The Udu is a percussion instrument whose name means "pottery" in an African tribal language. It is based on a centuries-old clay drum. It is fired, and has tribal symbols painted on it with natural earth pigments. You can create beautiful sounds and vibrations that are both pure and spiritual.
The beautiful Udu Drum originates from Nigeria. Surprisingly, it began not as a percussion instrument, but as a common clay pot made for carrying water. When a potter from the ancient Ibo tribe inadvertently made an opening in the side of one of his vase-shaped water vessels, he discovered the pot's earthy, musical sound. Because some believed its haunting tone to be the "voice of the ancestors," the simple side-hole drum - sculpted entirely from earth, water, fire, and air - came to be an important part of religious ceremonies in southern and central Nigeria. Though the drum had different names depending on the region in which it was used, "udu" was the Ibo name, meaning both "pottery" and "peace" in the tribal language.
Today's Udu Drum has become accessible to the world's percussionists through the efforts of one man - artist, industrial designer, and master ceramicist, Frank Giorgini. Some twenty years ago, Giorgini began painstakingly hand crafting the clay drums by traditional Nigerian pottery techniques and engineering them to acoustic perfection. He created a versatile musical instrument that appealed to percussionists and was so beautifully designed it was added to the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Antique Percussion Instruments
Percussion Instruments of Asia
Percussion Instruments of Africa