I went up to the Village Museum "Kijiji cha makumbusho" the other day with a friend. I haven't been for about 6 years. It's an openair museum showing different tribal houses in Tz, with traditional crafts etc., and has expanded quite a lot since I was last there. Every afternoon there is traditional dancing. I was interested in the drummers and the Mama Mzee who had replaced what I assume would have originally been gourd rattles with two tin cans on sticks. The drummers would run off between sessions to a small fire behind them which they kept going with cardboard as a makeshift bellows and when well aflame would hold the drumskins against this to tighten them up, hitting them until they were satisfied they had the right tone. The hides didn't seem to show any sign of scorching. How are skins tightened normally?
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