The Drum Language of the Ashanti

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September 8, 2024

During the Pre-colonial Era, the people of Ashanti came up with interesting and rather innovative ways of passing on information across villages, towns, and cities within a very short period of time. The interesting yet complex technique of this communication is known as the Drum language—or Drum talking. So, what is the Drum language and what makes it interesting and complex?

The Drum language used by the Ashanti people of Ghana is a form of communicating or passing information across a village using the art of drumming. Traditional drums such as the Ntumpan talking drums or Fontonfrom drums were used, with the most used by the Ashanti being the Ntumpan drums. These are a set of two drums where one is regarded as the female drum and the other is regarded as the male drum. These talking drums are played to produce actual spoken words, and it is the duty of both citizens and the drummers of the Ashanti tribe to learn and decipher what these hidden words are.

The drums do not produce literal words, but rather the tonic structure of words belonging to the Ashanti language. Therefore, it would be wrong to compare the Ashanti Drum language to English Morse code, since the Drum language produces tonic words rather than alphabets to spell out.

Some of the messages usually transmitted throughout the villages by the Ntumpan talking drums are:

The calling up of any particular chief by name.
Notice of danger or an enemy.
Raising an alarm during a fire breakout.
Death of a very important individual like a chief or a well-known craftsman.
The approach of Europeans.
Calling to take up arms of war.
Announcements of festivals, coronation of kings, and Queen-mothers.
Recital of proverbs.
And reciting the histories of kings and old drums tied to families.

Although very fascinating and interesting, the Drum language is limited by its particular dialect, since it was developed based on the Ashanti tonic language.

To further understand the art of the Drum language, it would be important to know about the drums and how they are made. These drums do not produce literal words as some may imagine; however, they produce tones, syllables, and punctuations with perfect accuracy, which to the trained ear would be translated into words and sentences.

The Drums

In the land of the Ashanti, there are at least two kinds of drums that talk. There is the Fontonfrom drum—an hourglass-shaped drum of the Bono people within the Ashanti tribe—and the Ntumpan drum. These drums are used in different ways from each other, and they are also of different designs and structures.

With each drum beaten by its own type of drummer in some kind of duet, the Fontonfrom drums are used mainly in the drumming of proverbs, especially during the celebration of the Akwasidae festival of the Ashantis, while the Ntumpan talking drum surpasses all talking drums of the Ashanti since it was specifically made for the purpose of talking.

Before an Ntumpan talking drum is crafted for a chief, it must go through ceremonial rituals. First, its makers are called upon by a chief who desires to carve himself a drum. These makers are spirits known as Carvers of the Tweneboa tree. The talking drums used for the Drum language cannot be possessed by just anybody. According to the customs of the Ashanti, only certain ranks of chiefs have the right and power to possess the Ntumpan talking drum. Such chiefs capable of possessing the Ntumpan are the Omanhene, Ohene, and Safohene. It is forbidden for a Queen-mother or any other woman to possess the Ntumpan drums due to their sacredness.

Before the Tweneboa tree can be cut down and carved into the Ntumpan talking drum, some offerings are to be made to the makers of the tree—first the presentation of a fowl, rum, and an amount of gold dust. The Tweneboa tree, as called by the Ashantis, is also known as the Cedarwood tree. These trees are believed to have powerful spirits known as Sunsum dwelling in them.

Before the tree is cut, the fellers arm themselves with protection by breaking eggs against the tree, a few incantations are uttered, followed by the pouring of some rum. A fowl is then killed to appease the spirits living within the tree and convince them not to do the fellers any harm.

After a log is cut down successfully, the fellers offer sacrifices of a fowl and rum once more to the cut-down tree and the log is sent to the village. After all the ritual ceremonies and incantations, the log of the tree can finally be used in carving the Ntumpan talking drum. The drummers who play these sets of talking drums also follow laws and guidelines both in handling and in the playing. These drummers are renowned for their mastery of the Ashanti drum language.

The Ntumpan drums are so special to the Ashantis that they have their own special rooms in the house of the chiefs, and they are carried behind a chief when he sits to have a meeting with his council.

The Drummers

The drummers of the Ashanti people are called Odomankoma Kyerema; it directly translates to ‘the Creator’s Drummers’ or ‘the Divine Drummers.’ According to the customs of the Ashanti drummers, they are on no account allowed to carry their own drums, as such is forbidden. It is said that such an act can make the drummer run mad. Women are neither allowed to own nor even touch a drum.Drummers are also not allowed to teach their own sons the sacred art of drumming. Instead, they refer their sons to other drummers to be taught. It is said that if this is broken, the sons may die.

The drummer who falters or conveys a wrong message in his drumming shall pay a fine in the form of sheep, and if he constantly makes mistakes drumming the messages, his ears are cut off.