Damba Suite
Held in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, Damba is an annual Afro-Islamic festival that commemorates the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. Ceremonies during the eighteen-day festival provide citizens of the Dagomba polity to give homage to their leaders and to reaffirm bonds of kinship. Damba has two items of repertory that bear its name: the slow-paced Damba Sochendi (literally, “walking Damba”) is for processionals and stately dancing while the intense Damba Mangli (literally, “real Damba”) is for lively dancing. I have written an entire book on my study of Damba with Alhaji (see Drum Damba: Talking Drum Lessons. White Cliffs Media Company, Crown Point, Indiana. 1990). Because the “Introduction” of Drum Damba contains a long account of the Damba festival, no History Story appears on this website.
| Supporting Materials |
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| Sochendi (View files in the Digital Library) Part-by-Part Sessions by Alhaji Abubakari |
Time signature: 6/8 | |||
| File Type |  |
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| Vocable – Audio | ||||
| Vocable – Staff Notation | Download | Download | Download | |
| Drumming – Audio | ||||
| Drumming – Staff Notation | Download | Download | Download | |
| Drum Language – Audio | Play | Play | ||
| Drum Language – Text | Download | Download | Download | |
| Ensemble Rhythm | Download | |||
| Ensemble Recording Sessions | ||||
| Multi-track Sessions by Alhaji Abubakari | ||||
| Mangli (View files in the Digital Library) Part-by-Part Sessions by Alhaji Abubakari |
Time signature: 2/4 | |||
| File Type | |
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| Vocable – Audio | ||||
| Vocable – Staff Notation | Download | Download | Download | |
| Drumming – Audio | ||||
| Drumming – Staff Notation | Download | Download | Download | |
| Drum Language – Audio | Play | Play | ||
| Drum Language – Text | Download | Download | Download | |
| Ensemble Rhythm | Download | |||
| Ensemble Recording Sessions | ||||
| Multi-track Sessions by Alhaji Abubakari | Online Mixer | |||
| DDD Sessions by Prof. Locke and Students | ||||