Drum Circle

Learn how to play the traditional African rhythm Mediani on Djembe with drum instructor and drum circle facilitator, Dion Rivers.



Before you begin, a quick note to our viewers:

In past videos, traditional African djembe rhythms have been demonstrated in a relaxed, freestyle environment. This is often times called "riffing" on the rhythm. If you're not familiar with the term "riff", it means to improvise on the clave of the rhythm while the player is singing the rhythm in their head.

So in previous videos if you have seen that a rhythm is titled "Mendiani" or "Kokoba" for example, you may say "That's not what I was taught or that's not what I heard". That's because the player is singing it in his head while he "riffs" on top of it.

In addressing that, what we are doing in this video is literally breaking down the Mendiani Rhythm part by part so that when you play again in your drum circles, dance classes or drum classes, you have an clear understanding of the parts.

Please note that while we enjoy providing this free djembe lesson online, we strongly believe that a real instructor is always the best thing when you are trying to learn djembe or any type of drumming, especially djembe because the instrument has a long tradition and mastering the timing can be difficult for beginners. We welcome you to play along here as long as you like and when you are ready, seek out a real live instructor who can teach you both the traditions and the rhythms of the djembe.

Now, let's play a rhythm called Mendiani. Mendiani is a rhythm for young ladies. It's played all over West Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Gambia. There are different styles so if you go to a Senegalese class, it may not be played the same. What we are demonstrating here is the Guinea style.

The Break begins and ends the rhythm. This is the break.

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

This is the first djembe part.

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

Second djembe part. Break again.

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

Third djembe part.

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

Those are the basic djembe parts for the rhythm Mendiani. Note that because I am African American, I prefer to mix some of the parts from traditional West Africa Guinea with what drummers do here in America.

Now, the djun djun part. For every rhythm, there is a djun djun part. I am going to play the rhythm for the djun djun part on the djembe with the break.

This is the break again. Now the djun djun part.

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

That was Kenkeni

This is the Sangban part

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

This is Dundunba

[RHYTHM PERFORMED ON DRUM]

This is Mendiani. Now, let's riff. You sing the parts in your head if you can while we riff a little bit.

Then play along or just listen to see which parts you can master of Mendiani.

The djembe used in this lesson is the X8 Drums Antique Chocolate Deep Carve Djembe, 13".

Labels: Africa, African Rhythm, Dion Rivers, Djembe Lesson, Djembe.Rhythms, How to Play Djembe, Mendiani