Mountain Rhythm Djembe Drum D1226P Reviews 4

I received a djembe drum as a birthday present from my parents. I believe they purchased it from Glenn Weber's drum studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It probably cost somewhere between 160 and 200 dollars.

The Mountain Rythym djembe has a good bass sound for such a small head. The high note on it is also good. One of the best things about this drum is that it has a sort of rounded edge around the head of the drum. The rounded frame lets you play much longer without your hands hurting. Like on many djembes, the head is raised above the rim; this enables longer, and less painful playing, as well. Something that is heavily bragged about by Mountain Rythym drum company, is the unique and easy-to-use tuning system they have developed, and use on all their pitch-shifting percussion. Mountain Rythym uses strong, but thin and smooth rope on the metal rim to hold down the drumhead. On the ropes are pegs that when turned, will pull the rope tighter or looser. turning one or two pegs just once usually makes up for bad weather, but try to remember to reset the pegs to their original position when done playing. These drums create a terrific sound, and in comparison to most djembes, they weigh almost nothing. They have a strap to carry it over your shoulder, although it isn't very comfortable, the drum is light enough to carry around with one hand holding onto the rope.

There isn't much about the Mountain Rythym drums to not like. They are made in Canada, and have a clean, well-done look to them. It would be nice to have a little bit more of an African feel to their drums to represent the native land of the djembe drum. These drums should usually be played sitting down with the body resting between your knees/thighs, and the bottom on your feet/ankles. If you play for too long without shoes on, it might be uncomfortable to hold the drum up so it isn't muted, but the same thing goes for all djembe drums, and this one is lighter than most.

These djembes are made from pine, while Mountain Rythym also makes maple shells for their djembes. The frame is sturdy and dependable. The head is goatskin. Because of this, it gets loose and dead sounding in humid weather. To prevent poor sound during rainy days, and anytime, this drum has the tuning pegs on it.

The Mountain Rythym djembes are dependable, creatively constructed drums that are as comfortable as they can be without sacrificing quality of sound. These are probably some of the best drums for your money if you aren't going to be in Africa anytime soon, where a djembe might cost 20-40 American dollars.

thomas shippy rated this unit 4 on 2002-12-11.

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