in Botswana’s case, by the tion. Unfortunately, the Bakalanga drumming tradition is dis-
British—for reasons of administrative or economic conve- appearing due to the urbanization and modernization of the
nience, or for great power rivalry. These boundaries often di- country. Some old drummers were observed in three small vil-
vided tribes. For example, many Tswana tribes live in South lages—Tati Siding, Senete, and Tsamaya, all in the North East
Africa, the San are scattered across South Africa and Namibia, district of Botswana.
Bakalanga live in Zimbabwe (where they are called Karanga), Drums found in Botswana, called merupa in Setswana, are
and the Hambukushu live in Namibia and Angola. made from hollowed-out morula trees. This type of wood was
Botswana was one of the last African territories to be colo- used for making chairs, weapons, plates and cups in previous
nized because the Kalahari Desert made life so difficult for eras. Most drums are crudely finished, but some feature deco-
people and animals. At the time of independence in 1966, it rative carving on the sides. The drumhead is made of goatskin
was one of the world’s ten poorest countries. Only months after or cowhide with fur often left on the edges. The rough skin is
achieving independence the future of Botswana’s economy was attached to the drum with wooden pegs driven into the rim.
secured when diamonds were discovered. Today it is the world’s
biggest diamond exporter and one of the richest countries in TATI SIDING
sub-Saharan Africa. Its yearly growth rate of 8.5 percent is one The rarity of traditional drums and the fading music culture
of the highest in the world. Continuing this economic growth makes finding drummers in Botswana a challenge. With the
has been the government’s focus since independence. Preserv- help of my research assistant, Olekantse Matebu, himself of
ing indigenous fine arts, especially traditional music, has not. Bakalanga origin, we chose an unconventional route to finding
Added to the government’s neglect is the historical influence drummers. On the narrow, two-lane highway that stretches be-
of Christian missionaries among the Setswana-speaking tribes. tween Gaborone and Francistown, we would stop and offer
Missionaries saw drumming as woven into the fabric of pagan rides to people. Once they were in our car, we would ask them
life, so they were determined to exorcise it. Despite the scarcity if they knew of any drummers in outlying villages.
of instruments, the Setswana refused to forsake their musical One group of women we picked up belonged to a choir in Tati
traditions and an outstanding vocal music culture evolved. Siding, a nearby community. Once in the village, their choir
Drums and marimbas are among the limited number of musi- leader directed us to the village bar. The owner of the bar,
cal instruments found in Botswana. Matlakala James, was a drummer, and she agreed to play the
In the wooded Northeast District of Botswana lives drums for me. Walking down the trail to her nearby home, a
Botswana’s second largest tribe, the Bakalanga, who are locally group of school children, mostly girls, eagerly tagged along.
famous for their drumming. It is very similar to the drumming The children were laughing and tripping over each other trying
of their cousins, the Karanga of Zimbabwe. Both of these tribes to touch my hair. In addition to her drumming talents, Ms.
were historically part of the Shona kingdom, which was spread James is a traditional doctor. She learned both crafts in Zimba-
across southern Africa in the days before European coloniza- bwe.
tion. Her two drums were medium-sized, about eighteen inches
Bakalanga drumming is characterized by using two drums, tall, and the players held them between their legs. They re-
playing rhythms with and against each other, hand-clapping, ferred to the lower sounding drum as bass and the other as so-
dancing, and singing. In some villages, the San used to live prano, although both drums were nearly equal in size. The
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 32 JUNE 2000
word dumba indicated just one drum. The drums are open at The second drummer, accenting the second tone, plays:
the bottom end and are goblet-shaped.
