Mpambire- the Home to the Royal Drum makers of the Buganda Kingdom
The Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda is on the Masaka Highway in Mbambire
Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda: The Drum Makers of Mpambire carry on the ancient tradition of Drum Making.
The Mpambire Drum-Making Village is the Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda directly from the drum-maker.
Suppose your Safari includes Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest or Mgahinga Gorilla Park and parks such as Queen Elizabeth Park or Lake Mburo Park. In that case, you will pass through the drum-making Village of Mpambire.
See how Drums are made:
In Mpambire, you will see how the drums, including the Royal Drums, are made in the 21st Century in the same way as they have been made for hundreds of years.
The traditions of old remain, and it is still all by hand, using trees grown in a nearby Forest for the makings of the drums.
What is so special about an African Drum? The Role that the African Drum plays
African Drums hold a special place in history across Africa, including Uganda. Drums are associated with entertainment in the West, adding musical quality to a song. In Uganda, the drum has a much deeper cultural significance than in Africa.
African drums were traditionally used to celebrate special events such as harvest time. Large bonfires were made as people gathered to dance and express their thanks and joy.
African drums have played an essential role in communicating dangers such as war. Events include emergency meetings, announcing war, the beginning and finish of harvest seasons, and the death of important people in their respective societies like kings and chiefs. A reason drums have been referred to ask “talking drums.”
The church bells of Europe and America were used in similar fashions but not to the extent and purposes that drums were and are used in Africa. Drums have been used to accompany traditional African religious activities like prayers, droughts, floods, disasters, and removing evil spirits in the communities.
Drums in Africa were and are used in all kinds of ceremonies such as births, deaths, marriages, and ritual dances. Drums were used in times of war and battle, inspiring Warriors and instilling bravery and passion in them.
Specific Drums like the Royal Drums were used during special Court Ceremonies, such as the installation of a new King.
For centuries, African Drums have been used to communicate with other villages, even tribes. Drums can be heard miles away by others, and they often signal impending dangers, meetings, and times of war. Drums that you buy will keep Africa alive in your home. If you use them, your neighborhood will never be the same.
The Tradition of the Drum-Makers in Mpambire
The Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda If you are heading for Western Uganda to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest or Queen Elizabeth Park, you will pass Mpambire. If you are not looking up, you could easily miss it – it looks like many other towns or villages along the Kampala – Masaka Road. Mpambire is a small town of fewer than 1000 residents, but it is the cradle of drum making in Uganda.
t is home to the Buganda Royal Drum Makers, home to families who, for generations, have created the different drums of Central Uganda. Many of the drum makers you might meet here learned from their fathers the art of drum making, who, in turn, learned from their fathers.
Tourists from all parts of the world come here to buy a drum. Many have heard the sounds of the drums since coming to Africa and Uganda. They have listened to the rhythm of the African Drum as found in Uganda and found it enchanting, almost irresistible taking with them a part of Uganda’s rich cultural history of drum making into the various corners of this world. Drum Making started hundreds of years ago– Today, drums are still made back then but with a few added modern tools here and there, but the process is the same.
Drum makers from all parts of Uganda have come here to Mpambire to learn the skill of drum-making. Here they apprentice and go back to their hometowns. The art of drum-making is kept alive in Uganda. The only limitation is the availability of trees that the drum makers use. Twelve species of trees are used in the drum-making process – trees that do not crack and are resistant to insects and weevils. R. A large tree can give enough material to create up to 15 large drums – at the same time, research is being done about what other trees can be used to create drums as old with the same Sound and resonance.
Besides the wood used with the drums, there are the hides. Preparing the skins takes a few days during the dry season using the wetting and drying process, plus stretching the skins. Then the skins are woven around the drum while pulling the top to give the drums that ancient, authentic African Sound.
In the 1990s, the drum makers of Mpambire were introduced to the West African Djembe, and Bougarabou Drums and goatskin are used with them, and they also use a lot less wood. Tourists like the smaller djembe drums have made a journey to various parts of the world. The Ugandan drum makers changed the original names and renamed them Buzi or Kabalusi drums.
Drum Connoisseurs prefer authentic Ugandan drums like the Engalabi drum. It is made from a hollowed-out tree, dried and covered with monitor lizard skin, and nailed with wooden pegs.
You can buy drums of all sizes and whatever you can get into your luggage or the overhead bin on the plane. Be sure to visit the drum makers at Mpambire- and get some drumming lessons before leaving Uganda – the best place to buy authentic African Drums made in the Pearl of Africa – is Uganda.
“The drum is a focal point of cultural life and cuts across all ethnic groups in Uganda, except the Karamajongs. In the Buganda Kingdom, the Ssagala-Agalamidde Drum can be sounded to summon the community for public work though today, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger may also be used.
The Kodi Drum is sounded among the Bagisu and precedes a circumcision ceremony, an initiation of young men into manhood. The Orange Drum is used among the Banyoro and Batooro during times of courtship.
“The drum you see is part of Ugandan culture, and they can never be out of the lives of Ugandans, not even in the future. Drums are part of the Culture and Traditions in Uganda and Africa, especially in rural areas.
Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda-Buy one directly from source-the Drum-Maker.
Best Place to buy Drums in Uganda – most drums you have come across in Uganda will connect to Mpambire.
