History Main / JungleDrums

* In Eugene O'Neill's ''The Emperor Jones'', the natives' drums start beating faster every time Jones expends a bullet.

* A cartoon by Whitney Darrow invoked the communication angle by showing a fellow pounding away on a drum while another drummer tells a white explorer, "Momboango gives [[Creator/DavidIcke the news behind the news]]."

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jungle_drums.jpg]]

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Nervous Elk:''' We attack...at [[DawnAttack dawn!]]
-->'''Cactus Jack:''' Chief, why don't we attack now, when they're off guard?
-->'''Nervous Elk:''' Indians ''never'' attack till dawn!
-->'''Cactus Jack:''' Why?
-->'''Nervous Elk:''' 'Cause at night, Indians too busy pounding on those damned ''DRUMS!''

[[folder: Jokes]]

-->Most jazz musicians probably know this joke -- the one about the guy on Safari, who when travelling through the jungle hears some incredible drumming coming from a distance. The following conversation ensues with his local guide:\\
\\
Guy: Wow! That's amazing -- let's see if we find it!\\
Guide: No! We must go now -- when drums stop, big trouble!\\
Guy: But the drumming sounds amazing, I really want to check it out.\\
Guide: No -- we must go, when drums stop, big trouble!\\
Guy: But this is the kind of thing I came here to experience! I really want to hear it!\\
Guide: No! We must go before drums stop!\\
Guy: But why? What happens when the drums stop?\\
Guide: [[NobodyLovesTheBassist Bass solo!]]

-->"What's he saying?"
-->"Wrong number!"

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* ''Series/TheGoodies'' episode with the 'The jockies are restless tonight". Cue Bill playing bongo drums.
** And the obligatory VisualPun. The message sent on the drums involves a drum thrown at Tim and Graham with a message written on it.
* In one ''Series/SesameStreet'' sketch, Ernie is looking for Dr. Livingstone (who ''is'' that kind of doctor) to ask him an [[BlatantLies important]] question, with Bert reluctantly tagging along and wanting to go home at every setback. At the end, the drums are also beaten after Ernie asks [[ShoutOut his]] [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes question]], and Dr. Livingston remarks about the jungle being full of jokers.
** Before that, however, one of the people they run into is Taxi Driver [=McGillicuddy=]. (Or however it would be spelled.) His identity clarified, they hear JungleDrums:
-->Taxi Driver: Those drums! Those drums! They're sayin', "Taxiiiii!" I tell ya, it's a jungle out heayuh.

[[folder:Pinball]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]
* Since ComicStrip/ThePhantom's base of operations is in DarkestAfrica, these are often [[WrittenSoundEffect seen-heard]] conveying information across the jungle.
* Parodied in a ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon, where two explorers are hiding out in a tent from a percussionistic native tribe. One of them notices what the natives are beating and says, "Wait, Morrison!... It's OK--those are jungle ''triangles''!"
* A cartoon by Whitney Darrow invoked the communication angle by showing a fellow pounding away on a drum while another drummer tells a white explorer, "Momboango gives [[Creator/DavidIcke the news behind the news]]."

[[folder:Theatre]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', a skilled leatherworker can make many kinds of drums and sound them during a battle to give his team various bonuses. A typical kodo steed is shown to have some attached to the saddle but they aren't usable (unlike Warcraft 3, where a drummer mounted on a kodo increased combat effectivenes of nearby troops.)

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* The [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman]] short, ''Jungle Drums''.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* This trope originated in West Africa, where [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum drums were indeed used to communicate long distances]]; however, the drummers did so over wide grassy plains. Jungles do not let sound carry far.
** There is an art to real message drumming and many musicians have taken up the art and passed it along to keep it from becoming an Endangered or Dead Language.

* The name of a level in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet''.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/BeyondTheBlackRiver," the Picts are communicating in drums, much to the displeasure of Conan and the others at the fort. To be sure the Picts are both white (a point lampshaded in the story) and in what would one day be Europe, but the trope is treated identically.

* In ''Explorers of Literature/{{Gor}}'', which took place in a FantasyCounterpart culture combining DarkestAfrica with the Amazon rainforest, the natives communicated via drum. {{Justified|Trope}} via "certain drum sounds correspond to the vowels of the language, and the drum rhythm mimics the rhythm of the native language."

* ''{{Traveller}}'' Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. Subverted in one possible encounter. The {{PC}}s hear this sound in the distance. If they investigate they find that it's a natural phenomena caused by a grove of hollow trees.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/BeyondTheBlackRiver," the Picts are communicating in drums, much to the displeasure of Conan and the others at the fort. To be sure the Picts are both white (a point lampshaded in the story) and in what would one day be Europe, but the trope is treated identically.

->'''Nervous Elk:''' We attack...at [[DawnAttack dawn!]]
->'''Cactus Jack:''' Chief, why don't we attack now, when they're off guard?
->'''Nervous Elk:''' Indians ''never'' attack till dawn!
->'''Cactus Jack:''' Why?
->'''Nervous Elk:''' 'Cause at night, Indians too busy pounding on those damned ''DRUMS!''

Guide: Bass solo!!

They are also used by the natives to communicate, as the native guide will often grab plot-relevant info from them (TruthInTelevision, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum in fact]]). BushTelegraph might be a sub- or separate trope.

A sister trope to TheNativesAreRestless, this harks back to the days in [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], where the mood of the natives can be determined by their midnight drumming. If they're banging away on those puppies till the wee small hours, trouble is definitely brewing. The more anxious white people can be driven to nervous exhaustion by Those Infernal Drums ([[AGoodNameForARockBand a good name for a band]]), but the moment you really worry is when they stop, suddenly. Sometimes we get to see the wild abandoned dancing of the natives.

They are also used by the natives to communicate, as the native guide will often grab plot-relevant info from them ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum TruthInTelevision]]). BushTelegraph might be a sub- or separate trope.

They are also used by the natives to communicate, as the native guide will often grab plot-relevant info from them. BushTelegraph might be a sub- or separate trope.

* A cartoon by Whitney Darrow invoked the communication angle by showing a fellow pounding away on a drum while another drummer tells a white explorer, "Momboango gives the news behind the news."

* The bit with the natives playing drums as a sign of impending trouble was popularized by a 1918 melodrama, ''The Drums of Oude'', apparently based on the Sepoy uprising.

** Ana Bera means that informing the Sri Lankan people about orders from the King.

* This trope originated in West Africa, where drums were indeed used to communicate long distances; however, the drummers did so over wide grassy plains. Jungles do not let sound carry far.

Guide: Bass solo!!\\

[[folder:Other]]
* Parodied in [[http://ronanguil.blogspot.com/2009/10/when-drums-stop-big-trouble.html this joke]].
[[/folder]]