Okam
Okam is a skin covered Drum instrument widely used in Ejagham. The skin is stretched over one open end of a wooden carved barrel shaped shell. This makes it a Single-head drum. Okam is the heartbeat of Ejagham music. The types vary in size and functionality.
The ropes are tensioned by the use wooden wedges around the barrel. Stretching the ropes further stretch the skin to produce the desired sound when struck. The skin of animals mostly used for drumheads include: Nyep – Crocodile, Nsu – Red Deer, Otunghinjock – Elephants Ears, Nkem – Python skin, Ngungu – Antelope etc.
