African
Drum Circles |Dance Teachers
|International Drum Teachers
|
USA Drum Teachers|
Drums.org
|Drums Not Guns
|TexasDrums CommUnity|
Drum Books
| FAQ
Music Store | FAQ
MALL | FAQ GLOSSARY |
DRUMSTORE | Advertise | FAQ TOC |
Subscribe
to Djembe-L | LINKS |
Webmaster
|
BabelFish (Translator)|
|
Welcome To
|
|
Ksink Ksink
Also, Ksink Ksinks were made in shiny metal so as to collect the sun's rays and reflect onto the drum head to tune it up, making a bright sound.
From: "Adam Rugo" <amrugo@artsci.wustl.edu> (reprinted with permission of the author)
Hi,
the jingles are called ksink-ksink, or kashink-kashink (Guinea), or segeh-segeh (Mali), or
nyang-nyama (Senegal). Usually three jingle plates are placed on each drum, but fewer work
if that's all you have.
Here in America I have seen them made from galvanized metal sheet, like that used in duct
work, and also from shiny brass sheet stock. The African models I have seen were
made from pieces of old food or fuel cans. These kinds of cans in Africa have the labels
printed directly on the metal, so the jingle plate has writing on it something about
tomatoes or oil. These look really cool. They can be cut in all kinds of shapes, from
squares and rectangles to flower-petal shapes and even the
silhouette of the African continent. Different ethnic groups seems to shape theirs
differently. The Yakuba (who we call the Dan) of Ivory Coast cut theirs rectangular and
very long - two feet long!
The purpose of the ksink ksink is to add a gentle metal rattle sound to the drum notes.
This is a common device - doubling the sound an instrument produces by adding sympathetic
rattling or buzzing elements - which appears across the African continent. The Mande
people put buzzing plates on stringed instruments like the kora and nkoni. The Shone put
them on the mbira. I have heard it claimed that the large ksink ksinks are designed to the
player's hands so master drummers can protect their
secret techniques, but this sounds apocryphal to me.
Hope this helps!
Peace,
Adam.