Gbedu

Gbedu literally means "big drum" and is a percussion instrument traditionally used in ceremonial Yoruba music in Nigeria and Benin. More recently, the word has come to be used to describe forms of Nigerian Afrobeat and Hip Hop music.

The Gbedu drum is traditionally used on state occasions or during ceremonies of Ogboni, the ancient Yoruba secret society. The Ogido/Gbedu is one of the four major families of Yoruba drums; the other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Sakara drum. Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum (iya ilu) playing the lead role and other drums playing in support. The Gbedu backing drums are each played by a drummer using both his open palm and a stick.

The Gbedu drum is said to have been brought to the Lagos area in the seventeenth century by Edo diplomats, symbolizing the hegemony of the Benin Empire. Among the Yoruba, the Gbedu drum signifies royalty. The largest of the Yoruba drums, it was played only in the king's service. In ceremonies such the rite of Isagun, the Oba might dance to the music of the drum. If anyone else used the drum they were arrested for sedition.

In early times it was considered that the large and ornately carved drum had a protecting spirit, that of the slave who was sacrificed when it was made. The drum is covered in carvings representing animals, birds and the phallus. When sacrifices were made at ceremonies where the drum was used, some of the blood was sprinkled on the carvings, along with palm wine, egg yolks and the feathers of sacrificed chickens. The carved face of the iya ilu might include an image of Olokun, goddess of the sea, considered the "face of worship".

It is recorded that during the last days of the Oyo Empire, when the Fulani had captured Ilorin and become masters of Oyo, Sita king of Ilorin required the Oyo king Oluewu to visit him and pay homage. Oluewu had the Gbedu drum beaten before him as he travelled. When Sita asked about the drum and was told it was played only in the presence of a king, he became angry, saying that there could only be one king, himself, and ordered the Gbedu drum to be taken away.

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Wikipedia