Making powwow drums is a great honour and a serious responsibility. The drum is sacred, and when the voices of our ancestors are brought back to us through the drum we thank the singers who are healing our people and Mother Earth. We build our drums using 1 1/4” thick sectioned solid eastern white cedar. Our cedar frames are very strong and guaranteed for life. Generally, we work with moose or steer hide as it is very thick and maintains its sound well no matter the level of humidity. All of our drums have a big sound. We do not like tinny sharp tones, so use the thickest hides to give rich, strong hearty bass. We offer the hide in a natural tan colour, walnut dyed or other colours upon request (no extra charge), with painted frames of various colours or simple natural wood. Our drums come in a wide range of sizes to meet the needs of our customers. If you aren’t sure which drum you want, try cutting out a cardboard circle to help imagine the sizing.
The Powwow Drums in these pictures are just ideas/examples of the drums you can order. We enjoy building custom drums (no extra charge btw). You can choose natural hide or dyed (any colour) and also the design of colour on cedar wood frame. We always have a bunch of Drums of each size in stock BUT a custom order takes about 2 weeks for us to make. We have a lots of drum frames in stock so when we receive an order all we have to do is soak the hide, colour the frame and pull your drum. When processing your check out please let me know in the comment section what you would like your drum to look like. OR feel free to send me a personal email and we can talk about it: info@tribalspiritmusic.com. Please check out our Facebook page for TONS of drum colour ideas https://www.facebook.com/tribalspiritdrumsNleather
Care of your drum!!!
KEEP YOUR DRUM AWAY FROM THE FIRE OR OTHER HEAT SOURCES!! Our drums do NOT need to be heated up in order to play them….our drums are guarenteed if you find that your drum is flat all the time, call us and we will replace your drum. You do not need to heat up our drums before playing them. The best way to protect your drum is to apply bear grease twice a year. Applying bear great will keep your drum flexible and both resist humidity challenges and prevent against cracking. Hide will dry out over time (just like our skin would) but bear grease is a traditional moisturiser that has been used for ages. The idea place to store your drum is wrapped up in a blanket with a piece of leather covering the surface of each side of the drum (visit our leather page) Traditionally drums are put away and allowed to rest between times when we need them. IF you insist on displaying your drum, in an area of the house which has little direct heat. (direct sunlight, radiator, fire place etc all bad) AND BEAR GREASE!!! twice a year!! Feel free to contact us if you have other questions about the care of your drum. Bear Grease!!!! (available at the bottom of this page)
