Ohhhh Motherland seems to have quite affordable oghene’s, will definitely have to check those out.
I’ve always been very inclined to play percussion but never had the independence to play kit. A few years ago I got a Remo djembe which I mainly picked so that I could tune it easily, but it also has a synthetic drum head and a metal inner hoop so it doesn’t really sound like a traditional djembe at all. Regardless the drum is quite loud / resonant as @Starthief has mentioned, so much so that I can’t really play it in a traditional manner in my second floor row home apartment without pissing someone off.
So given these limitations and my interest in playing outside of traditional technique, I’ve experimented until I came up with a different kind of playing style. I stuffed the base of the drum with a large cloth to kill all the resonance and have the head tuned very tight so the synthetic skin has a very snappy response. Hand technique is highly modified. I play with the outside of my right palm almost in constant contact with the drum head but with varying pressure to create different decay times of the skin.
I also utilize three appendage groupings for distinct strokes: the side of my right thumb in the center as a bass thump (think sharp kick beater, not a boomy bass), the tips of my index+middle+ring fingers on my left hand for tone and slap sounds at the rim, and the underside of the first knuckle on my right middle finger (in between the center and rim) for ghost notes and rolls. I do use both hands for slaps and bass sounds occasionally, but over time I’ve found I stay mostly stationary at this position, rhythmically pivoting between these three points of contact.
It’s been a lot of fun to figure out what kind of playing style works best for the cross section between this instrument and my interests. At one point I had one of those Remo tone dots in the center of the head but the drum became too tonal for my liking. Also, I’m often playing alone to explore patterns that I can apply to the electronic realm; haven’t had the courage to meet some strangers at the park and show them how I’ve bastardized the instrument.
