Sabu is an eight member African drum ensemble based in Friday Harbor. They play the traditional music of the Malinke, or Mandinka, people of Guinea and Mali in West Africa. Their presentation of this music is in the style of renowned Guinean djembefola (djembe player) and teacher Mamady Keita. This music is traditionally played at ceremonies and celebrations of all kinds. The ensemble consists of djembes, which are wooden, goblet shaped, goat skinned drums played with the hands, and 3 dununs, which are wooden, cylindrical, calf-skinned drums played with a stick. The dununs also have metal bells, which are played with metal strikers. The dununs are called, from largest to smallest, dununba, sangban, and kenkeni. Like the jazz that descends from it, this music has a highly improvisatory nature, especially in the djembes and dununba. The ensemble also has a shekere, a type of gourd shaker. “Sabu” is a Malinke term of endearment for a “sweetie” “honey-baby” or “sweet thang”.
The members of Sabu, many of whom have been playing together for almost 30 years, are Beau Borrero, Jason Holden, Credence Ross, Islay Ross, John Quigley, Devin Smith, Derek Learned, and Eben Shay.