The Yoruba:
One of Africa's richest and most studied cultures, the Yoruba people comprise some 30 million who live predominantly in Southwestern Nigeria and to a lesser extent in neighboring Togo. The Yoruba further recognize a variety of regional dialects, and ethnic subdivisions among what makes up the whole of Yorubaland.
    Famous for the arts and enduring culture, emulations and whole pieces of Yoruba arts and religion can be found throughout the Americas where it migrated along with the slave trade informing such seminal new world religions as Santeria (Cuba & the USA) and Candomble (Brazil) to name a few.
   Among the most sacred and ancient of Yoruba traditions are Bata drumming and Egungun (ancestral) masquerades. Since the time of the legendary Yoruba Kingdom of Oyo, Bata Drums and Egungun Masquerades have fulfilled a central role the religious and cultural lives of the Yoruba people.
   Bata are conical shaped double-headed drums associated with the Yoruba Thunder God Sango. Played in sets of 3 or more, the Bata play fast paced highly rhythmical patterns of music. Like all instruments used by the Yoruba, Bata are considered “talking” drums in that they are able to emulate the rhythmic and tonal patterns of the spoken language and thereby communicate directly with their audience. Because Bata are fixed pitch drums, they emulate spoken glides through an elaborate cooperation between two drums of different pitch, hence they are considered to be stammerers in their speech. Bata drumming is some of the most ancient and elaborate Yoruba music practiced today, almost contrapuntal in its complexity; it is a fine example of ancient African creative genius.