Uploaded October 2019 | Updated September 2026, 56 minutes ago
The djegele is a wooden xylophone. It is perhaps the most important and distinctive musical instrument played by the Senufo people of West Africa.
The instrument is made entirely of natural materials. Each wooden key is cut and shaved until the proper pitch is achieved. Hollow gourds hung under the keys help the tone resonate longer and project more loudly. Tuning the keys and setting the gourds of a djegele is a true art form, mastered by only a few instrument markers in the village.
Djegele are paried in performance and the djgele ensemble is central to the music performed in a wide rand of ritual and social settings. The ensemble most often includes two gbogo drums. An extra layer of sound is also added by metal jingles, called dje-nyan(meow)-ya, that the djegele players wears on his wrists.
You may have learned something about West African instruments by this point in the description. I found this instrument at a museum (this one was made ~50 years ago but they've been around since the 12th century). The keys don't form a normal scale so playing any song is slightly more difficult than any other xylophone.
Twitter: twitter.com/TheShuckmeister
The djegele is a wooden xylophone. It is perhaps the most important and distinctive musical instrument played by the Senufo people of West Africa.
The instrument is made entirely of natural materials. Each wooden key is cut and shaved until the proper pitch is achieved. Hollow gourds hung under the keys help the tone resonate longer and project more loudly. Tuning the keys and setting the gourds of a djegele is a true art form, mastered by only a few instrument markers in the village.
Djegele are paried in performance and the djgele ensemble is central to the music performed in a wide rand of ritual and social settings. The ensemble most often includes two gbogo drums. An extra layer of sound is also added by metal jingles, called dje-nyan(meow)-ya, that the djegele players wears on his wrists.
You may have learned something about West African instruments by this point in the description. I found this instrument at a museum (this one was made ~50 years ago but they've been around since the 12th century). The keys don't form a normal scale so playing any song is slightly more difficult than any other xylophone.
Twitter: twitter.com/TheShuckmeister
