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What instruments are used in Yoruba music?

Talking drum (gbedu): The talking drum, also known as the dùndún or dundun, is a membranophone widely used in West Africa. It comprises of an hour-glass shaped wooden body (made from wood cut into a rectangular shape and then hollowed out) with attached skins at both ends. While one head serves as the main playing surface, the other functions for tuning, adjusting the pitch, and dampening the unwanted sustain of the drum.

Bata drum (bàtá): The batá drum is a hourglass-shaped drum originally from the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin. There are three standard sizes of the instrument: iyá ilú ("mother drum") , itótele (second or "talking" drum), and okónkolo ("small drum"). Batá drums are the sacred drums of the Shango religious tradition.

Sekere (aṣẹkẹrẹ): an ayo hourglass-shaped gourd covered with beads, cowries, or mesh netting which produces sound as it is shaken from one end.

Agogo bell (ágogo): a double bell that produces notes from two small bells that are hit with a metal stick or with a beater made from a bent piece of metal rod which is attached to the frame.

Omele: a drum made from a carved gourd body with a cowhide playing head.

Shekere: a dried calabash with beads woven in a net over it, which produces sound as it is shaken from one end.

Oja: a double-headed cylindrical or conical drum made of wood or metal, with a cowhide or goatskin head on one or both ends.

Opon Ifa (a divination tray used by the Babalawos (Ifa priests)

Musical Instruments

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