Description

“Udu” simply means “pot” in the language of the Igbo or Ibo peoples of Nigeria. The Udu percussion instrument is typically made of pottery in the form of a bellied pot with a neck, with openings at the end of the neck, and on the side of the belly.

The BOD Udu, by contrast, is made of spun aluminium, so it is far more robust than pottery udus, whilst still providing a traditional sound and playing experience.

The BOD Udu is made of 3mm thick spun aluminium finished with a tough automotive quality powder coat finish with a slightly grainy texture, in a warm orange terra cotta colour. The overall height is 32 cm, and the diameter of the belly is 23.5 cm. The side hole is fitted with a removable rubber grommet. Both the side hole and neck hole have been finished smoothly for comfortable playing.  The BOD Udu comes with a jute covered ring base for storage and display.  See the photo gallery for close-ups of the side hole with and without the rubber grommet, and the finishing on both holes.

We also sell a Protection Racket bass pedal bag which fits the Udu and ring perfectly, and you can buy it together with the Udu as a kit (see the BOD Udu Kit here) or of course buy the BOD Udu Case separately at any time.

What Can You Do With a BOD Udu?

You can sit with the Udu cradled in your lap, either sitting in a chair with your feet on the floor or with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, or sitting anywhere you like cross legged.  You can also play it standing or sitting with the Udu on a stand in front of you.

There are basically two sorts of sounds you can make.  First, by stopping or un-stopping either of the holes with the palm of your hand, fingers arched back slightly, you create a suction effect which pushes out or draws in the air through the pot, making all kinds of lovely bass notes which bend.  There’s your bass line.

Second, treat the Udu as you would any kind of hand drum and use all the different parts of your hand in all kinds of ways to work the surface of the pot for your melody or treble line.

Slap it with all four fingers and then the heel of your hand like a conga or djembe player, use your fingers like individual mallets (think of drumming your fingers on the desk when you’re stuck on hold!), rap it with your knuckles, rock your hand side to side to strike the drum with the outer edge of your palm and then with your thumb as hand drum players do. You can gently brush the flat surfaces of your palm or fingers over the surface of the Udu to create a brushing sound. All these techniques can be used anywhere on the body of the pot – the side, the bottom, the neck, or the lip of the neck hole.

You can create further sound effects by putting water or ball bearings or dried beans inside the Udu while you play.  You can wear a ring on your hand to get a hard crisp striking sound of the metal ring on the Udu, or you can wear small ring mounted shakeys to create another layer of sound as you play.

Check out the Demos tab above for sound bites of the BOD Udu and our pick of some videos to get you started and inspired on the Udu.