Edge Center Edge
>
R R L
To these patterns, hand-claps are added. The hand-claps
have a very distinct pattern, which I refer to as the Kalanga
Clave:
hand-claps 6 ≈œ œœ œ œ œœ
drums
/8œ œ œ œ œ œ
A second hand-clapper used a different pattern, which was
first on the beat and then off the beat:
hand-claps œ œ œ œœ œœ
drums
/ 68 œ œ œ œ œ œ
≈ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ œ œ
The drums have a low pitch. The basic playing pattern is to / œ
contrast the edge notes with the center notes. The two players œ œ œ œ œ
will not play the same center-edge pattern. For example, one
drummer will play this pattern, accenting the last note:
The dancers wear ankle rattles made of dried moth cocoons
Edge Edge Center (mathloo) to emphasize their dance steps. They are free to im-
> provise their dance steps, but they dance in the same tempo as
L R R the drums and hand-clappers.
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PERCUSSIVE NOTES 33 JUNE 2000
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 34 JUNE 2000
SENETE three-note grouping. The hand-clapping was the same as
In Senete, the home village of my research assistant Mr. Kalanga Clave but reversed:
Matebu, we listened to his relatives perform two selections.
The drums here were bigger than the ones seen in Tati Siding.
These drums had a most unique shape to them. They are bar-
rel-shaped with a small extension at the bottom that is open. / 68 œ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ œ
The players held these drums across their laps rather than be-
tween their legs. THE DRUM-MAKER OF SENETE
The Senete village drum-maker is Kaisara Gambo, who is 73
years old and who learned to make and play drums from his fa-
ther. Gambo said that tradition called for young boys to do
what their fathers did.
He makes a drum by cutting down a morula tree and then
carves out the center using a chisel, axe, and knives. The
drumhead is made from cow or donkey hide. He explained that
before the government prohibited the killing of wild animals,
antelope and zebra skins were used for drums.
After the head is secured with wooden pegs driven through
the skin and into the drum, it is placed in the embers of a fire
to cure. In Bakalanga culture, Gambo said, there are no spe-
cific drums for different ceremonies. For example, the same
drum can be used for rain-making and for weddings.
Gambo plans to retire from drum-making soon. He is dis-
couraged by young people who would rather listen to the radio
than learn drumming. Even his own sons avoided drum-mak-
ing. After receiving their educations, they left the village to
pursue different vocations.
TSAMAYA
Working under the assumption that a bar is a good place to
The drummers played the same 6/8 rhythm as in Tati Siding, meet drummers (true in many countries!), we went to the vil-
one accenting the second note, the other the last note of the lage bar of Tsamaya. With a bit of coaxing and the promise of
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 35 JUNE 2000
chibuku, a local beer, two older women agreed to play for me.
Although the instruments were similar to that of Senete, the
music was completely different. Here the first drummer played
a continuous series of sixteenth notes in a 4/4 feel. The second
drummer played a complimentary rhythm:
>oo = edge + = center
o o + + o o >o oo++oo
/ 44 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœœ
R L L R R L L R L L R R L L
The hand-clappers played straight eighth notes with an em-
phasis on the downbeat. Perhaps one selection they performed
was a rain-song, as it began to rain, and unfortunately we had
to draw to a close our time with the villagers.
HIPPO DRUM
A hippo drum, otherwise known as a friction drum, comes
from the Ngamiland region of Botswana and is originally from
Angola. A friction drum looks like a normal hand drum, but a
long hollow stick is attached in the center of the head. The
player wets his hands and rubs the stick, producing what
sounds like the roar of a hippo. The Ovambo and Hambukushu
people of this region are skilled woodcarvers and make
mokoros (dug-out canoes) and hippo drums.
Percussion Education:
A Source Book of Concepts
and Information
Developed by Garwood Whaley and the PAS Education Committee, Two other drums were observed from the Ngamiland region,
this book has been very well received and is now a required text and are styled after drums found in Angola and Namibia. They
in many college percussion techniques classes. are, however, smaller in diameter and do not produce much
TABLE OF CONTENTS sound.
• Recommendations for the Reorganization of Percussion
Instruction
• Motivating the Percussion Student
• The School Percussion Ensemble: Organization
• The School Percussion Ensemble: Instrumentation
• The School Percussion Ensemble: Literature
• Percussion Equipment, Inventory, and Security
• Sticks, Mallets, and Beaters: Which for What?
