Batá drum
The Batá drum is a double-headed hourglass drum with one end larger than the other. The percussion instrument is still used for its original purpose as it is one of the most important drums in the yoruba land and used for traditional and religious activities among the Yoruba. Batá drums have been used in the religion known as Santería in Cuba since the 1800s, and in Puerto Rico and the United States since the 1950s. Today, they are also used for semi-religious musical entertainment in Nigeria and in secular, popular music. The early function of the batá was as a drum of different gods, of royalty, of ancestors and a drum of politicians, impacting all spheres of life in Yoruba land.
Batá drums (from left: Okónkolo, Iyá, Itótele) (photo courtesy Harold Muñiz) | |
| Percussion instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Percussion |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 211.242.12 (Individual double-skin hourglass-shaped drums, both heads played) |
| Musicians | |
| Irakere, Julito Collazo | |
Bata drums are made by fastening skin of goats with wires on an hollowed wood body. Bata drums are made from a solid wood log from the oma tree. The drum’s shells are carved by hands and assembled in traditionally. The drums are assembled without any metal parts, the playing heads are goat skin, the tension straps are durable cowhide.