This grail-shaped hand drum, recognized to various tribes in West Africa because the "djembe," (jem-bay) is central towards the musical heritage in the Malinke and Sousou tribes of Guinea in West Africa. The standard cultural and historical roots of those tribes can be traced for the fantastic Mali Empire which when encompassed all of present-day Mali along with most of the coastal areas of West Africa. Its legacy continues to become preserved all through the centuries within the praises, lamentations and narrations on the special breed of musicians called "griot."
