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Visit the Mpambire Drum Making Centre | Uganda Cultural Safari

MpambireMpambire is located along the Masaka-Mbarara towards Lake Mburo national park and it’s very much popular for it drum makers. It’s a very interesting stopover point for those that are interested in learning everything there is to learn about Uganda’s culture more so the Buganda culture where the drum has got great importance in terms of rituals and also the celebrations. Most of all these drum makers learned from their parents and today, they are also training people from other parts that are interested in learning how drums are made.

The already made drums are displayed in the shop alongside the road, they are in different shapes, sizes and all look beautiful. Once you get there, the people that work their will show you the already that are on the display and also walk you through the process of drum making from the point where they cut the log, dry up the leather, until its finished and may even show you practically. This is the best place where you can buy nice and lasting drums especially those that are in the business of art and music or those that just want to buy some drums as souvenirs for the travelers.

Materials used in drum making include the wood/log that they cut, pull out the middle part to make it hollow and then later cover it up with a well dried cow skin. They usually use the cow’s skin because the bull’s hide is often too thick to produce good sound after they have been woven around the drum and tightly stretched so that it can give that authentic African sound. Along the way, these drum makers have been also introduced to different drum making ideas from different cultures for instance they were taught how to make the West Africa’s Djembe as well as the Bougarabou drum which they use goats skins with less wood compared to Uganda’s ancient style. Because the Djembe drums are smaller and lighter, travelers/ tourists like them more and some the drum are big enough to be used as coffee table in homes which is a unique gesture.

Drum making has proved to be beneficial to most of them except that they started facing the problem of raw materials especially the good trees. There biggest source of the wood has always been the Mpanga forest but because of the recent laws concerning forestry, they have been restricted from even their own private forests thus making their job a bit hard.

Be sure that you will get any drum of any size that you wish to buy so all have to do is have a stopover at the Mpambuire drum makers centers as you head to or from places like Lake Mburo , Queen Elizabeth or Bwindi national park and you can also get some drumming lessons from them.

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AA Safaris and Tours Ltd

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