The nose

I used to have an employee who disparagingly called me 'the nose'. (I won't get into why she called me that!)

My sense of smell has always been one of my keenest senses.

So one of the things I love most about my African djembe is that it still smells like the goat it is made from. I love the way my hands smell when I play. I love that the fragrance wafts up when I am hitting the skin.

After I lent my drum to my teacher for a week, it came back smelling like cologne. I am not sure if it was his, or if he lent it to a friend to play, but the skin smelled sweet and perfumy. I worried that the goat smell was gone for good.

I am happy to report that after a week of airing out, the goat is back, baby. That earthy, goaty, animal woodsy barnyard dusty dirt road in Mali smell is stronger and more beautiful than any artificial cologne could ever be.