Drums and their stories

Selection and work with makers

Our work with Altai drums began at Etnomagazin. We bought finished instruments from different makers, became familiar with their work, selected drums and placed repeat orders. Each maker had their own choices: frame, handle, fastenings, paintings and character of sound.

Gradually, our own requirements became part of the orders. We asked for a successful drum to be repeated, or for its size or individual details to be changed. Experience of using the instruments and owners’ feedback helped us understand which choices to retain and which to refine.

We began our own production in 2018.

Our own frame

From 2017, we experimented with the construction of the cedar frame. We tried different ways of working with the wood: assembling it like a window frame, using thin layers of cedar, bending a solid piece and cutting a section of a trunk. Window-frame construction proved too heavy; the trunk section was also heavy and dried out and split.

We gradually refined the construction of frames from individual cedar pieces over almost six years. The frame maker created batches in different sizes; drums were then assembled from this stock. This is how we work today.

The ALTAU workshop

Our own making developed alongside work on the drum’s construction and the division of operations among specialists: frame making, preparing and stretching the hide, making beaters and cases, and final checking and assembly.

Work with independent makers continued in parallel. Their finished instruments and ALTAU drums were sold alongside each other for a long time. Our archive therefore preserves different shapes, materials and choices — the whole experience from which the workshop’s present approach developed.

Today, ALTAU’s work is focused on its own drums. A segmented cedar frame, a rawhide maral membrane, an unpainted surface and making by several specialists form the instrument we offer now.