• The Percussionist’s Pencil: Aids to Marking Parts
• Percussion Problems from the Podium
• Percussion in the School Stage Band
• Presenting a Percussion Clinic for High School Students
• All-State Percussion Auditions
• Percussion in the Concert Band: An Annotated List
• The Elementary Percussion Section Part I: Repertoire—The
Foundation of Musicianship
• The Elementary Percussion Section Part II: Part Editing
• Percussion Method Books: A Bibliography
• The Worst Percussion Solos Ever Written (How to Avoid Them)
• Audio and Video Percussion Resources
To order, call (580) 353-1455 or
www.pas.org
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 36 JUNE 2000
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MARIMBAS The soprano and tenor (an octave lower) cover the span of
Unlike Western marimbas, marimbas in Botswana more two octaves, starting and ending on C. The baritone has a one-
closely resemble homemade Orff instruments. The marimba and-a-third octave range, starting on G and ending on the C
was introduced to Botswana by Alport Mhlanga, a teacher from above middle C. The bass marimba has an unusual pattern,
Kwanongoma College in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Mhalanga starting on low C, D, E, F, G , A, C, D. This pattern omits the
taught marimba at the first Botswana Music Camp in 1985, leading tone.
and eventually left Zimbabwe to make his home in Gaborone
and teach at Maru-a-pula School, a high school.
The marimbas in Botswana are made from brown mokwa
wood, the hardest wood available in the country. Each bar has
a resonator attached to the marimba’s frame. Years ago, reso-
nators were made of gourds, but now they are more often made
from gourd-shaped plastic. On some marimbas, plastic plumb-
ing pipes are used as the resonators. Near the bottom of each
pipe, a small hole is cut on the side and a smaller pipe is fitted
in it. Waxed paper is stretched across the end of the smaller
pipe and secured with a rubber band. When the bar is struck,
vibrations cause the waxed paper to buzz, giving the instru-
ment its characteristic sound.
The standard marimba ensemble consists of four instru-
ments, which play different voices. They are referred to as so- The mallets used on the marimbas are very heavy and made
prano, tenor, baritone, and bass. The soprano and tenor both of wooden sticks with rubber-ball tips. The bass and baritone
have seventeen keys, but the tenor sounds an octave lower instruments require large heavy mallets, while the tenor and
than the soprano. The baritone has nine keys, and the bass has soprano players use smaller mallets.
eight keys. The marimbas are pitched in the key of C major,
with an added F-sharp. Consequently, all the songs are in ei-
ther C major or G major. The soprano chromatic marimba has
twenty-six keys.
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 37 JUNE 2000
A constant pattern of I-IV-I-V is the basis for most of the mu-
sic. This style of three-chord music comes from South Africa.
The soprano plays the melody, the tenor plays a strumming
pattern on the chord progression, the baritone usually plays a
countermelody, and the bass drives the band. After playing
through the melody a few times the soprano is free to impro-
vise. The strumming-pattern rhythm is also variable, but the
baritone and bass usually stay constant.
Many schools and community groups support informal ma-
rimba bands that perform at community functions. Probably
the most popular of the musical instrument groups in
Botswana, marimba bands have inadequate facilities. An ad-
hoc marimba band has been created by five students at the
University of Botswana. The University plans to implement a
degree program in the visual and performing arts, and the fu-
ture of the UB Marimba Band looks promising.
Sarah Smith Waters was a Fulbright scholar at the University of
Botswana in Africa from August 1999 to April 2000. While liv-
ing in Gaborone, the capitol of Botswana, she and her husband
traveled to eight other African countries, where she collected
various percussion instruments. From her travels and research
she compiled a handbook on traditional musical instruments for
music educators in Botswana. Smith Waters is currently an As-
sistant Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota,
and she also performs with the Sioux Falls Symphony and the
Sioux City Symphony. PN
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PERCUSSIVE NOTES 38 JUNE 2000
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 39 JUNE 2000
