Dondo

Listen Along

Here you will find MP3 audio tracks of the Dondo from Ghana. Click on the link to play the track to share with your class now, or right click on the link and choose “save as” to save the track to your own computer and share with your class later.

• Dondo in drumming from Ghana, West Africa “Adowa mpre” is a light form of Adowa music, which is a type of popular band that was especially created for funerals. The donno (plural of dondo) are the first drums heard on the track after the adawia bell begins. The song translates, “Death is invading my home, I cannot go to sleep. Wherever I go, I am sure to meet death. It is invading my home, I cannot go to sleep” (from a CD titled Music of the Ashanti of Ghana on Smithsonian Folkways FE 4240, track #3)

Play Along

Here you will find MP3 audio tracks of the Dondo from Ghana to download and share with your class. Your students can play along, following the instructions found in the relevant curriculum chapter. Download TUBS notation paper. Click on the link to listen to the track or right click on the link and choose “save as” to save the track to your own computer.

Audio Track	Time
Atumpan drum (or dondo) call in speech rhythm	0:25
Adowa atene – adawia	0:28
Adowa atene – apentemma	0:28
Adowa atene – petia	0:21
Adowa atene – dondo #1 Adowa atene – dondo #2 Adowa atene – dondo #3 Adowa atene – dondo #4 Adowa atene – dondo #5	2:08
Adowa atene – atumpan	0:28
Adowa – ensemble 1	0:23

Resources

Download a PDF of the Audio Content Notes to Roots of Rhythms lessons 1 through 10.

View more resources—CDs, DVDs, and websites—for each instrument.